The Office of the Governor-General

No citizen who is interested in how he or she is governed can afford to miss this account of the role of the Head of State written, as it were, 'from the inside'.

The events of November 1975 sparked off lively debate as to what the Governor-General does. The real point at issue in that controversy was not whether a Governor-General has the power to dismiss a Prime Minister. The fact that the power was exercised is proof that the power exists. The question to be asked is whether the Govenor-General was justified by the facts as he saw and interpreted them, and, if he were justified, whether he was wise to use the power.

There is a difference between an extreme situation and a customary action. The controversy over the dismissal of a Prime Minister concentrated attention on one aspect, but in this lucid essay Sir Paul Hasluck sets out the wide range of the Governor-General's duties and the place of office in the whole structure of Australian government.