The place to dicuss local topics and to meet others in your area.

G'day fellow Aussies, how many of us are there on VB?

Me! Queenslander... born and bred.

hello fellow aus vb'ers !!!
another aus here ;)
born on the northern beaches of sydney (not literally hehe) but living, when i am in australia, in brisbane :)

Sydney.

Murrumbateman. NSW.
(errrr, thats just out side the ACT. think between Canberra and Yass.)

Anything happerning downunder?

me in melbourne

but most of you already know that

Hey with_open_eyes which Northern Beach were you born on? I'm living nr Manly but moving to Mona Vale in a few weeks. And Alpaca Guy, all this time and I never realised you too were an Aussie - hooray for the Australia thread.

You did not know!!!
Bugger, I've go to display it a bit more, hey mate?

Come one Aussies! we can beat those convict-planting UK people! MORE POST NOW!
(but you got to feel sorry for Danny. sitting alone in the NZ thread)

Hey up T.A.G, I'm originally from the UK! But I agree about Danny, perhaps we can bit the bullet and harrang the powers that be to make this an ANZ thread instead of two seperate ones.

Well, NZ did give us Split Enz and The Lord Of The Rings..... yeah, we could let them join.

And Russell Crowe (LOL)

Well, OK. But only if they(she?) behaves them selfs! (like we do!:D)

lol YAY! Im not alone anymore! But just dont hold Russel crowe against me!! Hes in aussie now, and he can stay there!!
Danny

And what about feeling sorry for folks who don't even have their thread yet?

I think I will ask for asylum here since some of my most favourite VB members are here!

G'day mate! *ducks and leaves* :D

Hey Oatmeal! No need to duck and leave... and Danny, we won't... :D

So, my fellow Aussies, what do you think of this?

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/05/10/1052280480600.html


The man who's creating a United States of Australia
By Denis Gregory
May 11 2003
The Sun-Herald

Australia should be divided into about 20 states, each with its own government of about 40 elected MPs, lawyer and National Party official Bryan Pape believes.

Mr Pape, a senior lecturer in law at the University of New England, wants a national inquiry or royal commission into what he calls a "population imbalance".

Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong in one region and Melbourne, Geelong and Dandenong in another were home for half the people in Australia, he said. This centralisation and its almost exclusive development was hurting regional areas.

Mr Pape, the National Party's new New England Federal Electorate Council chairman, said: "Chapter six of the constitution foresees there would be new states and we need to revisit that area, review the present boundaries and have people elect the members who would legislate issues highly relevant to their region.

"It's putting people in charge of their own affairs."

Mr Pape, who was a barrister in Sydney for 25 years, envisages about 20 states in all, each having Senate representation.

He said it would be up to an inquiry to determine the boundaries but they could be based loosely on existing regions.

"NSW could take in an area along the coast from a point north of Newcastle, Sydney, to the south of Wollongong and extending west to, probably, Bathurst," he said.

"The other states could be New England in the north, Riverina in the south, and probably two others as well as the ACT."

Mr Pape said: "This new state exercise has been going on since pre-federation in Queensland. There was a movement around Rockhampton, which now could become a state along with, say, the Darling Downs and Townsville regions.

"The Northern Territory should become a state and in Western Australia new states could include the Kimberley, Pilbara and Kalgoorlie regions.

"You might get new states in South Australia around the Whyalla area and the western region and two or three in Victoria but it would be up to an inquiry to decide. You can't just put lines on a map."

Mr Pape said an attempt was made to form a New England state in April 1967 with a referendum and drawn boundaries that included Newcastle.

The referendum was unsuccessful but Mr Pape said that, if Newcastle were taken out of the results, the vote was roughly 70 per cent in favour.

"Newcastle thought it would be better off being within the Sydney sphere of influence," he said.

"I'm suggesting that the growth in independent MPs and the moves towards zonal taxation can be attributed to frustration by voters.

"So it's time we reviewed the present boundaries and looked at a new model of government for new states, something like the ACT. But we need an inquiry or a royal commission that involves everyone and I'm going to pursue that through the National Party."

Mr Pape said that under chapter six of the constitution, if the NSW and Commonwealth governments agreed one afternoon that there be new states, it could happen the next day, because the mechanism was there.

He said: "I want to get people talking about it because all these new states would be beneficiaries of the goods and services tax and some of the present state functions could be handed over to the Commonwealth."


Speaking of States and changing them around, in our Constitution it appears that New Zealand is an Australian State. I'm not sure when it was changed.

Sounds awful to me...

I'm in Melbourne.

The last thing we need is more states. Lets get get rid of them altogether and save money on state politician's super payouts!

:) I like being part of a big state...

I wouldn't want to break it up from the way it is now, I can't see what the advantages would be. We are already way too Americanised (should that be AmericaniZed) already, I don't think we need to copy them on every single thing.

remember when they had all the crazy talk about having an Anzac dollar... And one time on the news the polled to see if people thought New Zealand should be part of Australia...
Thankfully the result was pretty unanimous and it was no.
Danny

Only here for a tick . . .

I'm with BOA, all the way. :up:

Good afternoon TAG. Glad that you agree. If I see another McDonalds / Wendy's / Burger **** / Hungry Jacks open up near me I think I'm going to scream. America has its strong points, but not everything about the US of A has a silver lining.

My opinion on that matter is closed for renovation.

Bugger, I come, he goes . . .