People turned out in droves, many in appalling weather, to catch a glimpse of the royals as they toured Australia.

But as a system of government, there are arguments for and against the monarchy.

Labor’s suggestion to hold a plebiscite, if elected after the next federal election, to determine whether Australians want to change from a monarchy to a republic seems like they are encouraging change for change’s sake.

There’s very little doubt that our government, and arguably our political system, is fractured but there is no clear plan as yet as to how this proposed new form of government would look. If Labor were to present the people with a structure for an Australian republic and how it would look, it would be a lot easier to cast a vote for or against it.

But as it stands, they want to spend $160 million on merely asking people to express an opinion.

Many Australians would agree that the country needs stronger political leadership but very few would be able to say exactly how that should manifest.

It is hard to ask people to vote for or against a system of government when they haven been given no clue on what it would look like on a practical level.

The last time a government tried to amend the constitution was in 1999 and even then, republicans were confused as to whether the new Australian head of state would be elected by the people or parliament, which swayed a lot of votes.

Last time we went to the polls on this issue, there were two questions. The one asking if we should become a republic had an overall national vote of 54.87 per cent no, and 45.13 per cent yes. Neither a majority of Australian voters nor a majority of voters in a majority of States approved the proposed constitutional change. 

Let’s also not forget the sum that Labor is willing to spend on this – a whopping $160 million.

Education, health care, roads and infrastructure – is there really nothing better that we could be spending that money on?

There’s not much doubt our government needs a shake-up and changing to a republic system might be the solution but the planned way to get there seems to be full of holes for now.