Foxy,
Using Ireland as an example is very good.
The Irish President has almost no power, almost purely a symbolic post, yet that did not stop Mary Robinson from blackmailing the Prime Minister and forcing him to do what she wanted.
She simply told him that if he didn’t do what he was told then she would resign in protest, force an election for President and tell the/ Nation why she had done it.
He wilted and she got her way.
No interfering in the political process at all, at all.

An umpire on interpreting the Constution is not done by popular Vote that is How Biden or Trump was given power. It means we need a school of Constution Lawyers who can represent our values and hold governing powers to account, who has the power to appoint and dismiss those violating the Constution.

A fly by night popular sports person might become president but not know the law of Government and agreement to administer the Constution. That is how Republics function - on popular Vote, not on a person established in Constutional Law. Name one Republic where all people irrespective of politics accept their President, like the Gueen of Australia is held as seperate from Politics.

We all know that actual history and facts are not quite the concerns of Paul and Foxy. But just for the sake of proprietary...

By the time the British arrived in Barbados, the Spanish and Portuguese had already been there for a century. Those natives not taken by the Spaniards to the mainland as slaves, fled the island to avoid that fate. Thus by the the time British turned up, there were very few natives remaining. The notion that the British impoverished and/or enslaved the natives is fanciful. But we know that some people just fabricate history to conform with what they want to be true.

Its very true that there were slaves in Barbados but they weren't the natives. In the main, at least in the earliest period, they were Irish slaves. That applied equally to the British colonies on the mainland.

If Barbados wants out, that's their call, although I suspect its more in the interests of the elite who would just as soon not having someone monitoring their corruption. The history of ex-colonies severing all links isn't good - especially for the poorer members of that community...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Zimbabwe

I wonder if some Australians naively think that a switch to a republic would somehow make things better. But, the same people who have reduced the country to a liberal democracy in name only over the past two decades of the 21st. Century will be the same ones making the new rules, writing a new Constitution. Whereas the Royal Family after Queen Elizabeth might be inbred idiots with big ears and noses, they have no real say in Australia. Our own idiots do. The advice to be careful what you wish for is very germane to this matter.

Politicians and their advisors have a very narrow background which is not representative of the general population. Our current Constitution is the only thing giving us some protection from them.

Most Australians who are politically active are of the Left. An ANU study found that "while only 7 per cent of the population is categorised as 'highly engaged', the left makes up 70 per cent of this small group. This means that less than 5 per cent of the population are exerting a significant amount of control and influence over the other 95 per cent". This constitutes minority rule.

Philosopher Nassim Taleb says that an intransigent minority with a significant commitment to, or belief in, what they are doing only need to reach a minutely small percentage of the population - less than 5 per cent - for the entire population to submit to their preferences.

This finding is borne out by the fact that the 'right' of politics has been in government for 75% of the time since WW11, but we are "nonetheless where we are today". And, just as it has taken many decades (for the Left to undermine and denigrate Australian society despite right-of-centre governments), it will also take a long time to repair the damage - supposing there is a will to do so.

A largely symbolic monarchy or a republic? The last thing we should be thinking about.

Australians couldn't handle a Republic because Republics have a National Service.
Our tattooed, nose ring & facial stud adorned are from the Centrelink Army & wouldn't last a day in a National Service !

one absolute crIteria for an elected President is that all who have ever been elected to either State or Federaj parliaments should be banned