Tenure
The Constitution does not set a term of office, so a Governor-General may continue to hold office for any agreed length of time, however a typical term of office is five years. At the end of this period, a commission is occasionally extended by a short period.
The salary of the Governor-General is regulated by the Constitution, which fixed an annual amount of 10,000 pounds, unless the parliament decides otherwise. The Constitution states that the salary of the Governor-General may not be increased during his or her term of office. Under the Governor-General Act of 1974 each new commission has resulted in a pay increase. Today, the law ensures the salary is higher than that for the Chief Justice of the High Court, over a five-year period. The annual salary during Michael Jeffery's term was $365,000. Quentin Bryce's salary is $394,000. Until 2001, Governors-General did not pay income tax on their salary; this was changed after the Queen agreed to pay tax.
Three Governors-General have resigned their commission. The first Governor-General, Lord Hopetoun, asked to be recalled to Britain in 1903 over a dispute about funding for the post. Sir John Kerr resigned in 1977 after accepting the position of Australian Ambassador to UNESCO in Paris, a post which ultimately he did not take up. In 2003, Peter Hollingworth stood aside temporarily while certain allegations against him were resolved, and the letters patent of the office were amended to take account of this circumstance. He later resigned to "protect the vice-regal office from persistent controversy".
In 1961, Lord Dunrossil became the first and, to date, only Governor-General to die in office.
A Governor-General may be recalled or dismissed by the Queen before their term is complete. By convention, this may only be advised by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has the option of naming an immediate replacement or letting the vacancy provisions take effect.
As no Australian Governor-General has ever been dismissed, it is unclear how quickly the Queen would act on such advice. The constitutional crisis of 1975 prominently raised the possibility of the Prime Minister and the Governor-General attempting to dismiss each other at the same time.
A vacancy occurs on the resignation, death or incapacity of the Governor-General. A temporary vacancy occurs when the Governor-General is overseas on official business representing Australia. A temporary vacancy also occurred in 2003 when Peter Hollingworth stood aside.
Section 4 of the Constitution allows the Queen to appoint an Administrator to carry out the role of Governor-General when there is a vacancy. By convention, the longest serving state governor holds a dormant commission, allowing an assumption of office to commence whenever a vacancy occurs. In 1975, Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam recommended to the Queen that Sir Colin Hannah, then Governor of Queensland, have his dormant commission revoked for having made public political statements.
Read more about this topic: Governor-General Of Australia
Famous quotes containing the word tenure:
“It might be seen by what tenure men held the earth. The smallest stream is mediterranean sea, a smaller ocean creek within the land, where men may steer by their farm bounds and cottage lights. For my own part, but for the geographers, I should hardly have known how large a portion of our globe is water, my life has chiefly passed within so deep a cove. Yet I have sometimes ventured as far as to the mouth of my Snug Harbor.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A politician never forgets the precarious nature of elective life. We have never established a practice of tenure in public office.”
—Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)