“Support for the republic will rise, boosted by the inevitable public downgrading of the monarchy in the international backlash against colonialism and the antics of the Charles and Camilla regime,” says “The Gadfly” columnist ROBERT MACKLIN. 

IT’S vanishingly rare in a columnist’s life that a vision of the future suddenly arrives that seems so absolutely inevitable that you race for the computer to get it down before its outlines have the chance to fray.

It happened in the early hours of this morning, so here it is in a nutshell:

The campaign for the referendum on The Voice gathers momentum and passes resoundingly six months before the re-election of the current government. 

Inspired, we embark on the next step to declare a republic in which the office of Governor-General and/or head of state is replaced by an “elder” of Aboriginal heritage with no executive or electoral powers, but as Australia’s ceremonial representative. 

She or he would be chosen by the national cabinet of PM and premiers and reside for a set term at a purpose-built residence on the land currently set aside for the new prime ministerial Lodge overlooking Lake Burley Griffin.

All very nice, I hear you cry, but totally idealistic and impractical.

Well, maybe. Let’s see the barriers we need to overcome to reach it. The closer you get to them, I discovered, the more fragile they become. 

The Voice already has the backing of the government and most of the crossbench. The truth-telling has begun with Aboriginal filmmakers and supportive authors and artists from all shades of the community. 

Rachel Perkins’ “The Australian Wars” might have begun with SBS, but its effect is a starting gun that will be followed by other programs, books and artistic endeavour with powerful appeal across the social spectrum. 

Once The Voice is established under the guiding hand of a much underestimated Anthony Albanese, it will seem a very natural addendum to our system of governance. 

Support for the republic will rise accordingly, boosted by the inevitable public downgrading of the monarchy in the international backlash against colonialism and the antics of the Charles and Camilla regime.

By voting time, the Dutton-Taylor Opposition and the Anglo-Australian reactionaries will be reduced to a slim, if noisy, minority. 

But what of the form this republic might take? Surely that’s the stumbling point to split the republicans down the middle once again. Well, this is where practicality and the scientific method of peer review take centre stage. 

Let’s forget the silly nonsense of the Australian Republic Movement,  which has been run into the ground by its current leadership. Its latest model of multiple state-voting arrangements signed its own death warrant. 

More importantly, it turns out that we have already tested an exact template in miniature, right in the heart of the nation. And it’s operated without a hitch for no less than 34 years. The ACT government simply eliminated the head of state notion as some kind of constitutional or electoral referee. 

The ACT Assembly meets after an election on the third Saturday of October every four years. In its wake the Assembly elects a speaker and a chief minister who appoints her/his ministers. She/he signs the bills passed into law. 

If the chief minister resigns or loses a majority vote, the next order of business chooses a replacement. All authority rests with the elected representatives. Should some extreme constitutional issue arise, it would be resolved by the High Court.

Finally, that would allow the national cabinet – for whose prominence, in glorious irony, we must thank one Scott Morrison – to choose a figurehead to salve the wounds of national tragedy and lead the rejoicing of Australian achievement. 

And who better than a member of the First Nations to whom we owe an unrepayable debt. Now, tell me that’s not a vision splendid.

robert@robertmacklin.com