Hopes that Australia could become a republic and replace the British monarch as head of state are resting on a handful of votes on the last day of the Constitutional Convention.
After a day of high drama, delegates yesterday finally chose the compromise republican model for which Australians could be asked to vote to replace the existing constitutional monarchy. But bitter splits in the ranks over whether any president should be appointed by the federal parliament or elected by the people have taken the final outcome of the two-week summit to the wire.
"We argue that the crown of Australia should descend on the head of every Australian," said Mr Patrick O'Brien of the Elect The President group. However, the Australian Republican Movement's (ARM) victorious model beat off three other plans, including Mr O'Brien's, after delegates voted 75-71 for it, with four abstentions.
The tight vote is significant because the Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, has said the 40 million Australian dollars convention must produce a "clear majority" in favour of one model before he will call a referendum which would allow the people to radically change the 1901 Constitution.
The ARM-led proposal would see a president appointed by two-thirds of MPs after candidates had been nominated by the public and vetted by a committee. The model emerged at the 11th hour in tough talks with renegade republicans in a bid to stop the convention ending in chaos.
The monarchists, who are in a minority, have been happy to sit on the side lines and egg on the republican in-fighting. In a referendum, any republican model must be passed by a majority of Australians in a majority of the six states. The monarchists are confident of winning, pointing out that only eight of the 44 referendums this century have been passed.
Ms Sophie Panopoulos of Australians for a Constitutional Monarchy said of the ARM proposal: "When you put two completely different republican dogs in one room, you get a mongrel."
Delegates demanding a direct election have said they will campaign against the ARM plan if it is ever put to the people. A referendum is expected to take place in late 1999 so a new president could be appointed in time to open the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games instead of the British monarch.
One of the most vocal of the group, Mr Paul Tully from Queensland, said the model had no mandate because it had not been approved by an absolute majority of the 152 delegates. He said there should either be another constitutional convention or the people should choose their own style of republic in a non-binding plebiscite.
"The people of Australia will not cop a president appointed by the politicians in Canberra," he said. "I do not support a Mickey Mouse republic where the politicians appoint the president."
A leading monarchist, Ms Kerry Jones, said many delegates who considered themselves "emotional republicans" were turning against the latest model. She said the monarchists had always said if in doubt delegates should throw out an unsafe republican plan and stick with the status quo.
"It's a disastrous model. It doesn't shape up to the safeguards we have already got. It would see the politicians have to agree on the president. It has very real risks in it. It's full of flaws," she said.
Today in crucial votes the convention will have to decide if it wants to recommend that the ARM model should go to a referendum. Mr Howard, who is a committed republican, will then have to decide if the majority is clear enough to justify the exercise.
A constitutional convention voted overwhelmingly in Canberra today in favour of severing Australia's 210-year-old links to Britain to become a republic by January 1st, 2001.