User:Skyring/HeadofState

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[edit] Views on the Australian Head of State

It may seem odd to state that there is a diversity of opinion as to the identity of the Australian head of state, and I can understand why some people have difficulty with this, but the demonstrable fact is that this diversity of opinion exists, and if the Prime Minister himself believes that the Governor-General rather than the Queen is the head of state, then obviously this is something worthy of investigation.

As a Wikipedia editor, my own opinions are irrelevant, except to say that it is my firm opinion that Wikipedia articles should reflect fact rather than opinion.

[edit] The three views

There are three opinions as to who is the head of state:

  1. The Queen as sole head of state
  2. The Queen and Governor-General as joint heads of state with seperate roles
  3. The Governor-General as sole head of state

[edit] Government Sources

A Parliamentary Library Research Brief summarises the two "sole head of state" views in the context of "Who Must Open the Sydney Olympics?"[1]

If the Queen is not the Australian Head of State and the Governor-General is, he must open the Sydney Olympic Games as prescribed by the Olympic Charter of the IOC.
(The Governor-General opened the Sydney Olympics in 2000. The paper noted that the Queen could delegate her powers to the Governor-General, instructing him to open the games as her representative, but no such delegation was made, nor were any instructions issued.)

The Commonwealth Government Directory of March 1997 states that the Governor-General is the head of state on page ix under "Arrangement of entries"[2]

Entries are arranged in accordance with the formal structure of the Commonwealth Government. First is the Governor-General (the Head of State), with the Federal Executive Council (of which the Governor-General is the President)...
This directory is the official printed directory of Commonwealth government officers and representatives, published quarterly by the Australian Government Publishing Service in Canberra. It must be noted that the description of the Governor-General as head of state is not uniform from edition to edition, commencing during the years of the Keating Government and swapping from Governor-General to Queen and back again several times in the 11 years since.

[edit] Politicians

John Howard, Australian Prime Minister 1996-date.

The Queen is Queen of Australia. However, under our present constitution, the Governor-General is effectively Australia’s head of state.John Howard's Statement on the Republic Referendum
JOURNALIST: Hasn’t Australia reached the point though where an Australian should be its Head of State?
PRIME MINISTER: Well the effective Head of State of Australia is the Governor-General who’s been an Australian since, what, 1965.Interview 14 March 2006

Simon Crean, Federal Opposition Leader 2001-2003, described the Governor-General as the head of state in an interview given during the Peter Hollingworth affair.[3]

Of course I do because I've known him over many years and he has done important work for the community. I also have sympathy for the circumstances of his wife and I expressed those to the Governor-General at ANZAC Day. But, you know, there's a whole lot emotions going here. But the truth of it is we're dealing with the Head of State and the Head of State cannot be a person who has covered up for child sex abusers.

[edit] Constitutional scholars

[edit] Others

Professor Owen E Hughes in Australian Politics, 3rd edition, Macmillan Education, Melbourne 1998, pp170-1

The Governor-General is the head of state and performs important ceremonial duties, but it is a mistake to see the role purely in those terms. The position is one of great formal power, both legal and political. The Constitution gives the Governor-General power to commission the government, appoint the ministers and command the military. Colin Howard argues this system is not a monarchy but a Governor-Generalship, with prerogative powers now deriving from the Constitution, rather than from being the Queen's representative.
The reference to Howard is in his The Constitution, Power and Politics, Melbourne, Fontana, 1980, p71.

US Department of State Background Note: Australia

Head of state is the governor general, who is appointed by the Queen of Australia (the British Monarch).[4]