The left-field announcement by Prime Minister Tony Abbott that the honours system would exhume the old knighthoods and dames honours that had been buried in the crypt in the 1980s has got everyone talking.

On Facebook and Twitter, user names have suddenly sprouted titles like Viscount, Lord and Earl – such is the mirth generated by the PM’s surprising announcement.

A quick cast out for local opinions revealed Gilmore MP Ann Sudmalis thought it was a great idea but her state counterpart The Hon Shelley Hancock, Speaker of the NSW Parliament and Member for South Coast, did not. Mrs Hancock told us she eschewed most titles and did not like being referred to as “The Honourable”. 

Avowed constitutional monarchist Andrew Guile said given there would only be four such honours a year, it was a lot of fuss about nothing but the system such as it was before the announcement worked just fine.

Labor candidate for Kiama Glenn Kolomeitz was acidic. “Baroness Sudmalis ought to attend to local issues such as unemployment, health and education,” he said, “rather than these ancient titles”. And that from a constitutional monarchist.

We believe the announcement was welcome, although probably not for the reasons it was made. One thing it will do is rekindle the conversation about the republic and refocus attention from the nation’s past to its future, which can only be a positive thing.