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The Parliament has put out for public discussion a draft Constitution for eAustralia which can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/yf933uf.

My submission on the eAusrepublik forum follows below:

At the outset can I say congratulations Xavier on putting together this draft Constitution for eAustralia. It is a massive task and thank you for spending the time doing it. As a lawyer by trade, I can say the process of drafting is tedious and consumes enormous mental energy.

There are three fundamental issues I want to raise for consideration:

1.) The Constitution should make a clear disctinction between mechanics which can be enforced via eRepublik and the secondary layer of the game as it operates via the eAus forum as the former has a far greater level of seriousness.

2.) Procedural matters do not belong in a Constitution (unless these relate to voting and other fundamental rules of determining power and positions in the country). A Constituton is the bedrock of a country's legal system and should be primarily concerned with the creation of institutions and positions, inalienable rights and the government's legislative powers. Their methods of operation are then dealt with by legislation.

3.) In relation to the process for holding of a referendum, the threshold for success (85😵 is extremely high. The Australian Constitution only requires a majority of voters and a majority of states. It is common practice in company and associations law to require a two-thirds majority for passing of a special resolution which would change a company's/association's Constitution. (Who will be in charge of determing the referendum's result? Who will be in charge of administering the referendum?)

Really the bulk of the document is a compendium of critical legislation which in itself may be helpful for the citizens to have available to them but not in the Constitution. It seems that much of the structure to the draft Constituton has been taken from the actual Australian Constitution and this is a great place to start. I would urge that more of the principles applied in the Australian Constitution be adopted for this document.

I really appreciate your effeort and will help in any way I can.