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The discussion here about having an Australian as Head of State is meaningless without also discussing the political context in which the HOS operates.
The HOS in many Constitutional models is largely a figurehead - as is the Queen in ours. He/she has little or no independent discretion. Rather, they act only on the advice of the Prime Minister. Just changing the identity of the HOS would achieve absolutely nothing. Nothing would change except the letterhead. The same old 2-party conundrum would still drive our political system and its outcomes.
There is absolutely no point in discussing a new HOS unless you also decide to modify the political model. And that is a decision that needs to come first. There is no way of doing that incrementally. You either move into a republican model in which the HOS has real power or you remain with the figurehead model in which the HOS is a ceremonial rather than substantive part of the political process. The catalyst for that kind of change is - more often than not - a post-conflict reinvention rather than some sort of consensual process. So the likelihood of change of that sort seems very, very small.
What that means is the most likely change will be a reworking of the Status Quo with only a change in the name of the HOS rather than the functions and powers. And that would be utterly pointless.
Peter
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