Me, I just straight up support the Republic. So do Kev and Mal – at last count. If that policy focus ends up wedging the Libs because some old guard curtsey-mongers like Abbott or Sophie still have currency, well thats just a bonus.

And one could hardly argue they didn’t deserve it!

However the substantive point remains; if politics is only a game of who can pull the undergarments of their opponents up their cracks then lets not pretend it is anything more. Events like todays, and the responses of people to them seem to suggest that is all we want and expect. It also suggests that we think it is grand fun when we aren’t the recipients so don’t need to question it when it is not happening to us (the classic stander by scenario). I am, by the way, not that surprised that lots of people who would previously have condemned wedge politics as “playing politics” are quiet on this kind of thing or supportive of it- after being on the receiving end for so long there would be a lot of people who want to get their own back and don’t go in for such things as principles (having said that principles are of course constantly renegotiable)

Well, perhaps thats unfair And if you can point to contemproary comments of yours condemning Howard’s wedgery, I shall gladly retract.

I would note one key difference: people are unlikely to languish in detention camps as a result of any Republic wedgie.

I for one think that it is poor (or immature) politics and does nothing for sorting out the problems that need to be dealt with. If any of the left leaning types still think that Rudd is some kind of political revelation then let them declare it now so that we can at least start arguing about what games they are all playing. I say this because there was a lot of bemaoning the state of affairs that politics had become, yet now it seems that those same people can’t get enough of the same old (baby) games, meaning we will still be playing them until some smarter boy (not girl) comes along and plays it better (will it be Mal?)

As ye reap, so shall ye sow!

“PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has called on newly appointed Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull to throw his support behind the push to make Australia a republic.
I also say to Mr Turnbull, I look forward to working with him on a bipartisan basis on as many national challenges as possible. One of those national challenges for the future of Australia will be our move towards a republic. “Mr Turnbull has long been a supporter of the republic, and we know for a fact that we are only going to achieve that sort of change in Australia on a bipartisan basis.”

Waiting for Mal’s reply.

Of course he shouldn’t to be too blatant about it – wedges should be inserted gradually. Start with some border skirmishes in the culture wars (Both Keating and Howard used these to mask narrower political maneouvres). Beat the nationalist drum – “a vision of what it is to be Australian” – and only later morph it towards a concrete constitutional proposal. The fighting should be at its height during the next election.

In fact you could aim to have the referendum on the ballot then. The beauty of this is that it might get voted down and the wedge will be available for reuse again after a decent interval. Like abortion for the US right, it’ll be the gift that keeps on giving (as a BTW, that’s why all those Republican judges don’t overturn Roe vs Wade).

I mean, how can he squib, the man who said John Howard broke this country’s heart over the last time round’s sabotage. (That was a bit emo of him, what)

Now would be a very good time for Australians to engage in the nation defining process that becoming a republic. Certainly there are a few future defining national scale issues staring us in our collective face to focus our mind and mutual good will: the murray darling, a collapsed health and aged care system, the fact we only have a couple of viable export industries of any scale, all of which are on shaky ground, whether we want to continue to be the main carbon drug pushers of the planetary block, and the whole tax and services equity balance, for starters.

And this time round we have the (2.0) tools so everyone interested can help develop and attenuate positions until we get to those ones that define and enable us as a forward looking, sustainable nation.

And the comic miracle of democracy has finally popped up with just the legends in their own lunchtime men of destiny in the positions of power to help get us there us there.

Malcolm, if you are reading this, now’s your chance to really go down in history, to pull the sword from the stone. There’ll be a major quid in it for ya I’m sure.