Want an Australian republic? Let's get rid of the oligarchs first

We could go further. Just as Americans elect their county judges, district attorneys and sheriffs, why don't we have elections for important local officials and executives who are currently appointed by the government, making them accountable to those populations? What of the judiciary? The controversy surrounding the appointment of John Dyson Heydon as a judge on the High Court to replace Mary Gaudron suggests that such sensitive selections might better be made by a two-thirds majority of parliamentarians. This would ensure cross-party approval and maintain the separation of the executive and judicial branches of the Commonwealth - though such a change would require a referendum.

If the Australian people are to make the huge leap from a monarchy to a republic, they will want it to be worth it. The replacement of one oligarchy with another is insufficient reason to jump. But a wholesale democratisation of our old system of government may just inspire.

So far, republicans have talked about political abstracts that leave punters bored, but everyone is interested in having a say over forces that shape their daily lives, whether it be transport, hospitals, schools, the police or the workplace.

Best of all, introducing elections for the boards of Commonwealth or state authorities does not require a change to the constitution. A brave party could go to an election with this policy and win a mandate for change.

Minimalist republicans say direct election of a president will be over their dead bodies. But the opposition to a movement for grass-roots self-government will expose Peter Costello, Bob Carr and the rest of the governing club for the oligarchs they are.