budget prepares for republic

The Coalition Government has brought down a Budget paving the way for an Australian Republic supportive of women's rights.

An accompanying statement entitled 2007-08 Budget Highlights for Women, under the heading "Women's representation in decision making", explains that:

"The Government will provide $4.5 million over four years to improve the representation of women on decision-making bodies in regional Australia."

"Initiatives will include an information strategy targeted at regional boards to promote the value of diversity in decision making and a national conference and awards scheme to encourage greater participation by women."

Treasurer Peter Costello, a staunch republican, is clearly positioning the Government beyond the anachronistic policies of his royalist leader, Prime Minister John Howard, whose popularity is in free fall following a decade in which women have been disadvanted in the workplace, in childcare and with the systematic dismantling of women's services.

Costello's budget draws the nation closer to constitutional reform providing for a republic governed by women's and men's legislatures presided over by an executive of elders accompanied by courts of women's and men's jurisdiction.

9 May, 2007

2mf.net