Mark Laudi tells it like it is on Brexit, Trump and concerns about overpopulation in Australia

John Howard's much maligned 1998 constitutional convention to examine whether Australia should become a republic seems like a very sensible plan, compared to the total shambles of the Brexit vote. The then-PM brought the outcomes from that convention to the Australian public in a referendum 19 years ago this month.

At the time, it seemed like a clever way for the pro-Monarchist Liberal Party leader to divide and conquer the republican movement (ironically headed up by a later Liberal Party leader, the penultimate Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull).

But in hindsight, Howard's approach was clearly better when deciding on issues of national importance - certainly when you compare it to the train wreck Brexit is turning out to be.

Better still: the UK government should have ignored the Brexit vote, just as it ignored Western Australia's successful vote to secede from the Commonwealth of Australia in 1933?

Here are my thoughts on this, and other stories of the week, on Jason Dasey's weekend morning show on MONEY FM 89.3.

In all the discussion about the state of the media, and how Facebook and Twitter should do more to prevent fake news being posted on their platforms, my view is we're missing the point. Sure, journalists need to check their facts and report objectively. But at a time that social media is all but drowning out traditional reporting, controlling the commentary is an act of futility. If we can't influence the senders of news, our focus should shift to influencing their receivers. We should place more emphasis on educating news consumers so they become more media savvy.

I argue the case in Part II of Jason Dasey's morning show.