Steve Irons's blog

"THE Gillard government is pressing ahead with plans for a high-speed rail network linking Melbourne and Brisbane, despite an admission that the $114 billion project would be a 'monumental endeavour'.

"Transport Minister Anthony Albanese will today release the second and final report into the high-speed rail, produced by eight consulting firms that claimed the project would generate positive economic benefits.

In this section we do a bit of research and find out what people have said in the past related directly to the issue being addressed on BloggerMe: Feel free to add your comments to theirs:

Overview: http://www.pinterest.com/bloggerme3/abolition/

In his latest media release(1), the Chair of the MDBA, Craig Knowles made a strong commitment to 'localism' and indicates that this is way of the future for the Murray Darling Basin. On 20 December 2012 (2) he declared himself "dismayed" at plans for the South Australian State government to cut its contribution.

A parliamentary committee recommended a referendum on the recognition of local government at the same time as the next federal election.

"But Coalition MPs and Senators issued a dissenting report, saying there was too little time to prepare for a referendum, and the risk of failure was too high."

In the previous blog "Left over from a by-gone era" we explain that the present State boundaries are out of date and need to be changed.

When you look at a map of Australia with new, modern  eyes, the absurdity of current boundaries is obvious.

The BloggerMe map addresses the fundamental problem of the States: that they are out of date, and were virtually out of date at the moment of federation, 1901.

Let me explain:

Political boundaries

The boundaries of the States are purely political; they answer no other question than the impossibility in the period from 1788 to 1900 for a governor to take responsibility for all of the colonies on behalf of the Crown.

When you look at the map of Australia on the Home page http://bloggerme.com.au/ the first thing you notice is how huge one particular State is, as compared to every other State. The Uluru Central state is massive. This is because the desert of Australia takes up more than 20% of the land mass. But it is correct to view this massive area as a single domain.

Social media is a very powerful construct. When you go on to Twitter, for example, you can construct any 'virtual world' that you fancy, and you can live in that world for as little or as long as you want. And you find that in that particular world that you construct, there are many other players already playing in that world, some heavily there, whilst there are others, also important, who drop in occasionally, and have their little say, or keep an eye on what you are up to, and add value at key moments.

Ask a question OR provide your own Question & Answer(s) on the matters of 'Statehood' and/or 'Constitutional Change' in Australia, leading up to, and at the moment of, Australia becoming a republic.