The announcement by the
Prime Minister's media office of the Governor-General's visit to Africa referred to Quentin Bryce as 'Australia's Head of State'.
Whether this terminology was a self-conscious step by
the Prime Minister himself, or just a lazy short-hand drafting
mistake, is not the point. It shows how the term 'head
of state' to describe the office of Governor-General has crept into the
Australian language.
This usage has political implications. It enables monarchists to counter the popular appeal of the idea of an
Australian head of state instead of the British Queen. An Australian
Governor-General can be sold to the public as an Australian Head of State
regardless of the constitutional position.
But it is a short-term victory for monarchists. The usage further diminishes the monarchy in Australia. It is
a dead-end to describe the Queen by the much vaguer term of 'sovereign of Australia', which opens up the debate to a new republican counter-slogan: 'Australian
sovereignty, not a British sovereign'.
With her trip to Africa, Bryce is on dangerous ground. Julie Bishop, the
Opposition spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, has criticised the trip. So too
have several newspaper editorials.
But former Governor-General Bill Hayden, who is no
friend of the Rudd Government despite his Labor background, has defended the
trip, arguing that Governors-General should be free to travel and to speak on Australia's
behalf.
The controversy may only
be clarified once it becomes clearer just what she does while she is in Africa.
The implication for the monarchy/republic debate is that the appointment of the Governor-General by the Queen on the
advice of the Prime Minister alone has again been shown to be a flawed system. It lends itself to involving the office in partisan politics.
That's precisely what occurred with the
ill-fated Archbishop Peter Hollingworth. Hollingworth, appointed by John Howard
in 2001, was subject to strong criticism for his personal failings by the Labor
Opposition Leader, Simon Crean, before his eventual resignation from office in
2003.
Like Bryce in 2008, Hollingworth was appointed under a system that
freezes out the Parliament, the Opposition and the people at large. The perception that he was a Howard appointee, weakened his position.
Several commentators in The Australian newspaper, including Greg Sheridan,
suggest Bryce's actions weaken the case for a republic with a directly
elected president. That claim confuses two points. The first is ill-judged partisan activity
(or activities that can be interpreted as partisan) on behalf of the government
of the day by a Governor-General/President. The second is independent activity
on her or his own behalf by a Governor-General/President.
There can be no valid
criticism that Bryce is engaged