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Ch1 The Parliament and the role of the House / GOVERNOR-GENERAL



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House of Representatives                                Ch 1                                                 p 1

 

The Parliament and the role of the House

 

Governor-General

The Governor-General is covered in this chapter as a constituent part of the Parliament. However, it is a feature of the Westminster system of government that the Head of State is part of both the Executive Government and the legislature. The relationship between these two bodies and the role of Governor-General as the Head of the Executive Government are discussed in the Chapter on ‘House, Government and Opposition’.

There have been 24 Governors-General of Australia 1 since the establishment of the Commonwealth, ten of whom have been Australian born.

Letters Patent and Instructions were issued by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth as Queen of Australia on 21 August 1984. 2 These greatly simplified earlier provisions, and sought to reflect the proper constitutional position and to remove the archaic way in which the old Letters Patent referred to and expressed the Governor-General’s powers. 3 The Letters Patent deal with the appointment of a person to the office of Governor-General, the appointment of a person as Administrator of the Commonwealth, and the appointment of a person as a Deputy of the Governor-General.

The Governor-General’s official title is Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia. The additional title of Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Force was not used in the 1984 Letters Patent, it being considered that the command in chief of the naval and military forces vested in the Governor-General by the Constitution was not a separate office but a function held ex officio. 4



See Appendix 1.



Letters Patent relating to the Office of Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia , 21 August 1984, in Gazette S334 (24.8.84).



S. Deb. (3.11.83) 2189. For the original Letters Patent see Constitution of Office of Governor-General , Letters Patent, 29 October 1900, in Commonwealth Statutory Rules 1901-1956, V, p. 5301.



Constitution, s. 68. see S. Deb. (8.3.89) 657, 699-700.