Just this week we have seen several state premiers sign a letter in support of the Australian Republican Movement. But the fact that they signed the letter personally, rather than as leaders of their respective parliamentary parties, is not reported.

When South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill, was asked what sort of republic model he supported, his response was underwhelming: “I haven’t directed my mind to that.”

Well, isn’t that the key point? If you are selling a car, people are entitled to know what sort of car.

These words encapsulate the tragically ill-informed nature of this debate. Putting aside for a ­moment whether you support the monarchy or a republic, there is a gold standard built into our Constitution for changing it. This was designed to protect the interests of Tasmania and the other smaller states. A majority of people in a majority of states must support any change.

That is how constitutional change has happened since 1901. At least one of the smaller states must join with the three larger states for any constitutional change to succeed.

But now we are being pressed by the ARM and others to have a plebiscite. What is a plebiscite? It is poll where a simple majority of voters determines the result. 

Enrolment figures from the Australian Electoral Commission show that the number of voters in NSW and Victoria is more than the total number in all other states combined.

A plebiscite could therefore potentially override voter sentiment in the smaller states.

So it’s strange that the Premier of South Australia is so eager to brush aside the more substantive question of what should replace the current system.

It is simply not good enough to say, as the ARM’s national chairman does, that we should change the system because of some vague concept of “national maturity”.

The flawed extension of this logic is that we should make a change by enhancing the voting authority of the bigger states over the smaller states, and “let’s worry about the detail later”.

It simply isn’t good enough. Australians are not mugs. They will support change only when they are convinced of two things: its necessity, and that the consequences of the change have been thoroughly scrutinised.

The great thing about Australia Day is that there will be an impressive national celebration: not just in the big cities, but also ­thousands of events in the smallest ­localities.

These celebrations, big and small, will be marked by focusing on what is best about our ­nation.

That is our strength. Every Australian is equally important, not just those who live in the big cities in the biggest states.

By all means have a debate about our system of government, but let’s have one that is informed. Let’s have one that treats all of the states in our wonderful federation equally, as has been the case since 1901. And let’s have no more talk of a plebiscite, where the big cities of Sydney and Melbourne could largely determine the outcome.

Andrew Nikolic is the federal member for Bass. He is a former senior Australian Army officer and first assistant secretary in the Defence Department