As in '99, opponents of a republic with an Australian head of state will complain that consulting the people is a waste of time and money. They will argue that a plebiscite process is a constitutional con. They will say that unless we have the British monarchy at the apex of our system that the sky will fall in, that our democracy will be threatened and our security and stability undermined. They will assert that the Australian people themselves cannot be trusted with our constitutional future.
Monarchists will argue all these things. They will argue anything they can to scare the Australian people away from thinking and talking about an Australian - one of our own - as head of state.
But we’ve heard it all before; they’ve got nothing new to say.
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Monarchists are scared of a plebiscite process because - finally - we’re going to debate the real issue: do we want King Charles III or an Australian, one of our own, as our future head of state?
The original of this article was broadcast as a Perspective on ABC Radio National on 31 August 2004.
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