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Australian TV: The Birther Barrier Is Holding Parliament Back; Obama Not The Only One
Birther Report
9/15/2014
Excerpt:
Grant Wyeth @ Australia's Drum TV writes: The 'birther' barrier is holding Parliament back
The campaign asking Tony Abbott to reveal whether he's a dual citizen is ridiculous, but it serves to highlight how outdated our constitution is in our globalised age, writes Grant Wyeth.
In recent weeks political website, Independant Australia, has been publishing articles asking for Tony Abbott to reveal whether he is a dual citizen. It's been dubbed a "birther" cause, after the campaign to "prove" Barack Obama was not born on US soil (a prerequisite the US presidency).
However, as there is no question of where Abbott was born (not that there was with Obama), it is more like a "passporter" movement.
Birth is not a requirement to political office in Australia: six prime ministers have been born in the UK, and one in Chile (technically any prime minister born before 1901 was not born in Australia either). However, holding dual citizenship currently disqualifies someone from being a member of parliament, according to Article 44(i) of the Constitution.
There is a general sense that this campaign is ridiculous. Frankly, if you can't find more substantive issues to be critical of the prime minister then you're not paying much attention. However, this has brought one important issue to light, and that is Article 44(i) of the Constitution is completely outdated, has no real place in modern Australia, and should be rescinded.
The premise behind the article comes from an era where pompous ideas about "national loyalty" were predominant. The nation-state was yet to do the worst of its damage and still had some credibility. Granted, the concept of a "hostile state" was very real and did need to be acknowledge. However, since the end of the Cold War the number of hostile states has been reduced dramatically to only a few. The idea of a "common humanity" exists in our current era more than ever. [...] Continued @ Drum TV.
View the complete Birther Report presentation at:
http://www.birtherreport.com/2014/09...arrier-is.html
Birther Report
9/15/2014
Excerpt:
Grant Wyeth @ Australia's Drum TV writes: The 'birther' barrier is holding Parliament back
The campaign asking Tony Abbott to reveal whether he's a dual citizen is ridiculous, but it serves to highlight how outdated our constitution is in our globalised age, writes Grant Wyeth.
In recent weeks political website, Independant Australia, has been publishing articles asking for Tony Abbott to reveal whether he is a dual citizen. It's been dubbed a "birther" cause, after the campaign to "prove" Barack Obama was not born on US soil (a prerequisite the US presidency).
However, as there is no question of where Abbott was born (not that there was with Obama), it is more like a "passporter" movement.
Birth is not a requirement to political office in Australia: six prime ministers have been born in the UK, and one in Chile (technically any prime minister born before 1901 was not born in Australia either). However, holding dual citizenship currently disqualifies someone from being a member of parliament, according to Article 44(i) of the Constitution.
There is a general sense that this campaign is ridiculous. Frankly, if you can't find more substantive issues to be critical of the prime minister then you're not paying much attention. However, this has brought one important issue to light, and that is Article 44(i) of the Constitution is completely outdated, has no real place in modern Australia, and should be rescinded.
The premise behind the article comes from an era where pompous ideas about "national loyalty" were predominant. The nation-state was yet to do the worst of its damage and still had some credibility. Granted, the concept of a "hostile state" was very real and did need to be acknowledge. However, since the end of the Cold War the number of hostile states has been reduced dramatically to only a few. The idea of a "common humanity" exists in our current era more than ever. [...] Continued @ Drum TV.
View the complete Birther Report presentation at:
http://www.birtherreport.com/2014/09...arrier-is.html