On the day in April when he named trailblazing business leader Sam Mostyn as the country’s 28th governor-general, Anthony Albanese was asked about when Australian citizens might choose their own head of state.

Despite his long-held support for a republic, the prime minister conceded that Labor – bruised by the defeat of the Indigenous Voice to parliament – had abandoned its plans for a second-term referendum to remove the monarchy and pressed on defending Australia’s constitutional arrangements.