Astoria said:
So the debate continues to rage on. Should Australia break all remaining ties to Britain? Is it time for us to change our flag to something new? Having said that should we also change our national anthem while we're at it? I personally think that we should become a republic and change the flag. The anthem I'm not sure about though. Your thoughts escapists?
Don't see the point in changing the flag, mind you if it got changed tomorrow I couldn't give two shits, but the fact is that no matter what you change it to somebody somewhere will get their knickers in a twist about it. Adding indigenous content to it smells like a disingenuous whitewash, it's like a way to say to aboriginal people "here you go, you're on the flag now, hope you're happy, now stop bugging us about your third-world living conditions and those pesky 'rights' things". The current flag is at least an honest representation of what formed the dominant society and political system in Australia, and that's probably what a flag should be.
Changing to a republic could be good, if nothing else it might mean no more pesky governor-generals vetoing actions to legalise R-rated computer games. Apart from that I don't see much of a benefit and it's an issue I refuse to get overly passionate about, much like the flag I guess. Whether we're a republic or not won't change the fact that I'll still have to go to work tomorrow.
As for the anthem, everybody knows that the real anthem is either "Waltzing Matilda" or Men At Work's "Down Under" so let the traditionalists keep their crappy little song that they can't even remember the second verse of while everyone else points and laughs.
