If a proposal of this type were approved at a referendum, it would establish Australia as a republic with a head of state chosen directly by the Australian electorate.
Supporters are envisaging a reform in which the Governor-General is replaced by a directly elected figurehead president and the Prime Minister of Australia remains the head of government.
Supporters of the model say that, although elected, the change to a republic is argued to have minor but positive impact on the rest of Australia's parliament and government.
Direct election of the governor-general was considered in the conventions leading to the federation of Australia, however rarely revisited until the advent of the modern republican movement.
The 2004 Republican Senate Inquiry included models 4 and 5 in a recommendation that a plebiscite be conducted offering five alternative methods of selecting a head of state.