On November 6, 1999, the majority of Australians – around 55 per cent – voted to keep the Constitutional Monarchy. This was a disappointing result for so many Australians who had hoped that Australia would become a republic on the centenary of Federation – January 1, 2001.

In his paper, The Way Forward, Michael Lavarch states that the result of the November 1999 Republican Referendum demonstrated a number of important points:

• That a sizeable proportion of the Australian population was willing to support a proposition for a Republic in the teeth of a strong negative campaign.

• That the “iron rule” of constitutional change requiring a very high level of political and community consensus remains in force.

• That there are high levels of misunderstanding in the Australian community about the operation of the Nation’s Constitutional and Governmental structures.

Beyond this a number of reasonable assumptions can be made such as:

• A large majority of Australians do not see the Monarchy as a relevant symbol or institution for modern Australia.

• However a sizeable proportion don’t really care given the symbolism and institutional role of the Monarchy is believed to cause no identifiable material detriment to a individual’s personal circumstances.

• A not insignificant proportion of the No Vote came from people attracted to the slogan of a directly elected President.

• Perceived “disunity” among Republican Advocates was a major handicap for the Yes Campaign.

• Significant levels of alienation of the political process was effectively manipulated by the No Campaign to bolster the No Vote.
  

Please see the full text of Michael Lavarch's article for more information.