President of Australia?

The Australian: Let voters choose president: Beazley:

"Community concern over this model, which was supported by Labor, sank the republic at the time of the 1999 referendum because the pro-republican movement was split between the two models, and voters ultimately backed Prime Minister John Howard's view that constitutional change was unnecessary."

This begs the question how long after a referendum (and how much did that cost and who funded it??) is long enough before you reinvent the question and promote political interest again? Mr. Beasley seems to think we are ready for a president and a republic. The real problem needs to be resolved first. Like many countries the parties are a blur and we seem to have no real choice. Leaders don't seem to be able to last and then there are a handful which go on and on. So the way we look at it is we have no parties to choose from and no one who seems to be able to stay as a leader, either because they have a terrible past or they can beaten into a pulp by the media or they somehow manage to fall off their perch or they just stay there and stay there and stay there and they are not leading...they are being a self appointed head of state. So how is having a president going to help? And we need to wind back a bit here and ask the question...do we want a president? And then if we do want a president is it going to be one who has pots of money and can win the campaign with all that cash? We need to resolve a few other minor details first. I actually like what the Tories are doing in England at the moment where the candidates have to speak and talk and discuss and then they are voted out...like an eviction process. Seriously, we need to get some candidates and we need to have people who can speak well and at length and we need them to be rhinocerous hides and capable of surviving the media beat up. And we want them to last longer than five minutes but have a term which is reasonable...otherwise I'd rather just have a royal family and know that's what you have and be done with it. The world has all noticed that democracy is right up the spout at the moment. Let's sort that out first...and maybe choosing from a range of people rather than a range of parties might be preferable...I can just feel a Presidential Idol coming on.