But what is a republic? A nation, where the head of state is a citizen of that country and was chosen because of their efforts and achievements, is a republic. If the head of state was chosen because of their birthright, then the system of government would be called a monarchy. Australia is a monarchy and the Queen of England is our head of state. The Governor-General is the representative of the Queen in Australia and he or she is appointed by the Prime Minister.
Australia is a monarchy because it was colonized by the British in 1778. With them, they brought their lifestyles, culture and system of government. This type of government has remained up to this day. The reason why some Australians say that we should become a republic is because they believe that we have become independent as a country and own our own name, instead of being another part of Brittan. They believe that we need a change, considering that Australia has changed greatly since 1778.
There aren 't too many difficulties for Australia becoming a republic. A big change in government as a directly elected president would require the comprehensive re-writing of the Australian constitution, clear explanation of the powers of the president, the prime minister and the parliament though. There is also the problem of the cost of replacing all currency to remove the Queen 's face from coins, but, we would have to replace all the currency when the Queen died anyway to put the new royal face on.
For:
Becoming a republic benefits businesses and the economy. International trade is becoming increasingly competitive and the way Australia positions itself as a nation is important. When the Queen travels overseas she promotes British companies and British trade, not Australian interests.
Using South Africa for an example, becoming a republic does not mean that we won 't be part of the Commonwealth. Countries like India and South Africa have are
Bibliography: http://www.actnow.com.au/Issues/Australian_republic_debate.aspx http://my.integritynet.com.au/purdic/vivalarepublic.htm http://home.alphalink.com.au/~eureka/case2.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_republicanism http://www.republic.org.au/homepagehtml.htm http://www.norepublic.com.au/