That's right Dudley. The exercise of executive power in Australia is
conferred by the Constitution upon the Governor General, not the Queen.
That's the significant reason, for example, why the Queen did not intervene
in the decision by John Kerr to dismiss the Whitlam government. For a short
while after Federation, British Monarchs appointed the Governor General,
but Billy Hughes moved to put the kybosh on that. We've been a quasi
Republic since 1901, making our own decisions about everything. Not to be
confused with whom our political leaders chose to ally themselves with. The
main danger with the republic proposal I see is whether it might result in
the Governor General becoming a political rather than a neutral head of
state. The present system works well for us.

Tony P

On Monday, 6 June 2022 at 20:02:24 UTC+10transit...@... wrote:

> Her Majesty may be Queen of Australia, but she is not the Head of State

> for Australia. That position belongs to our Governor-General, and has

> been recognized as such since about 1906.

>

> Regards

>

> Dudley

>

> On 4/06/2022 5:27 pm, Mal Rowe wrote:

> > As an Australian, I find it a bit hard to get enthused about a distant

> > monarch, but the achievement of QE II to last 70 years in the job is

> > remarkable.

> >

> > The Queen (as Princess Elizabeth) was supposed to visit Australia in

> > 1952, but went home after the South Africa part of the tour when her

> > father died suddenly.

> >

> > The 1954 Royal Visit was the first time a reigning monarch visited

> > Australia and the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board, headed by

> > Major General Robert Risson was determined to celebrate the event in

> > style.

> >

> > The only PCC car was taken off passenger service and adorned with

> > celebratory panels. The attached pic is an MMTB official image.

> >

> > The Royal standard is the centre piece with the State of Victoria coat

> > of arms at left and the monogram of the Melbourne and Metropolitan

> > Tramways Board at right.

> >

> > Mal Rowe - occasional passenger on the PCC car

> >

>