Howard wins reelection in Australia.

I know the basics of Australia -- its basic history, form of government, language & culture. Keeping up with all 191 countries on the planet is impossible, but it's nice to know at least the basics of the U.S.'s allies, and of the major players on the world stage.

Is the Northern Territory ever going to become a permanant State of Australia? And if it does, what will it be called? North Australia? Or some other, unique name?

Also, I've read that there is a proposal to change the flag of not just Australia, but of all the States & Territories too! What do Australians think about that issue?
www.ausflag.com.au...


[edit on 10/11/2004 by ThunderCloud]

Originally posted by ThunderCloud
Keeping up with all 191 countries on the planet is impossible, but it's nice to know at least the basics of the U.S.'s allies, and of the major players on the world stage.

There are over 220 recognised nation states on this planet. Whom are you renouncing, and why?

Originally posted by Otts
grimnebulin - I'm curious... is the Australian Labour at the point where the British Labour was in 1993, when John Major won his second mandate? Is there a "New Labour" and an Australian Tony Blair in the making?

Tony Blair was influenced by the Hawke Labor government elected in 1983, which opened up the Australian economy, floated the dollar, moved away from socialism and protectionism, etc etc. "New Labour" began in Australia. Latham is more ideologically liberal than any of his predecessors, and advocates this "Third Way" Tony Blair is so fond of. But he's a Tony Blair in the making no more than Tony Blair was a reconstructed Bob Hawke.

[edit on 12/10/04 by Grimnebulin]

Originally posted by MaskedAvatar
There are over 220 recognised nation states on this planet. Whom are you renouncing, and why?

Where did you get the number 220 from? Are you counting territories of other countries as independent states? (Example: Puerto Rico is a U.S. commonwealth, not an independent country.) Are you counting entities like Palestine, which does not exist as a country at this time? Are you counting areas whose soveriegnty is in question, but are currently administered by another country? (Example: Western Sahara is currently administered as part of Morocco.)

I for one am an advocate of Australia becoming a republic, and very much would like to see a new flag. While I feel a strong connection to our current flag, I am a forward mover.

I have even taken the time to lay out a new flag design of my own.

Originally posted by ThunderCloud

Originally posted by MaskedAvatar
There are over 220 recognised nation states on this planet. Whom are you renouncing, and why?

Where did you get the number 220 from? Are you counting areas whose soveriegnty is in question, but are currently administered by another country? (Example: Western Sahara is currently administered as part of Morocco.)

My figure was glib, and widely accepted (just google "over 220 nations" or some such phrase, and look at basic things like flag sites or lists, whether they are from the UN or elsewhere).

But thanks for providing some reasons to renounce nations. By your reckoning Iraq qould not have been a nation until the US supposedly handed over "sovereignty" at the end of June this year. I know how I would feel if I was nationalistic, which I am not.

I have to agree that it's about time the Union Jack was taken off the flag. Whether that will happen or not is anyones guess.

It will happen around the same time the Union Jack is "removed" from the British flag. Which may be sooner than we can conceive.

Originally posted by cargo
I for one am an advocate of Australia becoming a republic, and very much would like to see a new flag. While I feel a strong connection to our current flag, I am a forward mover.

I agree, that's why you should vote for Peter Costello next election. As for flag designs anything which doesn't have some native animal on it is fine by me

Originally posted by MaskedAvatar
My figure was glib, and widely accepted (just Google "over 220 nations" or some such phrase, and look at basic things like flag sites or lists, whether they are from the UN or elsewhere).

But thanks for providing some reasons to renounce nations. By your reckoning Iraq qould not have been a nation until the US supposedly handed over "sovereignty" at the end of June this year. I know how I would feel if I was nationalistic, which I am not.

It's not about 'renouncing' anyone. It's a definition of political status -- a sovereign nation-state is defined as having its own government, independent of any other.

Indeed, defining what an "independent country" is can get tricky, and organizations like the Olypmics and FIFA only confuse people even further when they let territories and provinces of other countries play as seperate teams.

First, there is a difference between an autonomous government and an indepdendent government. England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are all autonomous in their own rights, but they are independent as a single unit -- the United Kingdom. The U.S. has 50 States and 5 territories, all of which are autonomous, but they are all independent together as the United States. And so forth.

Iraq has basically been a U.S.-U.K. territory for a year now, and Afghanistan was a U.N. territory for about a year. Both new governments still depend on the U.S. for protection from its enemies (both foreign and domestic), but the governments themselves now make their own policy, giving them a semi-sovereign status... Just like an 18-year old can't just leave their parents' house overnight and become an independent adult, neither can a country go from anarchy or dictatorship to a new government without a period of transition.

Here are other sticky situations: Is Taiwan an independent country? It meets the definiton, but obviously China doesn't think so. Israel and Palestine are two nations trying to occupy the same state. Kurdistan is a delcared nation that has no state (the "territory" for Kurdistan is in Turkey and Iraq). Then there's Kashmir, a region occupied in part by India, Pakistan, and China. Greenland is often referred to as an entity in itself, but it's actually a territory of Denmark. Tibet is considered a seperate entity by some, but it's clearly part of China. Then there are principalities like Monaco, Andorra, Lichtenstein, and Seborga -- what should we consider their status? What about Indian Reservations in the U.S., or Oblasts in Russia? Are they independent countries? The examples are endless, really.

I for one would like a republic for Austrlia, as long as its not the model they proposed when the people voted no. The problem with that system was it was too tightly based on the US system and we saw the flaws in it quite quickly...

I live in Australia and voted in this election... really it was a case of "the devil you know is better than the devil u don't..." many people felt that in-comparison Howard would do a "better" job running the country than Latham... that is really all it came down too.