Governors of The Australian States - The Australia Acts 1986

The Australia Acts 1986

Although the Commonwealth of Australia legally became an independent nation when it adopted the Statute of Westminster in 1942, the British Government retained the nominal authority to intervene in the governments of the individual states under the Colonial Laws Validity Act 1865. As a result, the state Governors continued to be formally appointed by the Queen on the advice of the British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, as had been the case prior to 1942. In practice, however, the Premier of each state recommended a prospective Governor to the Foreign Secretary, who almost always acted in accordance with that recommendation. However, in 1976 the Foreign Secretary refused to transmit to the Queen the advice of the Premier of Queensland, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, to extend the term of Sir Colin Hannah as Governor, on the grounds of the Governor's partisanship against the previous Commonwealth Government.

In 1978, the Parliament of New South Wales passed the Constitutional Powers (New South Wales) Act, requesting that the Commonwealth Parliament legislate to address the constitutional anomaly of the United Kingdom Government's role in the constitutional affairs of the state. Eventually, identical Australia Acts were passed by the Commonwealth Parliament and the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1986, thus removing what remaining authority London had over affairs in Canberra. Under section 7 of these Acts, the Queen now receives advice on the appointment and termination of appointments of state Governors from the relevant state Premier.