Serendipity and Edward de Bono

5cramble — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:44:45 +0000

So I was walking to Central Station down Pitt St and went into a second-hand book store called “Elizabeth’s Book Shop” whereupon a book by Edward De Bono called “Why I want to be king of Australia” jumped out at me and insisted I purchase it. I think it was written shortly after the 1998 (?) referendum on the republic was held. The introduction is by Sir Laurence Street who is a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of NSW and now specialises in alternative dispute resolution. It has lots of ideas in it which I’ll extract shortly but I like this to start with:

“I love Australia and I think Australia is the best country in the world. It is out of respect for Australia that I want to be king! If Australians did not have a great sense of humor I would not be writing this book. If Australians did not have a great sense of humor I would not want to be king. It is not my business or my intention to interfere with the decision to remain under the British monarchy or to become a republic. That decision has nothing to do with me and is entirely for the Australian people to make. But…

But…if Australians choose to become a republic then I would suggest (with suitable humility) that a king is of more value than a president.

A king is to a president what ‘Waltzing Matilda’ is to the national anthem. Bolder and much more fun.

Australia can lead the world in new ideas. A brand new king is a brand new idea.”

The book is a provocation and here’s to that!

Keeping an open mind

5cramble — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 05:13:23 +0000

This blog has been spurred into existence by two private conversations and a public one: the latter being the apparent consensus at the 2020 Summit that Australia should become a republic. The final report of the Governance Stream is at http://www.australia2020.gov.au/docs/final_report/2020_summit_report_9_governance.doc

At the moment I am a republo-skeptic, but that is a rather unexamined, intuitive position and so I have decided to try to educate myself about the issue. You may or may not want to contribute to, or observe that process, but I hope you do.

Other current concerns relate to the polarisation of the debate and the absence of critical voices who are not necessarily monarchists. More anon.

Open Mind on Oz Republic

Serendipity and Edward de Bono

Keeping an open mind