An Australian Republic: It’s all about the model

So, former Prime Minister Paul Keating says it is a travesty that Australia remains a monarchy.

Former PM Paul Keating. Picture: Stuart McEvoy for The Australian.

So, former Prime Minister Paul Keating says it is a travesty that Australia remains a monarchy.

He blames subsequent Prime Ministers for this travesty, but accepts no blame himself for running the wrong model in 1999.

It was obviously the wrong model because a large majority of Australians voted no to the model even though they wanted a republic.

When will this man ever learn?

Running the 1999 model again would be a disaster. It offered no direct election and gave the Prime Minister the power to fire the Head of State without notice or grounds.

What a joke.

Keating should have listened to Kim Beazley at the time and now to Gough Whitlam.

Gough Whitlam wrote some years later to Peter Beattie to say the only way we will ever get a republic to offer the people's preference of direct election.

The Republic of Ireland demonstrates that the people's preferred direct election model works and works well in a Westminster system.

By David Muir