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Category: Australia
What are some interesting facts about Federation Square, Melbourne?
Federation Square. Opened at the centenary of Australian Federation, in 2001. Strange, po-mo, mixed-use space in the very navel of the world, as far as any Melburnian is concerned: the four corners of the intersection of Swanston and Flinders St— Flinders Street railway station, Fed Square, St Paul’s Cathedral, Young and Jackson Hotel. As Melbourne […]
Why are there several anti-Islamic parties in Australia?
http://www.aijac.org.au/news/article/politically-right-but-very-wrong Other answers have addressed why there are anti-Islamic parties in Australia. Why are there several anti-Islamic parties in Australia? Splinterism, an endemic issue with extremist parties, and movements in general preoccupied with ideological purity rather than electoral success through coalition politics. Communism is even more notorious for splinterism, after all. Latest instance I can […]
Do other countries have any equivalents to “states rights”, as in the USA?
Like other reluctant federations, Australia has a constitution that safeguards powers of the states. These have become less attention-grabbing with time; Australians are still parochial about their states, but they’re more excited when that parochialism involves beer brands than legislature. The WWII switcheroo, whereby the Federal Government appropriated all taxation power of the states as […]
What are the libertarian parties in Australia?
Supplemental to the other answers: David Leyonhjelm of the Liberal Democratic Party (Australia) is the most prominent voice of overt libertarianism in Australia, the way Americans would recognise it. He gets to be that by virtue of getting a Senate seat (through people confusing his party name with the Liberals, as he has cheerfully admitted). […]
Who started democracy in Australia? How did this benefit the Australians?
Blame Canada! (And thank you, Gareth Jones, for pinging this in my brain.) Been reading Geoffrey Blainey’s Shorter History of Australia this week. I have serious gaps in my knowledge of Australian history before… oh, before I was born. Australia in the 1850s had de facto universal male suffrage, which made it one of the […]
What are the myths about Australians?
Myth: That Australia is a classless society. Fact: Only when compared to the British. Myth: That Australians are an informal, relaxed people. Fact: Only when compared to the British. Myth: That Australians are an open, friendly society. Fact: Only when compared to the British. Myth: That Australians are rugged frontiersmen. Fact: Only 5% of them […]
Why, one-and-a-half decades into the twenty-first century, do Australians (and many others) still have to physically go to polling booths and fill out voting papers in general and state elections?
People of Australia! … Yairs? People of Australia! Oyez, oyez, oyez! [from: Christine Leigh Langtree’s answer to What city in your country do you feel would give a foreigner the best idea of said country’s culture?] … Oy! oy! oy! Whaddaya want, Nicko? I’ve got some shrimps goin’ on the barbie! There’s this guy on […]
Which country among USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand feel most attached to the UK (or England more specifically) as former colonies?
I’d guess New Zealand or Canada. The US has affection from a safe distance, but not attachment. Australia has had a majority narrative of Britishness until the 60s, but it had an undercurrent of resentment of Britain and Republicanism for the better part of the preceding century, fed in part by its large Irish population, […]
(Australia) Hypothetically, Would having an Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander Prime Minister make any noticeable changes to Australia?
Adam Giles: Adam Graham Giles (born 10 April 1973) is an Australian politician and former Chief Minister of the Northern Territory (2013-2016) as well as the former leader of the Country Liberal Party (CLP) in the unicameral Northern Territory Parliament. Giles was the first head of government in Australia to have Indigenous Australian ancestry. Royal […]
Julia Gillard has become much hated (perhaps unfairly) in Australia. Has she discredited the idea of a female Prime Minister of Australia?
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/dazed-gillard-gang-leads-with-its-chin-20110515-1eo7n.html#ixzz1MSMzKRF1 Tough question. Gillard herself, in her farewell speech, displayed a salutary self-awareness when she said: I do want to say the reaction to being the first female prime minister does not explain everything about my time in the prime ministership, nor does it explain nothing about my prime ministership. There was sexist venom around […]