The best compromise would surely be to establish an independent Australian throne

To The Age         It seems, judging by David Crowe's analysis of the recent dinner in Canberra ("The great republican gulf", 29/11), that constitutionally Australia can best be symbolised by a limping kangaroo. The republicans are bedevilled by a major split on how a president should be elected. The monarchists are caught in an awkward position by having to support a head of state who lives on the other side of the world and is not really Australian. The country is split fifty-fifty on whether or not to go republican. To make matters worse, immigration since World War Two has made us "the nation of a thousand peoples", something good for culture and fine dining, but bad for genuine national solidity in times of peril. There is no easy way out of our invidious situation. The best compromise would surely be to establish an independent Australian throne, to be inaugurated by a young person of royal blood from the UK marrying an Australian and founding a new dynasty here.
  Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic