They don't come across like that to me. More like people who would like to see more
options discussed rather
than rushing into the one model allowed by Howard. Most commentators describe the
model on offer as
conservative...
Trudy
Laurie Forde wrote:
> I would put this group into the ''I'm a Republican , but...."
> category----conservatives like these would never vote to change the status
> quo.
>
> Sounds like a Young Liberals luncheon to me.
>
> Laurie.
>
> ----------------------------
>
> Trudy Bray wrote........
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Trudy Bray <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: news-clip <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Date: Sunday, October 31, 1999 10:38 PM
> Subject: The Age on Sunday: THE UNDECIDED: Distrustful, disinterested and...
>
> "every one of them is a republican..." --- Trudy
> ===================================
>
> The Age on Sunday
> THE UNDECIDED: Distrustful, disinterested
> and disinclined
> Sunday 31 October 1999
>
> It was a deeply reassuring experience to hear these
> undecided voters exchanging views on the looming
> referendum ... but then, going out into the community
> and listening to the common sense of the common man
> is usually reassuring, and often inspiring.
>
> Over lunch, this group revealed themselves as patriotic,
> concerned Australians whose status as undecided voters
> was largely the result of uncomfortable tension between
> a heart saying yes and a head saying no.
>
> Every one of them is a republican; every one of them
> believes the monarchy has outlived its usefulness and
> relevance to Australia. And yet, on the basis of this discussion, you'd have
> to
> conclude that not one of them is likely to vote yes.
>
> (In this, they are typical: most people who are still undecided this close
> to a poll tend
> to opt for maintenance of the status quo.)
>
> The central theme of their conversation was that they feel they have been
> hustled into
> a vote that has all the hallmarks of being just another political con. The
> process has
> been rushed to an extent that makes them suspicious, the full range of
> options has not
> been canvassed, the campaign - on both sides - seems patronising and
> superficial, and
> they believe that they are being asked to make a decision they are
> ill-equipped to
> make.
>
> "We're not just ordering a meal here," one of them remarked.
>
> "This is a big question, and I hate the way they say it's just a small
> step."
>
> There was a significant sub-text here: this group believed that a switch to
> a republican
> form of government should be regarded as serious and significant, and they
> were
> unimpressed by the Australian Republican Movement's minimalist line. To
> them, a
> scarcely perceptible change is a change not worth making.
>
> They even wondered whether the campaign was deliberately designed to gloss
> over
> the important questions.
>
> "Imagine having a referendum like this at the beginning of November," said a
> university student.
>
> "It means no student is going to be able to study the arguments properly -
> we're too
> preoccupied with exams."
>
> Confusion reigned when they tried to agree about what, precisely, the
> referendum
> would, or should, achieve. One was not sure if a yes vote would bind us to
> the
> proposed model. One feared a no vote might consign the whole question to
> oblivion.
>
> There was lively but inconclusive discussion about the role of a president,
> but a
> strong view that no powers should be given to presidents, or to prime
> ministers,
> unless we were prepared for those powers to be exercised in an emergency.
>
> At the same time, one member of the group conceded that "we're not even
> equipped
> to debate the present role of the governor-general because we don't really
> know what
> his role is".
>
> As far as this group is concerned, the whole thing has been too quick, too
> slick and
> too heavily influenced by the artificial deadline of the centenary of
> Federation: "Why
> do we have to have it settled by 2001? It wouldn't matter if it took five
> years. I saw
> on television that it took 14 years of debate to get federation settled."
>
> Whereas some of the campaign propaganda has suggested that a yes vote would
> keep
> the issue alive and pave the way for further refinement of the republican
> model, this
> group held the opposite view: with only one tentative dissenter, they
> believed that a
> yes vote would be the end of the matter: "There's no way they are going to
> fiddle
> with it once they've got their model through."
>
> By contrast, they saw a no vote as almost guaranteeing that the issue would
> develop
> new life, once the dust of the referendum had settled.
>
> "If we vote no, that won't be the last we'll see of it. Peter Reith is
> urging us to vote no
> so we can have another go."
>
> This group were by no means committed to direct election, and they were
> quite
> prepared to laugh at the possibility that Australians would make an
> inappropriate
> choice: "Daryl Somers might get a new job!"
>
> Their resistance to this referendum appears to be based on their belief that
> since we
> have not been given the chance to vote in a basic plebiscite about
> republicanism, we
> should at least be considering a number of alternative models.
>
> As things stand, Saturday's vote seems to them to be premature, abrupt and
> vaguely
> disturbing: the more they discussed it, the more inclined they were to
> register their
> protest by voting no. (Indeed, two members of the group commented that they
> wouldn't vote at all if it were not compulsory.)
>
> They were particularly scathing about the attempts by both sides to recruit
> celebrities
> and sporting heroes as advocates: "We don't want to know what athletes
> think. Let
> them stick to swimming fast." Far from believing that politicians should
> stay out of
> the debate, they thought politicians were "the very people who ought to be
> explaining
> the pros and cons to us":
>
> "No one's saying how this particular republic will help the country. We need
> more
> detail, more discussion and more time. We need more leadership and less
> mud-slinging."
>
> Prime Minister John Howard's role in the referendum is regarded as crucial.
> His
> position makes him the undisputed leader of the no case. He is also seen as
> a wily
> strategist: "John Howard's no fool. He wanted to put up a model that would
> lose."
>
> Can the yes side win back these teetering, reluctant nay-sayers? It seems
> unlikely.
> They've already worked out how to deal with their discomfort: "I'm a
> republican, but
> I don't want this republic and I object to being given no choice."
>
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