With thanks to Quadrant and the author for permission to publish this excellent essay here. Originally published in Quadrant, May 1998.

This article appeared at a time when the Constitutional Convention to debate Australia becoming a republic had been convened (in February 1998) and when the NEITHER! campaign, which is referred to in the article, had earlier challenged Australia’s ‘two party dictatorship’.

It holds good as a critique of the Republican Movement in Australia, which has lost much ground since 1998, especially among young people.

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