Who Appoints the Governor-General?
The Constitution and convention provide the only guidelines on the appointment of the Governor-General. The Constitution (s. 2) states that ‘A Governor-General appointed by the Queen shall be Her Majesty’s representative in the Commonwealth’. The Governor-General is appointed by the Sovereign on the advice of the Australian Prime Minister. This convention has been in place since 1930 when Prime Minister James Scullin established the right of an Australian Prime Minister to submit a name to the Sovereign.