Why I am a monarchist

In Australia's republic referendum in 1999, I voted "yes" to become a republic. But over the last 12 years I've swung completely around on the question, and I am now a confirmed monarchist. What has changed? It's not through any particular affection for the royal family. But I've read a lot of history over the last decade, and I've come to realise that a stable system of government is not something you should take for granted. Look through history, and you will see that people are inventing new governments all the time. Most of them fail, and the ones that succeed only do so after a lot of pain. Australia is lucky - we inherited a good working system from Britain, a system which had been refined over the course of hundreds of years. I can't see any reason to substantially changed a constitution that has worked so well for over a hundred years. Nothing to gain - and lots to lose if we get it wrong...