1. I'm a constitutional monarchist, but I for one agree that Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the twelve other countries that has HM as monarch should become republics - why? Because I find it strange that you can have a foreigner as head of state, but Bill Shorten could have had the decency to wait to after the Queen's death.
2. The reason for him (Bill Shorten) to start with this now is because he thinks he can win votes on it, while the even more republican Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull thinks he would loose votes on it due to the Queen's popularity and therefore wants to wait to after her death. Turnbull was (as you of course know) one of the founders of the Australian Republican Movement in 1991, but now describes himself as an Elizabethan.
3. There have been some polls on australian news-sites today and most of them show a lead for the monarchists (not to be taken seriously, i know). I also read the Facebook comments on ABC/Sky News Australia sites, and the vast majority were negative to spend a lot of money on this as long as the Queen lives.
4. And according to the two monarchists organisations and others, more young voters support the monarchy.
Maybe a vote in NZ because it is our neighbour and a country with which we have a very special relationship. Remember that NZ actually was asked to join us at the time of Federation and voted 'thanks but no thanks'.
Canada - I doubt it. We hardly ever get any news from there and it is seen as being part of America (I suspect that many Aussies wouldn't even know that Canada is part of the Commonwealth e.g. there was virtually no coverage in Australia of Canada's 150th birthday celebrations.
Then again I have seen many people claim that The Queen would be sad to see a country become a republic ignoring the fact that she has seen it many times during her reign as most of the countries of which she was Queen when she ascended the throne have already removed her from that position with quite a few of those left actively talking about dropping her.
We would probably get more coverage of Jamaica or Barbardos - due to the fact that these two countries play cricket and thus have a more regular sporting connection - than with Canada that we only seem to compete against at the Commonwealth or Olympic Games.
As usual, I very much disagree with you.
1. I very much doubt that australians see Canada as being part of America.
2. Yes, she have seen other realms go. But that was countries that became independent after she ascended to the throne, with the exception of Ceylon, Pakistan and South Africa, which already was independent when she become the monarch. The last independent realm who replaised her with another head of state was Mauritius in 1992. But there is something else about Canada, Australia and New Zealand who has had her as monarch since she ascended in 1952.
Current 16 Commonwealth realms:
Australia 1952–present
Canada 1952–present
New Zealand 1952–present
Jamaica 1962–present
Barbados 1966–present
The Bahamas 1973–present
Grenada 1974–present
Papua New Guinea 1975–present
Solomon Islands 1978–present
Tuvalu 1978–present
St. Lucia 1979–present
St. Vincent and the Grenadines 1979–present
Belize 1981–present
Antigua and Barbuda 1981–present
St. Kitts and Nevis 1983–present
Former 16 Commonwealth realms:
Pakistan 1952–1956
South Africa 1952–1961
Ceylon 1952–1972
Ghana 1957–1960
Nigeria 1960–1963
Sierra Leone 1961–1971
Tanganyika 1961–1962
Trinidad and Tobago 1962–1976
Uganda 1962–1963
Kenya 1963–1964
Malawi 1964–1966
Malta 1964–1974
The Gambia 1965–1970
Guyana 1966–1970
Mauritius 1968–1992
Fiji 1970–1987