Comments on: UK scandal brings flowering of reform ideas

By: J

Fri, 22 May 2009 03:37:52 +0000

Australia’s lack of water means that it hasn’t been able to sustain large-scale immigration like the United States. Without this influx of new ideas and multicultural diversity, there seems to be an underlying conservatism. Australians reject referenda some large percentage of the time. The Cronulla riots were an example of the explosion of the culture’s underlying racism.

The legacy of the convict past lives on through cultural mores like the so-called “Tall Poppy Syndrome,” as evident as ever.

By: Ben Raue

Ben Raue — Fri, 22 May 2009 02:15:54 +0000

I don’t agree that Australians are any more conservative or populist than other western english-speaking countries like Canada, the UK and New Zealand where debates about proportional representation have gotten further.

It’s just that the UK is in a crisis at the moment.

By: J

Fri, 22 May 2009 01:27:59 +0000

Sounds great. It is exactly the kind of conversation we need in Australia. However the inherent conservatism of most Australians as well as populist politicians who spout such lines as ‘there are more important things to worry about’ mean this will not happen for a loong time.

Vote with your feet, I say.