One of Us

One of Us: An Australian Head of State is a timely contribution to the republican debate by leading academics and essayists from Tim Soutphommasane and Greg Barns to John Warhurst, edited by Damien Kingsbury.Shouldn’t Australia have an Australian head of state? After all, we are a sovereign nation with a distinct identity, outlook and set of interests. Isn’t the hereditary nature of the English monarchy directly at odds with our proudly held conceptions of egalitarianism and a ‘fair go’? To the contributors of One of Us: An Australian Head of State the answer is obvious: we should become a republic. This erudite and comprehensive collection of essays canvasses all the constitutional and legal issues associated with the republican argument from Australian identity, to our changing ethnicity, and notions of civic nationalism.Professor Damien Kingsbury holds a Personal Chair in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Deakin University and is Director of the Centre for Citizenship, Development and Human Rights in the Faculty of Arts, Deakin University. Professor Kingsbury is the author or editor of more than two dozen books on regional politics and security issues, has coordinated international election observation missions, advised various international groups on conflict resolution and is a regular media commentator on international politics. A democratic egalitarian, Professor Kingsbury has long been passionate about Australian political processes but, until now, has restrained his public impulses in that direction.