CANBERRA—Of the millions of words written and spoken at Kevin Rudd's 2020 summit, three inspired more passion than any other: "an Australian republic".
When the chair of the summit's governance section, News Ltd Chief Executive John Hartigan, voiced those three words in nominating his team's foremost big idea, there was prolonged and spontaneous applause from the 1,000 delegates in the Great Hall of Parliament House.
Perhaps Rudd invited only republicans.
But if the summiteers were even remotely representative of the Australian population, then the desire to shake off the last vestige of colonialism is strong.
As the prime minister said in a tone of heavy understatement: "The Australian republic seemed to get the thumbs up, unless I misread the mood of the room."
Rudd himself re-floated the republic idea in London recently, even as he was recommending to the Queen at Windsor Castle the appointment of Quentin Bryce as Australia's first female governor-general.
The republic is hardly a new idea, but the summiteers proposed two stages to make it happen.
The first would be a straightforward plebiscite on whether to sever ties with the motherland at all, which is more than the constitutional referendum of a decade ago achieved.
The second would be another referendum to decide on the model.
Of all the ideas, big and small, advanced at the 2020 brainfest, from reforming the tax system to whacking a health tax on junk food, cigarettes and alcohol, it was the republic that most galvanised the delegates.
The summit was also a personal triumph for Rudd.
When he was handed the green, bound document containing 38 pages of the summiteers' main ideas, there was a prolonged standing ovation.
Sure, the summiteers were all there at Rudd's invitation.
Sure, the document was full of their own precious ideas.
But the sight of so many of Australia's best and brightest lauding the PM for trying to forge a new way of governing must have struck like lightning on the struggling, monarchist Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson, whom Rudd made a point of including in the summit.
Tim Costello, the World Vision Australia chief and brother of the old Howard Government Treasurer Peter, also struck a chord with delegates when he said social work should be as measurable as financial and sporting performance.
He suggested an All Social Ordinaries index: "We housed this many homeless today, we planted this many trees."
He had delegates laughing with his observation that his group came up with so many cost-neutral ideas they could virtually abolish Treasury.
"We could run it," he said, "though a Costello running Treasury may not be a good idea."
The summit also reminded Australians how transfixed they are with celebrity.
Actors Cate Blanchett and Hugh Jackman attracted more personal attention than the rest combined, and their fellow summiteers, though they tried not to, gawked as much as anyone.
Blanchett and Jackman got top billing all right.
They were almost as popular as the republic.
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