Meet the leaders in the current Australian Parliament, from our head of state to party leaders and Presiding Officers. Jun 13, 2019:Liza Harvey, 52, was elected unopposed as leader of the Western Australian Liberal Party. Jun 12, 2019:WA Opposition Leader Mike Nahan announced that he would resign the leadership of the Liberal Party. 310-312. 2020 Money . At the 1998 Constitutional Convention the Governor-General's reserve powers were examined yet again. The Queen is head of state of 16 countries that are a part of the Commonwealth realm, including the UK. Once again he made no mention of section 61 nor of the following nine section which together comprise Chapter II which is headed "The Executive Government". The Commission consisted of three distinguished constitutional lawyers - Sir Maurice Byers, former Commonwealth Solicitor-General; Professor Enid Campbell, Professor of Law at Monash University; and Professor Leslie Zines, former Professor of Law at the Australian National University, - and two former heads of government - the Hon. In effect, the Governor-General is the head of state and it is claimed that either is the head of state according to circumstances. A slogan that conveniently sums up the republican cause is ‘An Australian for Head of State’. If a president performing the Governor-General's duties would be a Head of State, then a Governor-General performing exactly the same duties must also be a Head of State. Argument and debate about their codification was the cause of major division between the various republican groups, but they, too, found the problem too difficult. [9], Even Sir Zelman Cowen, himself a distinguished and learned lawyer, has described the Governor-General as Head of State, though this was before he began to espouse the republican cause. H. of R. 138, 24 August 1984, p. 380. Their principal duties and responsibilities were to the British Government. Draft orders were prepared in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet that included the Governor-General. This is not true. They were appointed by the Sovereign on the advice of British Ministers and were in reality British civil servants. When the Queen unveiled the Naval Memorial in Canberra in 1986 the Governor-General was present. These separate and distinct roles are carried out without detriment to our sovereignty as a nation, and without detriment to our independence. Article Index In 1977 the opening sentence of an editorial in The Canberra Times was "We shall have today a new Governor-General, Sir Zelman Cowen, as our Head of State. The Governor-General is appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister of Australia. cit., pp. These changes are further examples of the far-sightedness of our Founding Fathers, and evidence of the adaptability and flexibility of our allegedly outmoded Constitution. [31] Parliamentary Debates, Vol. Quoted by John Quick and Robert Randolph Garran, The Annotated Constitution of the Australian Commonwealth, (Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1901), p. 700, and by L.F. [20] Commonwealth Statutory Rules 1958, pp. Nor can the Queen instruct the Governor-General in the performance of his constitutional duties, as she would be able to do if he were acting as her delegate in his exercise of those duties. To help Australians avoid difficulties overseas, we maintain travel advisories for more than 170 destinations. The independence of the office is highlighted by changes which have been made in recent years to the Royal instruments relating to it. Though in many respects the Governor-General is the Queen's … He is currently a Visiting Scholar in the Faculty of Law at The Australian National University. As the defining Head of State power is the power to appoint and remove the Prime Minister, that reply confirmed, if confirmation were needed, that the Governor-General is indeed Australia's constitutional Head of State. [35] In his Commentary to Evatt's The Royal Prerogative, Emeritus Professor Leslie Zines wrote of section 2 that it now had "little or no operation", its purpose having disappeared with the disappearance of the Empire - see op. Evatt, The Royal Prerogative, (The Law Book Company Limited, Sydney, 1987), p. 172. Limited, Melbourne, 1978), p. 400. That was why the Queen was not able to intervene and over-rule the Governor-General's decisions in 1975 to dismiss a Prime Minister and order a general election, and that was why Prime Minister Hawke advised the Queen to revoke Queen Victoria's Royal Instructions to the Governor-General in 1984. After 20 years of discussion, Barbados has started the process of fully cutting its ties with Queen Elizabeth II and becoming a republic with its own head of state. "[29] At last the Royal Instruction that should never have been issued in the first place were revoked. This is not true. [3] Brian Galligan, A Federal Republic: Australia's Constitutional System of Government, (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1995), pp. Australian Constitution The Prime Minister is Head of Government. He used a false premise, drew a wrong conclusion, and found a non-existent constitutional convention. "[5] After Mr. Bill Hayden's speech to the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in 1995, The Australian published an edited version under the heading "The Governor-General has made one of the most controversial speeches ever delivered by an Australian Head of State. This is not true. This decision further strengthened the constitutional role of Governors-General and their relationships with their Dominion Government. Updated at 3.01am EDT. Sir Anthony's claim is quite untrue. In the absence of a specific provision in the Constitution, we need to see who actually performs the duties of Head of State in order to determine who is the Head of State. Without the Governor-General in the official party, the Prime Minister would move up in precedence. As Australia is a constitutional monarchy, government and academic sources describe the Queen as head of state. Select a country, economy or region to find embassies, country briefs, economic fact sheets, trade agreements, aid programs, information on sanctions and more. Australia's Head of State is the Queen of Australia, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Keating intended that the president, as Head of State, would simply take over the Governor-General's existing powers and functions. [15] W. Harrison Moore, The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia, (Charles F. Maxwell (G. Partridge & Co.), Melbourne, 1910), 2nd. The last major push to make Australia a republic was more than 20 years ago. Introduction to Australia and its system of government, 1.7 The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), 1.8 Other departments and government agencies, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Minister Assisting the Minister for Trade and Investment, Trade & investment data, information & publications. We were able to alter our constitutional arrangements to meet evolving constitutional needs, but without having to alter one word of the Constitution itself. There is, however, a great deal of compelling constitutional and legal evidence, and it is on that evidence that this paper is based. In its final report the Commission said: "Although the Governor-General is the Queen's representative in Australia, the Governor-General is in no sense a delegate of the Queen. [26] "Governor-General's Instructions", Opinion of the Solicitor-General of Australia (Sir Maurice Byers), 5 September 1975. [32] Report of the Constitutional Convention, Volume 1, p. 45. Their role was to represent British interests in Australia. A Canadian Governor-General, Lord Dufferin, described a Governor-General as a constitutional Head of State in a speech given in 1873. Sir Anthony made the same mistake in the following year at a seminar held in the Law School of the Australian National University. Evatt, Certain Aspects of the Royal Prerogative: A Study in Constitutional Law. The Commonwealth Government Directory's description of the Governor-General as Head of State was no help to the republican cause, and its removal coincided with the appointment of Daryl Williams as Attorney-General and his push for Australia to become a republic. With Chris Rock, Bernie Mac, Lynn Whitfield, Dylan Baker. Australian Safeguards and Non-proliferation Office (ASNO), Non-proliferation, disarmament and arms control, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Preventing Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment, Australia on the United Nations Human Rights Council 2018-2020, Australia on the United Nations Security Council 2013-2014, How to get free trade agreement tariff cuts, Find export grants and financial assistance, Have your say: public consultations on FTAs, Look up FTA tariffs and services market access - DFAT FTA Portal, Case studies: how businesses are benefiting from FTAs, Australia's international investment treaties, Trade and investment data, information and publications, Trade and investment publications and articles, WTO, G20, OECD, APEC and trade with ASEAN, Who to contact with trade or investment enquiries, Australia's economic and commercial diplomacy. [30] Final Report of the Constitutional Commission, p. 313, para. This, he claimed, debunked the notion of the Governor-General as Head of State. [2] Parliamentary Debates, Vol. On 21 August 1984 Prime Minister Bob Hawke advised the Queen to revoke Queen Victoria's Letters Patent and all Royal Instructions to the Governor-General, and to issue new Letters Patent. Evatt, The King and his Dominion Governors, (Frank Cass and Company Limited, London, 1967), pp. Technically according to the Constitution. It is not surprising that most Australians do not understand the provisions of the Constitution relating to the Governor-General. Under the Australian Constitution, executive power is exercised by the Governor‑General as the Queen's representative. For more information on when Australia’s next state and federal elections will be, track along with our Australian political calendar. But there is no such constitutional convention, robust or otherwise. His Government had therefore concluded that "it would not be desirable to attempt to codify the reserve powers; and that the design, processes and conventions at present governing their exercise by the Governor-General should be transferred to the [president] without alteration."[31]. Under the Australian Constitution, executive power is exercised by the Governor‑General as the Queen's representative. 21-2 and 245-7. Williams argued that the president would replace the Queen as Head of State. As of September 2020, the nations where the Queen is Head of State are: Antigua and Barbuda; Australia… A Governor-General appointed by the Queen shall be Her Majesty's representative in the Commonwealth, and shall have and may exercise in the Commonwealth during the Queen's pleasure, but subject to this Constitution, such powers and functions of the Queen as Her Majesty may be pleased to assign to him." [18] A. Inglis Clark, op. We now have evidence that this aspect of our Constitution is not understood by a person as distinguished in the law as the former Chief Justice of the High Court, Sir Anthony Mason.[33]. C6-7. John McEwen Crescent [24] Opinion of the Commonwealth Solicitor-General (Sir Kenneth Bailey), 25 November 1953. 54-7. The president would have exactly the same powers and exactly the same duties as the Governor-General - nothing would be added and nothing would be subtracted. It was Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser who decided that the Governor-General would not be invited. Sir Anthony should have known that there was and is no constitutional convention, robust or otherwise, that prevents the Queen and the Governor-General from appearing together in public. NOTE: 1) The information regarding Australia on this page is re-published from the 2020 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. [4] Stuart Macintyre, "A Federal Commonwealth, An Australian Citizenship", a lecture in The Australian Senate Occasional Lecture Series, 14 February 1997, p. 3. "[21], At the 1926 Imperial Conference, the Empire's Prime Ministers declared that the Governor-General of a Dominion was no longer to be the representative of His Majesty's Government in Britain, and that it was no longer in accordance with a Governor-General's constitutional position for him to continue as the formal channel of communication between the two Governments. [33] Sir Anthony Mason was Commonwealth Solicitor-General, 1964-69; a Judge of the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of New South Wales, 1969-72; a Justice of the High Court of Australia, 1972-87; and Chief Justice, 1987-95. Australia also figured prominently in The Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations in 1977, in which The Queen visited every state during a three-week tour. July 14, 2020. [9] See for example The Australian, 31 October 2002, and The Canberra Sunday Times, 26 January 2003. “Australia’s current head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who is resident in the United Kingdom, and represented in Australia by a Governor-general — do you think Australia should have an Australian as our head of state?” When asked a simple choice of … Contact Us. This would otherwise have been done by the Governor-General at a meeting of the Federal Executive Council. cit., p. 179; and Cowen, op. Sir Anthony described the Governor-General as nothing more than the Queen's representative. Some monarchists, like Sir David Smith and Prof. David Flint, have glibly claimed that our cause is based on a silly misunderstanding because, they say, we already have an Australian head of state: the Governor-General. H. of R. 201, 7 June 1995, p.1438. [21] Quoted in H.V. In the words of the Prime Minister, this would "achieve the objective of modernising the administrative arrangements of the Office of Governor-General and, at the same time, clarify His Excellency's position under the Constitution. The 1901 views of Clarke and Moore were finally vindicated, and the Governor-General was acknowledged to be what he had in fact always been, namely, the holder of an independent office as Australia's Head of State, and not subject to any Royal Instructions, This was confirmed yet again in 1988 by the Hawke Government's Constitutional Commission. We work closely with and listen carefully to Indigenous leadership and community in our campaign. b. [22] Christopher Cunneen, Kings' Men: Australia's Governors-General from Hopetoun to Isaacs, (George Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1983), p. 168; and (Sir) Zelman Cowen, Isaac Isaacs, (Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1967), p. 191. Scullin's insistence on the right to recommend the appointment of Sir Isaac Isaacs as Australia's first Australian-born Governor-General became the genesis of the new rule for the appointment of Governors-General throughout the Empire. Although the Governor-General is the Queen's representative for the purposes of exercising the prerogatives of the Crown in Australia, when he exercises his constitutional duties as head of the executive Government of Australia he does so in his own right and not as a delegate of the Queen. [13], Two distinguished Australian constitutional scholars, A. Inglis Clark,[14] who had worked with Sir Samuel Griffith on his drafts of the Constitution, and who later became Senior Judge of the Supreme Court of Tasmania, and W. Harrison (later Sir Harrison) Moore,[15] who had worked on the first draft of the Constitution that went to the 1897 Adelaide Convention, and who later became Professor of Law at the University of Melbourne, expressed the view that the Letters Patent and the Instructions were superfluous, or even of doubtful legality, on the grounds that the Governor-General's authority stemmed from the Australian Constitution and that not even the Sovereign could direct him in the performance of his constitutional duties.[16]. After all, when the Queen opened the new Parliament House on 9 May 1988, not only was the Governor-General on the dais with her, but the then Chief Justice, Sir Anthony Mason, was present in the audience as an honoured guest and was seated in the very front row! "[27], After the Governor-General had withdrawn the Prime Minister's Commission, the Speaker of the House of Representatives wrote to the Queen to ask her to restore Whitlam to office as Prime Minister. [7] The Weekend Australian, 24-25 June 1995. It was also decided that a Governor-General should be provided by his Dominion Government with copies of all important documents and should be kept as fully informed of Cabinet business and public affairs in the Dominion as was the King in Great Britain.[22]. We have almost 100 years of legal advice and judicial opinions, the actions of Prime Ministers on both sides of politics in accepting that advice, and the advice of The Constitutional Commission, showing that the Governor-General is the holder of an independent office and that he performs the duties of Head of State in his own right and not as a delegate of the Queen. A referendum to give the power of choosing Australia’s head of state to the Australian … Since his retirement he has held appointments as a Visiting Fellow in the Political Science Programme of the Research School of Social Sciences at The Australian National University, and a Visiting Fellow in the Faculty of Law at The Australian National University. Sir Zelman decided not to pursue the matter, but he was disappointed and very hurt, and later was to describe Fraser's action as "wanting in principle and demeaning to the Office of Governor-General."[37]. Government and opposition leadership—House of Representatives. Her Majesty, as Queen of Australia, is watching events in Canberra with close interest and attention, but it would not be proper for her to intervene in person in matters which are so clearly placed within the jurisdiction of the Governor-General by the Constitution Act."[28]. The Australian Constitution does not contain the words "Head of State", nor was the term discussed during the constitutional debates which resulted in the drafting of the Constitution and its subsequent approval by the Australian people. Writing after the event, Sir John Kerr, a former Chief Justice of New South Wales, said: "I did not tell the Queen in advance that I intended to exercise these powers on 11 November. The Queen will be removed as Barbados’ head of state when the country becomes a republic next year. Richard Marles became deputy leader. The Governor-General frequently and regularly attends public functions when the Queen is present. "61. He was an appointed delegate to the 1998 Constitutional Convention; and a member of the No Case Committee for the 1999 Constitutional Referendum. [34] ABC Television, 27 October 1997; and ABC Radio, 28 October 1997. The Act further stated that the Governor-General would continue to exercise any of his statutory powers even while the Queen was in Australia, and in practice Governors-General have continued to do so. In support of his claim to the contrary, Sir Anthony said that whenever the Queen was in Australia she took over the Head of State duties and the Governor-General ceased to function. More to the point, they have resorted to such non-legal expressions as "appropriate" or "proper" to justify their use of the description. R.G. 494-5. Innovation. 2020 Paralympic Games Regatta : Tokyo, Japan: Website: 28/8/2021: Sat: 2021 Brisbane Schoolgirls Rowing Association Head of the River: BSRA: Queensland State … In 1982 they attended the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane. Republicans argue that the Queen is our Head of State and that the republic would give us an Australian as Head of State. 'Why The Governor-General is Australia's Head of State' By Sir David Smith. Directed by Chris Rock. [26], The dismissal of the Whitlam Government by the Governor-General later that year was to provide confirmation of the correctness of all the legal opinions which had been given over the previous seventy-four years. And when the Queen opened the new Parliament House in Canberra in 1988 the Governor-General was once again present. "[34] He seemed not to know that section 2 now has little or no operation anyway,[35] and he made no reference at all to section 61 under which the Governor-General exercises the executive power of the Commonwealth. Australia’s Flag The designation as Head of State must surely belong to the person who does the job of Head of State, and who does it in his own right and not as a representative. In 1953, in the course of preparing for the 1954 Royal visit to Australia, Prime Minister (later Sir Robert) Menzies had wanted to involve the Queen in some of the formal processes of government, in addition to the inevitable public appearances and social occasions. Prime Minister of Australia. SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday he would travel to Japan next week, becoming the first world leader to … [2] Scholars such as Brian Galligan,[3] Professor of Political Science at the University of Melbourne, and Stuart Macintyre,[4] the Ernest Scott Professor of History at the University of Melbourne and Chairman of the Keating-appointed Civics Expert Group, also use the description. John Pyke, Lecturer at law. The reason for this was that I believed, if dismissal action were to be taken, that it could be taken only by me and that it must be done on my sole responsibility. Currently, Australia is governed under a form of constitutional monarchy, which means that a king or queen is the official head of state, although their powers are limited. 52-3. 5301-3. [1] Continues from 20 Jun 1837, when acceded as By the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen, Defender of the Faith with no role of Head of State for Australia. Despite the name, the head of state may be present in the meeting instead of the head of government, especially among semi-presidential states. 197-8. The statement was later issued by the Prime Minister's Press Office. Barbados has announced its plan to remove Queen Elizabeth II as head of state and become a republic by November 2021. ... — Troy Simpson (@TroyPSimpson) October 17, 2020. cit., pp. Barbados announced Tuesday it plans to remove Queen Elizabeth II as head of state next year, marking the first time since 1992 that a commonwealth realm … "[6] The next day's editorial in the same newspaper said that "it is perfectly appropriate at this stage of our constitutional development that the head of State address important issues of social policy. Melbourne, 13 August 1977 - a report of an interview with Sir Zelman Cowen as Governor-General Designate; and Sir Zelman Cowen, "Williamson Community Leadership Lecture", Melbourne, 31 May 1995, p. 14 - a lecture give almost thirteen years after leaving office as Governor-General. H. of R. 201, 7 June 1995, pp. A celebration of Australia delivered in a country or region of strategic significance. It has never happened, it cannot happen under our Constitution, and I have already quoted the 1953 legal opinion of the Commonwealth Solicitor-General on this point. The Australian Republic Movement is a campaign for Australia to be a republic with an Australian as our head of state. The last occasion was 2 March 1986 when, in a public ceremony at Government House, Canberra, the Queen proclaimed the Australia Act 1986 to come into operation on the following day. Five pillars of the Economic and Commercial Diplomacy Agenda, How the Economic and Commercial Diplomacy Agenda will operate in practice, Economic and commercial diplomacy in action, Quality assurance of performance reporting, Financing the Sustainable Development Goals, Australian Cultural Diplomacy Grants Program, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Program, Council for Australian-Arab Relations (CAAR), Council on Australia Latin America Relations (COALAR), Visas for Australians travelling overseas, 1. cit., pp. [11] Requests under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 have failed to elicit information about who authorised the inclusion in the Commonwealth Government Directory of the reference to the Governor-General as the Head of State and who authorised its subsequent removal. As of 2021, there are 16 Commonwealth realms, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Grenada, Belize, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Barbados, and more. 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