I'll also remind you, ttbn, that if anyone (including moi) gets too "nasty pasty" on this forum, they're likely to find themselves sin-binned by Graham in a short sharp suspension....so you might like to keep that in mind.

Grow up!

//Grow up!//

ROFLMAO.

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Australia - republic or constitutional monarchy ?

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Australia :

Australia's formal name is the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia is both a representative democracy and a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as Australia's head of state (http://www.australia.gov.au/about-government/how-government-works)

Republic:

A state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch (OED)

Constitutional Monarchy/ Limited Monarchy/ Parliamentary Monarchy/ Crowned Republic :

System of government in which a monarch (see monarchy) shares power with a constitutionally organized government. The monarch may be the de facto head of state or a purely ceremonial leader. The constitution allocates the rest of the government’s power to the legislature and judiciary (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Monarchy :

Political system based upon the undivided sovereignty or rule of a single person. The term applies to states in which supreme authority is vested in the monarch, an individual ruler who functions as the head of state and who achieves his position through heredity. Succession usually passes from father to son or follows other arrangements within the family or the monarchical dynasty (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
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The principal if not the only difference between a republic and a monarchy is that the former is a democracy and the latter, a dictatorship (more or less absolute, more or less authoritarian and tyrannical, or more or less enlightened and benevolent.

A constitutional monarchy is a mixture of both, in proportions that vary from one country to another. In Australia, I should put it at roughly 95% republic and 5% monarchy.

We almost already have a republic, ipso facto. The debate is just about the residual 5%.

If Keating had won the election in 1996 he would have finished the job but Howard won by 53.63% to 46.37%. The no vote on the republic referendum in 1999 was roughly the same: 54.87% to 45.13%.

People voted as follows :

http://dictionary.sensagent.com/Australian%20republic%20referendum,%201999/en-en/
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Constitutional monarchy has been a good transition but I think we should not just stop there but emancipate ourselves completely and become a full democracy.

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Very enlightening, Banjo, but what are the advantages?

What would the operation cost?

Could the money be better spent?

There are no concrete advantages to becoming a republic. Not one has been given by any of the proponents. There is, although, a huge disadvantage, and that is the massive cost of changing everything. Actually, there are two disadvantages: we would gain another bloody politician plus entourage.