Australia Gets a New Boss

Occams Barber said:

Australia gets a new boss​

Australia has today appointed Samantha (‘Sam’) Mostyn as its new Governor-General (aka ‘the GG’). To those of you who don’t live in a British Commonwealth country the idea of a GG may need explanation.

Australia is a constitutional monarchy.

This means that, while King Charles is our head of state, he does not have absolute power. He must follow the Australian Constitution. The King delegates his powers to the Governor-General of Australia. The GG is appointed (unelected) by the King, on the advice of the Prime Minister. In practice Australia has minimal direct connection with the British King and, despite having a King-in-Common, Australia has no official legal, political or governmental ties to the UK Government.

The GG’s role is scrupulously non-political and exercises a limited range of constitutional, traditional and civic powers.

The GG’s role includes;

• Signing bills into law
• Convening Parliament and setting meeting times
• Approving Federal elections
• Acting as Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Defence Force
• Appointing or dismissing Prime Ministers under clear constitutional limitations

The role also has a range of ceremonial duties including;

• Administering the oath of office to Ministers, judges etc.
• Awarding national honours
• Acting as official patron to various organisations
• Welcoming foreign heads of state

Unlike the US, the role of Australian Head of State and Head of Government are split between the unelected GG and the Prime Minister (‘the PM’). Australia does not have a position of President where the roles of both Head of State and Government are combined into one position. To confuse things even more, the Prime Minister (‘the PM’) is not specifically elected as PM in a public election. He or she is an ordinary, elected, member of Parliament who is selected as PM by the political party with a Parliamentary majority.



OB

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Do you like this new leader?

Occams Barber said:

I don't know her well enough to have an opinion. The GG tends to be a role which attracts little publicity or a real public presence.

OB

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Thank you. Just wondering, cos in the US, people can get real heated about any politician. Australia might be different in that regard. Anyways, I have to get some rest. I will check up on this Sam GG, and see what her politics are.

Occams Barber said:

The GG is not a political position. GGs are not politicians, are not elected and never express political opinion.

GGs are appointed by the King/Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister of the country.
OB

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Wow, this is way different than anything we have in the US. Do other countries have their own GGs besides Australia?

Occams Barber said:

A number of countries who still retain membership of the British Commonwealth of nations have GGs - mostly in the Caribbean and the south Pacific. Apart from Australia the one's you'll recognise are Canada and New Zealand. These countries, plus many others, were formerly part of the British Empire

• Antigua and Barbuda
• Australia
• The Bahamas
• Barbados
• Belize
• Canada
• Grenada
• Jamaica
• New Zealand
• Papua New Guinea
• Saint Kitts and Nevis
• Saint Lucia
• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
• Solomon Islands
• Tuvalu

OB

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Wow, that is a lot of countries.

Occams Barber said:

A number of countries who still retain membership of the British Commonwealth of nations have GGs - mostly in the Caribbean and the south Pacific. Apart from Australia the one's you'll recognise are Canada and New Zealand. These countries, plus many others, were formerly part of the British Empire

• Antigua and Barbuda
• Australia
• The Bahamas
• Barbados
• Belize
• Canada
• Grenada
• Jamaica
• New Zealand
• Papua New Guinea
• Saint Kitts and Nevis
• Saint Lucia
• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
• Solomon Islands
• Tuvalu

OB

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Kind of off topic, but I'm curious if your passport allows you to travel to these countries without a visa?

Occams Barber said:

There are 56 Commonwealth countries but not all of them have a Governor General. Countries like India, Malaysia and South Africa, for instance, are in the Commonwealth, but since they don't recognise the British monarch as head of state, they don't have a Governor General.

Commonwealth to observe Guyana’s 2025 general and regional elections

The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 56 independent and equal countries. It is home to 2.7 billion people, and includes both advanced economies and developing countries. 33 of our members are small states, including many island nations.

thecommonwealth.org

OB

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This is interesting. Will the Commonwealth ever break up? What are the benefits of being in the Commonwealth?

Occams Barber said:

A number of countries who still retain membership of the British Commonwealth of nations have GGs - mostly in the Caribbean and the south Pacific. Apart from Australia the one's you'll recognise are Canada and New Zealand. These countries, plus many others, were formerly part of the British Empire

• Antigua and Barbuda
• Australia
• The Bahamas
• Barbados
• Belize
• Canada
• Grenada
• Jamaica
• New Zealand
• Papua New Guinea
• Saint Kitts and Nevis
• Saint Lucia
• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
• Solomon Islands
• Tuvalu

OB

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Also it's worth saying that two of those countries are federations and the states/provinces have their own separate Governors also appointed by the King.

Occams Barber said:

Who knows? How long is a piece of string? I guess it will last as long as its members feel they're getting something useful out of it.

It's sometimes described as a club. Basically, it's a means for soft diplomacy where a range of nations can co-operate on a range of issues like agricultural development, trade, medicine, sporting development, education, policing, the development of civil society etc.

If you look at the list of member countries, you'll see that it's largely made up of very small and/or developing countries which rarely get a look in at major world organizations like the UN. The Commonwealth gives them a collective voice.

One example is the Commonwealth's version of the Olympics - the Commonwealth Games. It's a sporting event for the little players where the big powerful countries are kept out preventing them from dominating.

Another example is the annual Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) where Commonwealth leaders meet to discuss matters of mutual interest.

OB

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That is interesting. I do not follow sports, except for the Olympics and FIFA, but this is interesting. Also, I have heard some bad things about the Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth games of 2022 (robot bull), but I am not here to judge. This Commonwealth sounds fascinating. I am not that well versed with everything world affairs, though geography and geopolitics is interesting stuff.

So, is the Commonwealth more tightly knit compared to the EU, or a bit looser?

Occams Barber said:

The EU and the Commonwealth are two entirely different concepts. Western, developed EU countries share close knit geography within a common border, a common currency, commonalities in laws, mutual dependence and collective trading practices and a jointly elected governing body. The EU is almost, but not quite, a country in its own right,

The Commonwealth is a loose association of totally independent nations spread across the globe.

OB

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Whew, it is getting late here, but I should try to find a documentary, and some articles about the Commonwealth. This Commonwealth stuff reminds me of open star clusters vs. globular clusters, where the globular ones are tightly packed, almost appearing as one white fuzz, while in open clusters, each star is easily distinguished. Each Commonwealth country has much more independence, while in the EU, the 27 countries' economies are merged together and have laws that are standardized, just as stars in globular clusters orbit around a center of gravity. Did the analogy work, based upon my limited understanding of the Commonwealth?

I look forward to talking about this tomorrow in my timezone after watching a documentary.

The Commonwealth is a hangover from the British Empire. The nations in the Commonwealth were all former Brisish colonies with four exceptions.

The last four countries to join the Commonwealth - Mozambique, Rwanda, Gabon and Togo - have no historical ties to the British Empire.

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I don't know why they joined the Commonwealth or what they hoped to gain from it as it is a loose federation.

Prior to the 1st January 1901 when Australia became a Federation, each state in Australia was a separate colony with its own governor.

When the Boer War was on from 1899 to 1902, Queensland sent some troops as a separate Brigade. I'm not sure what happened in January 1901.

The outbreak of war had long been expected in both Britain and Australia. Believing that conflict was imminent, Queensland had offered troops in July, and the same month Britain had requested the participation of New South Wales and Victoria. Each of the colonies ultimately sent between four and six contingents.

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Getting back to the Commonwealth the one time when it gets public recognition in Australia is the Commonwealth Games which are held every four years, in between the Olympic Games. The state of Victoria blotted it's copybook when it applied to host the Commowealth Games in 2026 but then withdrew. I don't know if the games will still go ahead of if they will wait till 2030.



On the Governor General - The GG stands in as proxy for the British monarch, currenlty King Charles. They don't have a lot of political sway and are seen as figureheads. They sign governments in and out but that's a formality after the electorate has already dceided the issue.

The only time I can remember a Governor General taking a controversial political stance was when GG Sir John Kerr sacked the Whitlam ALP government in 1975


That was one occasion when the role of Governor General did raise hackles, but most of the time the office keeps a low profile. It's so low that half the time I have trouble remembering who the GG is. I lost interest when i was still at primary school. An outgoing GG was doing a tour and we all had to stand in the hot sun to wave as he went past. An hour or so later a figure went past in a Rolls Royce and we all got a gloved hand wave.

That was it. After that I didn't take much notice of the incumbents.

Australians have strong opinions about politics and politicians, but I don't think the bunfight carries as much legal baggage as the US system.