Scottish independence referendum

[MarkAW]

Originally Posted by Barraxr8

Ahm ....

Australia is Independant and has been since 1901.

Ahm...

No we're not.

Whilst Australia is a soveriegn nation with borders, our actual head of state is Elizabeth II, constitutional monarch of Australia. What we gained in 1901 (Federation) was the right to self determination through our own government elected by the nation. This does not prohibit the monarch from interfering with our determination as was seen in 1975 when the Whitlam government was sacked by the Governor General (The Queens Representative).

In 1999 Australia was offered independance and like the Scots we turned it down. The difference here was instead of asking if we wanted independance which polling proved would have got the nod, we were constrained to answering would we accept a President elected by the Government. This question was always going to fail as the politicians always know that the public don't trust them to select a suitable President.

I am disapointed that the Scots didn't gain independance, maybe they could have had a system much like our with self determination rather than the full divorce. I toured Scotland some years ago and back then the resentment of the brits by the scots was very plain to see but the English were sucking the life (in taxes) out of them. I hope life gets better for them.