Republicans flag new model in renewed push to sever ties with royal family after Harry and Meghan interview

He said the ARM would hold a national convention or congress, inspired by the Australasian federal conventions of the late 1890s, to finalise the model.

Phil Cleary, a prominent, direct election republican who opposed the minimalist model adopted for the 1999 referendum, said any future referendum would be doomed to fail unless republicans gave people the model they wanted.

In the last referendum, voters were asked whether they supported changing the constitution to replace the Queen and the governor-general with a president appointed by two-thirds of parliamentarians. The question was rejected by a majority of voters in all states and territories.

Mr Cleary said public faith in the Parliament had diminished since then. He cited the fracturing along party lines of the Parliament’s response towards allegations of harassment and sexual violence against women as the most recent example.

“The people do not have sufficient respect for the Parliament to accept that Parliament to appoint the president,” said Mr Cleary, a former independent MP.

“Wouldn’t it be a beautiful thing to have an independent thinking person to step forward and discuss major questions instead of them being driven by tribal politics? They [the ARM] have to accept this is what the people want. If they don’t, they are not worth bothering with.”

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, the public face of the republican movement at the time of the 1999 referendum, responded to the Harry and Megan interview by reiterating his call for a fresh vote on constitutional arrangements once the Queen’s reign ends.

Fitzsimons said it was “absurd” to think the next in line to the throne, Prince Charles, was no longer on speaking terms with his own son. He said every royal scandal served to remind Australians, particularly younger voters, that our head of state is a foreigner.

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Australians for Constitutional Monarchy spokesman Bryan Stertern-Gill said earlier this week that, although the Oprah Winfrey interview was a “shame”, it would not diminish support for the monarchy in Australia.

At the time of the 1999 referendum, the popularity of the royal family was at a low ebb.

Princess Diana had died two years earlier and Prince Charles had publicly stepped out with his then mistress and now wife, Camilla Parker Bowles.

Mr Cleary said problems inside the House of Windsor were a weak argument for a republic.

“If we think it is just about getting rid of the royal family, we are back where we started.”