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Re:New Zealand passes legislation banning cigarettes for fut... by polemic on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @04:32PM (#33976161)
As we'd say here: "Yeah, Nah". This is a caricature of parochial English thinking of the colonies from the 50s, and is entirely divorced of what Australia and New Zealand are like today.
Re:New Zealand passes legislation banning cigarettes for fut... by spoils19 on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @05:59PM (#33977465)
As someone from a southern US state who faces similar "caricatures", there's no need to pretend and hide your feelings. Instead, I think we should join together against those who would oppress us and keep us down and uninformed in modern society.
Re:New Zealand passes legislation banning cigarettes for fut... by HKH2 on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @06:41PM (#33977938)
Time for Australia to become a republic? I wonder how people would vote if there were another referendum.
Re:New Zealand passes legislation banning cigarettes for fut... by stubish on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @07:06PM (#33978168)
It would already be a republic if the last referendum wasn't nobbled by the government at the time, where the only choice was between the status quo or giving more power to the historically untrusted elected government.

Per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Australian_republic_refer...:

"With republican models of one form or another winning a majority in opinion polls prior to the referendum, it was expected that the republican referendum would pass. However, the question put was for a particular model of republic with a head of state appointed by Parliament. This was opposed by some supporters of a republic, who preferred a directly elected head of state. Some of these, such as Phil Cleary, advocated that republic supporters vote "No" in order that a future referendum could be put on the directly elected model. Some commentators—including the president of the Australian Republican Movement, Malcolm Turnbull—identified this split within the republican camp as a key reason for the referendum's failure."

Re:New Zealand passes legislation banning cigarettes for fut... by TheHappyOddish on Wednesday December 14, 2022 @01:57AM (#33980800)
Completely agree, this bloke has no idea what's he's yapping about.