SYDNEY, Australia - At first glance, Australia's current electoral preoccupation seems almost quaint. Voters are mailing in ballots to choose delegates to a 1998 constitutional convention that will decide whether the country still needs its ancient tie to the British monarchy.
But some in Australia's robust information-technology sector say the debate on the issue highlights the final passing of one Australian self-image - prisoner of Mother England - and the confirmation of another - nation bound to the huge Asian markets to the north.
For Roger Allen, a venture capitalist who has been one of Australia's most successful IT entrepreneurs, turning the nation into a republic - sans queen or king - will be among the surest signs the country has come of age.
"The future living standards of all Australians depend on how cleverly we develop and apply new technology ... breaking down the tyranny of distance, innovating, applying knowledge, online ... globally," he says on his site, IT Industry for a Republic. Allen is an Australian Republican Movement candidate running to represent New South Wales
Others aren't so sure Australia needs change - the current arrangement has worked just fine for 97 years, they argue, so why change? - and their views are getting an airing on the Net.
On a site featuring Australia's flag coupled with a crown, Australians for Constitutional Monarchy calls on the nation's citizens to keep the current combination of UK-style Westminster parliamentary system, US-style separation of federal and state powers, and a Swiss-style use of nationwide referenda on major issues.
Australia, though entirely independent, formally recognizes England's monarch as head of state. In Australia, that sovereign power is exercised through an official representative, the governor general. But the arrangement is less than meets the eye, since Australian prime ministers nominate the governors general and can direct the king or queen to get rid of them. In everyday affairs, the monarchy amounts to little more than noble profiles on the national currency.
Does the future of Australia and its info-tech industry really hang on the elections outcome? Hardly. But the election has drawn Net entrepreneurs who put some interesting spin on the issue.
IT consultant/convention candidate Bill Liao comes out with a fairly standard slam at the monarchy in his campaign materials.
"Having a powerless, alien monarch as our Australian head of state is ludicrous," he says. "They have enough problems without us."
But Liao's platform doesn't turn so much on constitutional points as his unique positioning. A half-Chinese, fourth-generation Australian, he's touting himself as a "multicultural multimedia" candidate.
