The Australian Republican Movement’s (ARM) recently revealed model for a republic is as unsurprising as it is bad – which probably goes a long way to explain why it was released while the country has been distracted by Djokovic, staff shortages, and rising case numbers.

It removes Australia from the familial bonds of a millennium-old institution – an institution that has evolved alongside our parliamentary democracy, our system of laws, our language, our culture, and our very way of life – and instead gives us a president chosen by politicians.