Who is Australia's
Head of State?
The Oxford Companion to Law (1980) defines
heads of state as follows:
"As a state is an abstract idea, a legal and political
concept, it must have a living person as head of state
to represent it and for some purposes to embody it.
How the head of state is chosen depends on the constitution
of each individual state.
There are three main categories of heads of state:
monarchs, who hold office by hereditary right; presidents,
who are elected for stated periods; and dictators,
who obtain and hold power by force, though they may
nominally be entitled presidents and nominally be
elected or otherwise chosen.
Sometimes a dictator may be the real controlling force
but may have a monarch, president, or other nominal
head of state above him. Whether a head of state is
a figurehead, or a person also having executive powers,
depends upon the constitution and practise of each
state. By custom each state accords various ceremonial
honours to the head of each other state when visiting."
Who is Australia's Head of State?
Australia is a constitutional monarchy and in accordance
with these principles the monarch is considered Australia's
Head of State. The Governor-General is not the Head
of State of Australia, but a representative of the
Queen in Australia.
"Her
Majesty is Australia's Head of State ... I am her representative"
Governor-General
His Excellency Major General Michael Jeffery, 6 November
2004
The ARM believes this arrangement is no longer appropriate
nor suitable for Australia. We believe the office
of Head of State should be attained on merit, not
birthright. We believe that our Head of State should
be an Australian Citizen. We also believe that our
Head of State should live in Australia and know what
it means to be Australian.
Australia can reach this goal by becoming a republic,
with our own Head of State who is chosen on merit
rather than on birthright and who unquestionably represents
Australia both at home and abroad. Our own Head of
State will meet the Queen and other Heads of State
as an equal.
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