In 1999, the
Australian Government conducted a national vote regarding the
decision to break our ties with the British monarchy and become a
republic. 51% voted "No". Obviously, they were all
staunch monarchists. Yes. Every single person who voted "No" valued the
Queen of England's position in our society so highly that they believed she should not be shaken from that position.
Let me share something about Australian culture with you, o gentle noder. The Queen does very little here. Every few years she visits the country. Her face is on our legal currency. Her flag is incorporated into our
flag. We appoint a
Governor-General to interface with her. Technically we aren't truly dependent on the British monarchy as we are, and the only real difference between Australia as it is and
Australia as a republic is
aesthetics. Consequently, those relevant aesthetics would need to be changed as a result of this changeover. This could be costly.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it": nothing is technically wrong with the way Australia continues to function. In 1999, 51% of our adult populace was branded "staunch monarchist" for looking at this political and aesthetic overhaul of our country and deeming it unworthy of the
effort and expenditure involved. And 49% of our adult populace said "Yes" to eliminating our (practically non-existent)
relationship with the Queen, presumably, just
for the hell of it.