The letters of January 4, 2012 from your regular contributors Bergin, Lightfoot and Fidlon were entertaining as expected. But Bergin is wrong to suggest that the Australian Constitution is not a time honoured document nor relevant. It is both.
Most Australians would agree that in many (some would say all) respects the Australian Constitution has served Australia well, but arguably less so in recent times. It is now time, therefore, for the UK Parliament to simply repeal The Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 and leave Australia to be brave and rely on convention as the means for continuing along its constitutional path. This would resolve many of Australia’s nagging, resource wasting issues which the Australian people can’t seem to solve for themselves, such as its legal constitutional independence from the UK, our “Head of State” (which would default to the GG until the High Court effectively says otherwise) and the rhetoric contained in 111 years of piecemeal constitutional legislation and court cases. Australia can then thrash around for as long as it takes writing a new constitution while the High Court invokes convention to better maintain Australia’s constitutional equilibrium in the meantime.
Repealing the Constitution should keep the Bergins happy for quite a while, while convention will favour the Fidlons for at least so long as the bureaucrats can’t agree on the wording of a new constitution. And those in Lightfoot Land won’t feel a thing.
As for the Fidlon submarine issue, there is no issue. Since the end of WWII submarines (of any kind) can only be considered military toys with contracts designed to employ resources for the sake of mateship, and nothing else.
Hugh Piper,
Armidale
