Commonwealth quetion - what are the powers of the Governor General?

[Makalakumu]

This is a question for folks who live in countries that are part of the British Commonwealth. What are the actual powers of the Governor General? This is a non-democratic appointment made by the Queen of England and, when I was in New Zealand last summer, I was told that the Governor General was imbued with the mysteries of the Crown.

I don't know what that means, but is surely piqued my interest. Many were the hours spent in the pubs with Kiwis trying to explain and I'm not even sure they know everything that the Governor General could do.

So, whatcha got?

 

[Sukerkin]

I don't know if this will help but this site seems to cover in detail the birth of New Zealand:

http://www.gg.govt.nz/aboutnz/treaty.htm

The powers and authority of Governor General have varied over time and around the world. The simplest way of thinking of them is that they are the direct representative of the Crown on whatever soil they stand and on British sovereign land they have very wide ranging powers indeed.

Or at least they had.

It's not quite such a potent post any longer as modern communications allow for more oversight - contact with 'the boss' so to speak.

Recent events in Fiji have brought the role back under the public eye again, however. This is from the New York Times I beleive:


Responding to a defiant declaration by a Fijian coup leader that he had taken charge, Queen Elizabeth II declared today that she continued to regard the island nation's Governor General as the sole legitimate authority.

The statement from Buckingham Palace followed an assertion today by Col. Sitiveni Rabuka, the rebel leader, that he was replacing the Queen as head of state in Fiji.

The exchange marked the second time this week that the Queen took the unusual step of speaking out to try to stabilize the Government of a Commonwealth nation.

After an initial statement on Tuesday urging Fijians to continue their 113-year tradition of loyalty to the Crown, Colonel Rabuka appeared to draw back from his initial effort to cancel the Constitution and take charge of the Government. But this morning, he again took a defiant tone. Second Coup in 5 Months

A Foreign Office spokesman said the British Government regarded the situation as volatile, but held out some hope that a meeting on Monday involving the Governor General, Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau, Colonel Rabuka and other Fijian leaders could stabilize the Government.

Six days ago, Colonel Rabuka staged his second coup in five months. It was designed to establish a government in which ethnic Fijians would have political dominance over Indians whose ancestors came into the country as plantation workers. Ethnic Fijians make up 47 percent of the population of 715,000, and Indians 49 percent.

The unrest of recent months follows elections in April in which a coalition dominated by ethnic Indians achieved power for the first time, winning 28 of 52 legislative seats.

Queen Elizabeth's statement on Tuesday was hailed in the British press as an extraordinarily direct effort to exercise her vestigial powers over one of the 17 Commonwealth countries other than Britain that still recognizes her as monarch. Fijian Tradition of Loyalty

In the statement broadcast on the BBC, the Queen was said to have condemned ''the illegal action and the use of force'' by Colonel Rabuka. ''Anyone who seeks to remove the Governor General from office would, in effect, be repudiating his allegiance and loyalty to the Queen,'' the statement said.

This was regarded as an attempt to undermine popular support for Colonel Rabuka's coup by appealing to the Fijian tradition of loyalty, reflected in the country's decision to continue as a constitutional monarchy when it became independent in 1970.

On Wednesday, the colonel seemed to be responding to the Queen's warning when he said, ''Everything's got to wait.'' But today he took a militant tone again.

This turnabout seemed to jolt both the palace and the British Government, which maintain a formal separation of their actions in such matters. The palace issued a second statement today affirming the Queen's view of the Governor General as ''the sole legitimate source of executive authority in Fiji.''

 

[Gordon Nore]

This describes, in brief, the role of the Governor General in Canada:

While several powers are the sovereign's alone, most of the royal constitutional and ceremonial duties in Canada are carried out by the Queen's representative, the Governor General,[3] at present Michaëlle Jean; as such, the Governor General can sometimes be referred to as the de facto head of state.[7] In each of Canada's provinces the monarch is represented by a Lieutenant-Governor.[3] The territories are not sovereign, and thus do not have a viceroy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchy_of_Canada

I'm not a monarchist by any stretch of the imagination, but I have seen some unique people in the role in my lifetime. Canada's current Governor General is Michaëlle Jean.

 

[Makalakumu]

I can understand why the UK would want to maintain their monarchy...the tradition involved has a lot of mystique and is part of the culture.

With other countries, I'm not so sure. New Zealand is a perfect example, in the 70s, effectively, Britain stopped trading with the Kiwis and their economy collapsed because of it. It took many long years for them to recover. During that time, they liberalised their government moved completely away from British style socialism.

Yet they maintain their commonwealth status. I don't understand why. Especially given the powers that the Governor General can exert. From what I know, the ability to dissolve a democratically elected parliment and essentially veto legislation is downright totalitarian.

Anyway, I'm still interested in the "mysteries of the Crown" bit. I'm not sure if a lot of commonwealth citizens really know what that entails.

 

[theletch1]

Anyway, I'm still interested in the "mysteries of the Crown" bit. I'm not sure if a lot of commonwealth citizens really know what that entails.

That's why they're the "Mysteries of the Crown."

 

[mook jong man]

In Australia the governor general can sack the government i think he or she has a talk with the queen and they have the power to sack the government.

I think the governor general is the queens representative in Australia, because don't forget she's the queen of Australia as well. The queen is very well loved in Australia as was the queen mum, i don't know about the rest of the royal family though.

You always see pictures of her on the wall in government buildings , there was a big one on the wall in the scout hall that i taught wing chun she used to look down , watching me teach every class , i swear the eyes used to follow me around the room .

 

[Sukerkin]

From what I know, the ability to dissolve a democratically elected parliment and essentially veto legislation is downright totalitarian.

What you have to bear in mind Upn ...

Sorry, only kidding. What you have to bear in mind is the roots of the system.

The PM and his/her party might portray to the world that they are the government of Great Britian but they do so only as a proxy. They are Her Majesty's Government and the powers of the monarch are still there, tho' quiet and unused in recent times, from when Parliament gained to rght to govern in the Crowns name.

Have a read of this http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/Ro/Royal+assent.html which I think covers the bases about the fine distinction that acts as a brake on any totalitarian leanings from either end of the political busbar.

 

[Steel Tiger]

Australia's situation in this regard is pretty strange. We have, in fact, a Governor for each state and a Governor General. All are supposedly appointed by the Queen but in reality they are suggested by the Federal or State governments and the Queen rubber stamps them.

The Governor General is the Queen's viceroy in Australia. As such he or she is the actual head of state in Australia. As such he appoints ambassadors, ministers, and judges, gives Royal Assent to legislation, issues writs for elections, and bestows honours. The GG is also the President of the Federal Executive Council and Commander in Chief of the Australian Defence Force.

There was what is referred to as a consitutional crisis in 1975 when the Whitlam government was unable to pass legislation through parliament and thus could not govern the country. The GG at the time dissolved the government and called a general election. The Prime Minister thought the GG was exceeding his authority, but he was in fact just doing his job according to the constitution.

According to our constitution the GG can appoint a cabinet and run the country for six weeks. At the end of that time he must dissolve that cabinet. While this is an emergency power there is nothing to stop the GG from appointing a new cabinet for another six weeks. In fact the office of Prime Minister was not mentioned in the constitution until very recently, even though the Prime Minister had been running the government for 100 years.

Currently he GG is The Honorable Major General Michael Jeffery AC, CVO, MC. He will be replaced in September by our first female GG, Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce.

It is likely that General Jeffery will be knighted after his time in office (most are).

Quentin Bryce is referred to as Her Excellency because she is currently Governor of Queensland.