Right: Whitlam Government Governor-General Sir John Kerr watches the man who had him appointed. In 1975, Sir John used the so-called "reserve powers" to dismiss PM Gough Whitlam's Labor government from office.
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Background information
The current Governor-General, Quentin Bryce
Quentin Bryce is the 25th Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the first woman to be appointed to the office. A lawyer by training and by profession, Ms Bryce was active in the field of human rights. She was also Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner for the five years to 1993 and, in 1997, was appointed principal of the Women's College at Sydney University. Her contribution to women's and children's human rights causes has been recognised in the awarding to her of the Companion of the Order of Australia. (See the Web Links and Documents section section for a link to her biography). Before being appointed Governor-General, she served as Governor of Queensland. Both of her vice-regal appoinments have been by Labor governments.
Duties and powers of the Governor-General of Australia
The Governor-General of Australia is, in effect, appointed by the government of the day and not by the English monarch, whom the G-G represents in the Commonwealth of Australia. The Prime Minister nominates a person to be Governor-General and the monarch appoints that person to the office. In theory, the monarch can refuse a nomination and appoint someone of the monarch's own choice. This has never happened.
Most of the Governor-General's duties are ceremonial, including the opening of Parliament, in which the G-G, standing in for the Monarch, reads a speech outlining the aims and aspirations of the government. By tradition and convention, the G-G refers in the speech to "my government", although the speech is written and prepared by the government itself. The governor-General merely reads it.
Dignitaries from overseas, foreign heads of state and other overseas visitors, political and otherwise, are often greeted, or invited to meet, the Governor-General in his / her official capacity of the Queen of Australia's representative.
Unlike the Governors-General of other former British Empire countries which have become member nations of the British Commonwealth, the Australian G-G, under the Constitution, has powers of his / her own.
In 1975, the so-called "reserve powers" were identified and used to dismiss the Whitlam government from office. At the time, the Queen, writing through her private secretary, said that she had ``no part in the decisions which the Governor-General must take in accordance with the Constitution''.
The 1988 Constitutional Commission report concluded that ``the Governor-General is in no sense a delegate of the Queen. The independence of the office is highlighted by changes which have been made in recent years to the Royal instruments relating to it.'' This report is widely held to have answered some of the questions raised by G-G Sir John Kerr's actions in 1975.