Tag: Australia

THIS HISTORIC LEGISLATION MUST BE PASSED BY PARLIAMENT IN 2024. ‘AUSTRALIA DAY SHALL BE CELEBRATED THROUGHOUT AUSTRALIA EVERY YEAR ON NEW YEARS DAY WHICH IS THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NATION OF AUSTRALIA ON I JANUARY 1901’.

On By Everald ComptonIn Constitution, Elections, Government, History, Law, Referendum, Uluru

Please note the date on the photo below of Australia’s First Prime Minister, Edmund Barton. He was sworn in by Queen Victoria’s Representative, Lord Hopetoun, on 1 JANUARY 1901. This is the day Australia was founded. There was no nation of Australia before that date, just 6 independent colonies who did not trust one another and charged each other exorbitant tariffs for intercolonial trade.

THIS FACT OF HISTORY MAKES IT ABUNDANTLY CLEAR THAT THERE CAN BE NO VALID DISPUTE THAT AUSTRALIA DAY IS 1 JANUARY.

To observe it on any other day is an unjustifiable denial of history.

Why our Parliament in recent decades selected 26 January as Australia Day is a mistake beyond comprehension. To refuse to now change it will be a prime example of neglect of responsibility by parliamentarians with closed minds.

As matters now stand, we are discrediting our nation by honouring 26 January as it is a day in which an illegal invasion occurred, convicts were savagely brutalised and the genocide of aborigines began.

Fair dinkum Aussies simply do not applaud atrocities like that. It is simply not us.

The real tragedy is that there has never been any need for us to have observed 26 January in the first place.

Australia Day has always been I JANUARY.

Lets fix this appalling blunder so we can celebrate with boundless enthusiasm on 1 JANUARY, 2025.

ADVOCATED BY A PROUD AUSTRALIAN.

Everald Compton, who invites you to keep reading the historical notes below.

PS. Some will complain that we will lose a public holiday if we scrap 26 January. However, it will be quite simple to create a new public holiday to be observed in its place in the second half of the year. I sincerely hope it will be called ULURU DAY when we can discover, honour and celebrate 65000 years of extraordinary heritage.

PPS. A prime reason why we should celebrate what occurred on I January is that our nation was created on this day by Australians. 26 January was the work of plundering British colonists.

PPPS. By celebrating on New Year’s Day, we can give long overdue honour to EDMUND BARTON. He chaired the convention of delegates from 6 States that agreed upon our Constitution.

Those delegates presented him with 368 amendments to the draft Constitution that had been sent to them and which they wanted to be debated. In an absolutely masterly display of superb chairmanship over many days, Barton made sure that all 368 were debated and voted upon so the Convention was able to conclude with an approved Constitution that could be presented to the people of Australia to vote on at referendums.

Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin and others then travelled throughout Australia by horse, buggy, train and boat to sell and win the YES vote as there were no phones, planes, radio, television, or computers.

Then Barton led a delegation to London to sell Federation to Queen Victoria who had publicly opposed it as she wanted the Australian States to elect members to represent them in the House of Commons in London so we could become Counties of England. Barton respectfully declined to accept her proposal and said to her with courtesy.

‘Your Majesty, we have a choice. We can create the Nation of Australia in one of two ways. There is the way that the Australian people have just chosen or the way that George Washington and the Americans achieved their independence.’

Australia was born on New Years Day of the following year.

I cheer Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin with huge respect. They were giants who inspired a team of courageous leaders to create our nation. In Election 2025, may we elect many nation building giants like them who have their skill, wisdom, commitment, determination, honesty and decency.

Salut.

VOTERS ARE BETTER ABLE TO PREPARE NEW CONSTITUTION FOR AUSTRALIA THAN POLITICIANS. IT MUST TOTALLY REPLACE THE OUTDATED 1901 CONSTITUTION.

On By Everald ComptonIn Constitution, Elections, Government, History, Referendum

The Constitution of Australia, having been approved in 1901 after successful Referendums in all 6 States, has now passed its use by date.

The massive distrust that voters have in the political establishment will not ever enable it to be changed piece by piece in referendums spread over many decades. We can only achieve the creation of a MODERN AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRACY via a totally new document that is eventually approved in one major action as happened in 1901 after a decade of public consultation.

Significantly, it will be achieved only if it is drafted entirely by the voters of Australia themselves, not politicians.

It will gain its initial acceptance from countless Town Hall Meetings that can held across Australia over a period of 5 years where voters are able to recommend improvements so that we all have a genuine sense of ownership of our new Constitution before we vote in a Referendum to approve it.

What should the New Constitution contain as its major elements, noting that it will a totally new document? It must not in any way be an upgrade of the old document.

My initial thoughts on the main features of it are here for you to debate and improve –

*We continue to be the Commonwealth of Australia.

*Royals are left out. Utterly and totally.

*The People of Australia are empowered to elect a one term Governor General as a totally independent Head of State in a nationwide ballot every 5 years. No past or present Members of Parliament or the Bureaucracy or the Armed Services can be eligible to hold this Office.

*The Governor General will be permanent Chair of a National Corruption Commission comprising 5 former Justices whom he or she will personally select and whose terms will end when the Governor General’s term ends. The Commission will appoint prosecutors to take its findings to Courts.

* There will be only One House of Parliament. It will simply be called the Parliament and it will have 200 elected Members. 100 will be elected as Members representing an Electoral District. 100 will be elected by percentage of the national vote gained by their political parties or by groups of Independents.

*Parliament will be elected for a fixed 4 year term with the Election date being stated in the Constitution. No Member can be elected for more than 5 terms. The legal status of political parties will be clearly stated in the Constitution with their election of candidates being conducted solely by the Electoral Commission.

*The elections every 4 years will be publicly funded. Receipt of political donations from any source will be an offence punishable by law.

*All candidates for election to Parliament must obtain an Accreditation Certificate before nominating to participate in an election. This will require them to complete one year of prescribed part time study of the Constitution, Parliament, Public Service, High Court and Australian History,

*A totally independent High Court of 7 persons will be established with all Justices appointed for one 10 year term by a majority vote of Parliament.

*There be not more than 25 Ministries, each supported by a Department staffed by independent Public Servants to implement legislation passed by Parliament. All Heads of Departments must have served as Public Servants for a minimum of 10 years. Each Minister will, by approval of a vote of Parliament, appoint an Assistant Minister as their primary adviser. Assistant Ministers will not be Members of Parliament or the Public Service. They will be people with proven professional skills and qualifications from the private sector.

*All 6 existing State Governments will cease to exist. They will be replaced by 50 new State Governments who will implement and manage community services on behalf of, but independent of, the National Government, and with greater scope than State Governments now have to implement local initiatives. Their prime aim will be to decentralise the nation and move population away from current capital cities.

*Each of the 50 State Governments will appoint an Administrator by a majority vote of their Parliament. The Governor General will formally approve the choice subject to the vote having been carried out in the correct manner.

*There will be no Local Governments as there is no need for Australia to have three levels of government. Their current work will be carried out by the 50 new State Governments.

There is much more that I could add, but this is a sufficient to start a popular debate.

No attempt should be made to ask Parliament to initiative this genuine community movement. It will be implemented by volunteers from all over Australia with no political parties or their financial members being involved. Initially, it will best be led by 10 eminent citizens who volunteer their services. Their costs can be covered by voluntary public donations so as to be independent of Parliament.

Parliament will be invited to act on the proposed new Constitution only when a major consensus has been achieved among voters for the Constitution and they are ready to own it and vote on it in a referendum..

Australia is a democracy.

We must put genuine democracy to work for the first time in the history of Australia.

EVERALD COMPTON AO

Everald’s Mission

ON BEING A GOONDEEN

On By Everald ComptonIn Good Books, History

In the heritage of Indigenous Australians a GOONDEEN is ‘ a father figure; a very wise, smart and respected person, a clever fella who shares his life with others and cares for all.

Let me tell you a story that began in 2016 when I accepted with humility an invitation to become GOONDEEN EVERALD.

A respected friend of mine is Bill Synnot, as fine a citizen as I have come across, who has had a successful career as in Change Management. He decided to organise and finance the publication of a book called ‘Goondeen’ and establish the Goondeen Institute which would promote the spirit of Goondeen.

The first decision of the Goondeen Institute was to appoint three modern Goondeens.

*UNCLE ALBERT HOLT, a distinguished Indigenous Elder from Cherbourg in Queensland.

*HENRY PALASZCZUK, a migrant from war torn Europe who became a Member and Minister of the Queensland Parliament and whose daughter, Annastacia, is Premier.

*Me, a young lad from the bush who has tried to make a difference.

Bill then appointed an author, Sophie Church, to write the book, and Andrew Schulz, organiser of the Year of the Outback, to become the advocate of the project.

Many working lunches followed in Bill’s office where the six of us discussed many aspects of our lives and our work and our vision of Australia as a caring and sharing nation.

The book was launched in 2017 at Old Government House at the Queensland University of Technology by Annastacia and it has sold well, to the extent that there is now a Chinese translation of it which helps mould a better understanding of Australia by China.

Bill then had the book adapted as an educational resource for use in Primary Schools and now more than 50 schools are using it. Some are taking it very seriously by implementing a study program. On completion the students become GOONDEEN GUARDIANS, after making a commitment to live as sharers and carers in helping to create a cohesive society.

So it is that yesterday I was invited to the Springfield Central State School to individually declare 22 students to be GOONDEEN GUARDIANS and make a graduation address by giving examples of people who showed us how much more we can achieve in our vocations if we work in teams rather than as loners and how life reaches the highest level of quality where we daily share and care.

So, you can see me above doing my bit in bonding with my fellow Goondeens at Springfield (and their parents and teachers).

Actually, I could show you more photos, especially one of the GOONDEEN GARDEN that the students have created with an splendid indigenous mural containing sketches of Albert, Henry and me.

So, why am I telling you this.

I am proud to be involved in a movement where all who belong to it are creating caring and sharing communities in which they dont just talk about it, they become personally involved.

My day ended on a high note, when one of the new GOONDEEN GUARDIANS (female) said to me,

‘Are you indigenous?’

(I am very much a white man, so here is the subsequent conversation)

‘What makes you think I am indigenous?’

‘You tell wonderful stories and indigenous people are great story tellers.’

‘I have no indigenous ancestors, but I am spiritually indigenous as every one of us is an Australian.’

‘So am I and I hope that I will grow up to be like you and be able to tell great stories about it.’

‘I am sure you will do better than I have.’

Over and out,

A proud GOONDEEN,

Everald

If you would like to learn more, go to

Resources

How we have failed to build a balanced nation – disasters & solutions

On By Everald ComptonIn Everald@Large Newsletter 2014, Funding and Finance, Government, Great Food Bowl, Infrastructure Rail, Air, Sea, Infrastructure Water, Population

Just imagine for a moment that you are standing on Possession Island in Torres Strait with Captain James Cook on August 22, 1770, while the good captain makes his declaration that the Australian Continent is a territory of the King of England.

He calls you aside and asks you to prepare him a report on what quality of nation Australia should be 250 years hence, as he expects His Majesty to ask him about it when he gets back home.

Let us also assume for the purpose of this exercise that you are a person of extraordinary intellect who has the capacity at that time to perceive what the world will be like in the 21st century.

It will be safe for us to presume that you would not imagine an Australia that would the planning disaster it now is.

Would you have suggested that these unimaginable disasters may eventuate? Continue reading “How we have failed to build a balanced nation – disasters & solutions” →

The Commonwealth of The South Pacific

On By Everald ComptonIn Business and Enterprise, Community and Values, Everald@Large Newsletter 2013, Government, International, Population1 Comment

Creating a Union of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands

In the 1890s, when the Federation of Australian States was being fervently debated, there were seven negotiating parties at the table — five States on the Continent, plus Tasmania and New Zealand.

Just before referendums were held to determine whether the grand venture would go ahead, New Zealand withdrew. Their stated reason was that Australia was experiencing a major economic recession brought on by the bank collapses of 1893, combined with the worst drought of the century. New Zealand had avoided both of those disasters and was motivated to take the short term view that it would be wise to pull out. In hindsight, it was a bad decision.

So, Federation proceeded without them. Yet, the provision remains in the Constitution for them to change their minds at some time — but it is an option that has never been taken up. Continue reading “The Commonwealth of The South Pacific” →