The Queen

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Details: Written by: Richard_McKie; Parent Category: Travel; Category: Europe; Published: 19 August 2013; Hits: 40755

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Acts of the British Parliament guided its six Australian colonies from local suffrage through to Federation in 1901. Australia therefore traces its legal and political system; and many of its institutions back to Britain. To this day we rely on the British monarch to act as our nominal Head of State; appointing the State Governors and the Australian Governor General, on the recommendation of the various governments, as de facto Heads of State.

Government House Sydney - the closest thing to a palace

This will continue until a mandate is achieved, requiring a majority of electors in both the individual States and the Commonwealth, to arrive at an alternative method of appointing State Governors; and a President to replace the Governor General. Republicans can't agree on either: an elected; or indirectly appointed head of State; or on the powers that might be added to, or removed from, the position of President.

I for one, certainly don't want to see yet another politician, with yet another competing electoral mandate, in the job of de facto monarch. A practical alternative might be a US style 'separation of powers' but that would require excising the Executive from the Parliament; and 'hell will freeze over' before the various Australian Parliaments and their majority leaders (Premiers and Prime Minister) give up their Ministers of State; together with control of the Public Service and executive power. British and New Zealand and Canadian Republicans face the same problem.

So Betty remains our Queen de jure into the foreseeable future, with Chuck and Will; and little Georgy Porgy to follow. We can still get excited about royal weddings; and babies; and see the trooping of the colours; or the changing of the guard; or the presence of the royal standard over Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle or Holyrood Palace; and flotillas down the Thames; all relevant to us as well.

The Mall; Buckingham Palace; Holyrood Palace; Edinburgh Castle

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Travel

Malaysia

In February 2011 we travelled to Malaysia. I was surprised to see modern housing estates in substantial numbers during our first cab ride from the Airport to Kuala Lumpur. It seemed more reminiscent of the United Arab Emirates than of the poorer Middle East or of other developing countries in SE Asia. Our hotel was similarly well appointed.

Fiction, Recollections & News

Australia's Hydrogen Economy

As anyone who has followed my website knows, I'm not a fan of using 'Green Hydrogen' (created by the electrolysis of water - using electricity) to generate electricity.

I've nothing against hydrogen. It's the most abundant element in the universe. And I'm very fond of water (hydrogen oxide or more pedantically: dihydrogen monoxide). It's just that there is seldom a sensible justification for wasting most of one's electrical energy by converting it to hydrogen and then back to electricity again.

I've made the argument against the electrolysis (green) route several times since launching this website fifteen years ago; largely to deaf ears.

The exception made in the main article (linked below) is where a generator has a periodic large unusable surpluses in an environment unsuitable for batteries. In the past various solutions have been attempted like heat storage in molten salt. But where there is a plentiful fresh water supply, producing hydrogen for later electricity generation is another option. Also see: How does electricity work? - Approaches to Electricity Storage

Two of these conditions apply in South Australia that frequently has excess electricity (see the proportion of non-hydro renewables chart below). The State Government, with unspecified encouragement from the Prime Minister and the Commonwealth, has offered A$593m to a private consortium to build a 200MW, 100t hydrogen storage at Whyalla. Yet, the State already has some very large batteries, with which this facility is unlikely to be able to compete commercially. Time will tell.

Opinions and Philosophy

The Origin of Life - according to God

Back in April 2013 I had another visit from our neighbourhood Jehovah's Witnesses, a pretty young woman and her husband, recently married. Like Daniel (mentioned elsewhere on this website) before them, they had brought copies of The Watchtower and Awake; which I agreed to read if they were prepared to read my paper: The Prospect of Eternal Life.

I keep a couple of copies of The Prospect of Eternal Life for just such occasions and have also given a copy to the local Anglican minister and to various other active proselytisers in the area; with similar conditions. Of course I know it will not change their position but I do like to have the debate and amazingly so do they; it beats the usual reception they get; and they get some practice in trying to convert un-believers.

When the couple asked my position I quickly summarised that in The Prospect of Eternal Life:

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