MARK ALDRIDGE

The Alliance LOGO, in the spirit of Eureka!

The Alliance as a whole basis its momentum and creation around democracy in its true meaning, government by the people, and the Eureka Stockade is well known as the birth place of democracy in Australia, it matters not who has used the flag in the past, its meaning should never be compromised by way of miss use or interpretation.

Sir Robert Menzies repeatedly wove Eureka into his speeches and said that the uprising was an "earnest attempt at democratic government". Ben Chifley once wrote, "Eureka was the first real affirmation of our determination to be masters of our own political destiny”.

The Alliance stands for Unity of the people for the people. Gough Whitlam prophesied "an event like Eureka, with all its associations, with all its potent symbolism, will come to acquire an aura of excitement and romance, and stir the imagination of the Australian people".

And the US author Mark Twain once described Eureka as "the finest thing in Australian history - a struggle for a principle, a stand against injustice and oppression"

The Alliance Australia, is all about revisiting our grass roots, remembering a time when the people stood united in the defense of their most basic rights, we as a nation have gone to war over democracy, and our forefathers risked life and limb to protect these fundamental values.

The only right we genuinely have when it comes to the direction of our fine nation, is that of our precious vote, with our chief high court justice at a boyer lecture saying “If change be necessary, it must be by the Free will of an Informed electorate”. This being the core value of the Alliance. In recent decades, Eureka has been appropriated by a number of hard-left unions (including the Builders' Laborers Federation in the 1980s), and by certain right-wing nationalist groups (such as National Action in the 1990s). But the mere fact that fringe

Australian groups have co-opted a national story should not prevent us from reclaiming it. These groups no more own the story of Eureka than veterans groups own Anzac, or the racing fraternity owns the tale of Phar Lap.

The Eureka uprising is remarkably similar to another patriotic event, in the move toward US independence, the Boston Tea Party, which saw the aggrieved American colonists protest against "taxation without representation" by dumping British tea into Boston Harbor. Eureka was a struggle for democratic rights against arbitrary colonial rule, which ultimately won for the miner’s political representation on the goldfields and eventually the franchise within the colony of Victoria.

The Alliance believes these same struggles face us more so now than ever, with the people feeling increasingly disenfranchised by our current electoral system, with its Must attend, Must prefer all the candidates, with out free and fair access to exactly who all these budding representatives actually are.

When one of the major political parties says a vote for them will result in one-road forwards, then immediately after being elected, they can simply ignore such promise, it is no wonder apathy is the result, as most have simply given up on any chance of change.One of the issues raised by such false promise during recent studies, it has become apparent that Australia is subject to binding contracts with the United Nations, contracts that neither of the major parties appear to be able to undo, yet not one Australian was asked if were willing to give up our Sovereignty to any non elected entity, other values like our representatives ignoring our constitution when taking their seat as our representatives in parliament, by refusing to take the prescribed oath, have also not faced a referendum of the people.

The miners' protest at Eureka, and the political results that they achieved, in turn inspired that other great movement in the history of Australian democracy, the women's suffrage movement of the 1880s and 1890s. This is why Australians, men and women alike, should celebrate Eureka as the birthplace of Australian democracy.Perhaps the most important aspect of the Eureka uprising - at least for the purposes of modern Australian national identity - was the strong strain of republicanism prevalent amongst the miners.

In 1848, revolutions that had swept through Europe, and republican tracts were also becoming more readily available throughout the colonies. The fact the Ballarat Reform League dared fly the Eureka flag and possibly even drafted a declaration of independence suggests the Eureka uprising was the first conscious step in the direction of Australian republicanism and Australian independence. As the Ballarat Times wrote in 1854, "The League have undertaken a mighty task, fit only for a great people - that of changing the dynasty of the country."

The Australian Alliance has similar goals for our future, somewhat akin to the Reform League, we fly our own version of the flag, with the sole intent of uniting the disenfranchised voters, to empower them to again cast a free and informed vote. Until we can elect the truly patriotic candidates to make change from with in parliament, in regards to genuine freedom of choice and fair play with in the electoral system itself, we can at least tackle the peoples right to become adequately informed.

The Alliance believes there are many ways we could incorporate the Eureka legend and its trappings into our everyday lives. Our rather limp citizenship oath could be revitalized with a fragment of the bold Eureka oath: "We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and to defend our rights and liberties." And if we are to become a republic - as one day, may become the case - what better flag to choose than the Eureka flag?

The Labor party when recently caught playing dirty games with our democratic process, while being questioned by the media on their deliberate dodgy practices, replied “These questions are better answered by philosophers” I say they should be answered by genuine accountability brought about by the people.

Democracy is the corner stone of society, and our right to vote is an integral right of any free citizen, so the Alliance as a grass roots movement, should be embraced by any Australian who demands their entitlement to vote, to be just and free one, and our government to be of the people for the people.

The pledge of the Alliance is our declaration for the people of the people, to uphold our rights and liberties, our constitution and our electoral system, to defend, protect and police democracy, to encourage independent thought and participation in our electoral process, and to ensure only the best candidates are elected, by the “Free will of an Informed electorate”

Mark Aldridge

Proud Alliance supporter