Republic process needs a kick-start: Swan Treasurer Wayne Swan says the process to make Australia a republic should be kick-started sooner rather than later. Mr Swan will reiterate his strong support for a republic at a book launch in Canberra. He and opposition frontbencher Malcolm Turnbull - formerly the head of the Australian Republican Movement - have written forewords for Project Republic, a book of essays discussing why Australia must become a republic. They will jointly launch the book at Parliament House on Monday. "There will always be critics who will be thinking 'why now'," Mr Swan will say at the book's launch. But to me, it is always the right time to argue for the merits of a republic and prepare the ground for this important constitutional change. The treasurer will say the best way to achieve that change is to pursue the two-step process of holding a plebiscite to work out the best model and then holding a referendum. That process is Labor Party policy as well as being favoured by the Australian Republican Movement. "I strongly believe we should kick-start that formal process sooner rather than later," Mr Swan will say in his speech. Is a successful referendum inevitable? I think so, and hope so. Australian Republican Movement director David Morris will tell the book launch the organisation has learned from the past. "A fully independent Australia, a republic, has to be a grass roots celebration of being Australian," he will say. It must not be imposed from above, as the British monarchy is currently imposed upon us with no broad public consent. In March Mr Swan said it was "absurd" that an Australian could not be the nation's head of state. Project Republic, published by Black Inc, includes essays from Thomas Keneally, Larissa Behrendt, Julian Morrow, John Warhurst, George Williams, Erika Smith, and Paul Pickering, among others.