• Echinoderm@aussie.zone
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    1 month ago

    It’s more expensive to become a republic at this point. Australia would need a referendum to change the Constitution. The last referendum attempt to become a republic was in 1999 and failed, but cost $66m.

    The last referundum in Australia was last year and while the AEC has not fully costed it, I’ve seen one estimate of it costing $450m.

    • Joshi@aussie.zone
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      1 month ago

      I don’t care what it costs. The idea that one person has the right to rule over others is offensive whether it is symbolic or not.

      • eureka@aussie.zone
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        1 month ago

        As far as offensiveness, for me it’s about the same whether it’s one person or a hundred ‘representatives’. In either case they’re all completely alienated from me and what decisions would actually help us.

        But on a pragmatic level, we’ve seen what happened to Gough Whitlam so we know this isn’t merely a symbolic monarchist structure. It has a real impact.