cam: Nationals are supposed to be: ... the party of Federalism, though they can trace their origins to colonial Queensland. Stone\'s comments are probably the most zinging I have seen in the mass media. Most federalists and small government folks fall back on the words of Thomas Jefferson, loved Stone\'s use of the comment;

The two enemies of the people are criminals and governments, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalised version of the first.

The truth is Australia has a weak constitution that is a fiction when it comes to the operation and authority of the Federal Government.

Since the Constitution is so hard to change by referendum, the High Court has decided it is the one that has the sole authority to make the Constitution a \"living and breathing\" document. All they have managed to do is concentrate power toward Canberra, and make the authority of government diverge even further from the formal Constitution.

Constitutionally we probably have one of the worst systems on the planet. We are leading innovators at the electoral level, but constitutionally - we are retards.

Tasmania, WA ans SA all have typical Westminster constitutions. Ones that are spread across numerous documents and a mix of statutory and entrenched language. NSW, Victoria and Queensland have formal constitutions.

Queensland recently rejuvenated theirs and consolidated different bills and acts into one. Did they advance the Constitution? Did they innovate any? Nope. It reads the same as the NSW and Victorian ones. Not even a Bill of Rights, which is unforgivable in this post-enlightenment age.

cam

avocadia: No passion:

Stone\'s comments are probably the most zinging I have seen in the mass media.

Granted. That\'s not saying much though. I just didn\'t feel any unfiltered passion; Stone\'s piece felt too much like he had emailed it to himself first. I don\'t think we\'ll get one either, not in the mainstream media anyway; too many cheerleaders on the Right and the Left haven\'t got a leg to stand on. That leaves independants.

On the other hand, if opinion editors are about getting eyeballs, then something scathing should be right up their alley.

cam: I am the Bolt/Devine/Kingston/Ramsey Medusa:

BBS style!

[right op-ed troll mode]
I was never sure what I didn\'t like about Labour, but after seeing Mark Latham\'s yellow skin from the pancreatis I realized. It is something the left suffers from constantly; centralism.

[!-- include history rewrite --]

Gorton\'s noble effort to produce consensus amongst the states was polluted once Whitlam got his filthy paws on it. Suddenly the constitution, health and education all became the domain of the federal government.

The activist judges aided Whitlam, Hawke and Keating in the expanse of Federal government, deciding they were the only ones that had the intelligence to interpret the constitution. Not the people, not the elected representatives in the house. No the activist judges knew better and gave every last tidbit of expanding federal power Labor asked for.

Today the States are Labor dominated and the Federal Government Liberal, but the States being dominated by the acerbic left will soon be over. If the centralism continues unabated then Liberal State governments will face the wrath of Canberra and have their funds cut for political reasons.

I do not trust Labor to be able to handle this power at the federal level. They have abused it before, they will abuse it again. Federal power needs to be reduced to Labor wont abuse it. Otherwise we will live in a world of abortions, open-borders, immigrants everywhere and the communists running everything from the local fish-n-chip shop to the RSL.
[/right op-ed troll mode]

[left op-ed troll mode]
We knew John Howard lies, his election promises have have been broken more often than a Kmart toy made with Chinese sweat-shop labor. But we on the left face a more resilient effort to subvert our democratic process. It is called centralism.

John Howard wants Australia in his two-faced, lying image - and has sounded the warning. Nothing will stand in his way. The States are the bedrock of Labor support and where Australians receive most of their services. Since they stand in the way of Howard\'s ownership vision of Australia, which includes corporate welfare to the highest bidder, the States and their Labor governments are to be dissolved.

This will leave one big, fat, over-sized government in Canberra. One that can be easily dominated like the centralist UK government was by Margaret Thatcher. With no State impediment to his electoral bribes, Howard can ensure that he buys his way into remaining in government. Achieving his political holy grail; beating the number of years that Menzies was Prime Minister.

No rational Australian wants that.
[/left op-ed troll mode]

Meh, the Australian should give me a job writing trolly op-eds.

cam