His Excellency the Governor-General of Australia, Major General Michael Jeffery, AC, CVO, MC inspects Australia's Federation Guard at his Farewell Parade in Blamey Square.
Posted on 08/30/2008 7:27:55 PM PDT by naturalman1975
His Excellency the Governor-General of Australia, Major General Michael Jeffery was farewelled today, in a parade by the Australian Defence Force (ADF).
Arriving at Sir Thomas Blamey Square in Canberra, the Governor-General was met by Chief of Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, Secretary, Mr Nick Warner, Vice-Chief of Defence Force, Lieutenant General David Hurley, Service Chiefs, the Federal Guard and the Royal Military College Band.
Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston paid tribute to the outgoing Commander-in-Chief and his wife, Her Excellency Mrs Marlena Jeffery.
Air Chief Marshal Houston thanked him for his courage, determination, intelligence, leadership and compassion not only over the past five years as Commander-in-Chief, but also for his service to the ADF since he graduated from the Royal Military College in 1955.
His Excellency Major General Michael Jeffery thanked the men and women of the ADF - both here and overseas - for their outstanding work and commitment.
The choice of Governor-General tends to reflect the beliefs and priorities of the Prime Minister of the day.
John Howard initially inherited the nominee of Labor Prime Minister, Paul Keating, a left-leaning former judge of the High Court of Australia, Sir William Deane. He was appointed for a five year term, less than a month before the Keating government was defeated and it's hard to escape the conclusion that Keating was trying to put into place somebody he hoped would constrain a new Howard government. Nonetheless, whatever his political beliefs, Sir William served his constitutional role with honour and distinction - a better man, perhaps, than Keating hoped he would be.
When he retired from office in 2001, John Howard advised Her Majesty to appoint the Right Reverend Peter Hollingworth, Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane, as Governor General. Australia's Constitution contains similar language to religion to the Constitution of the United States (because that part of it was largely copied from there) but our courts have interpreted it slightly differently from American courts, and while some people raised issues of separation of Church and state over the appointment, it was generally accepted that freedom of religion, meant it would be wrong to exclude a clergyman from office, simply because he was a clergyman. His nomination reflected the Howard government's belief in traditional values and in the special role a Judaeo-Christian mindset plays in Australia's history. Unfortunately, Hollingworth found it necessary to resign after allegations in the left-wing press, that he had mishandled reports of child sexual abuse in a Brisbane Anglican school, while Archbishop.
John Howard then nominated to Her Majesty, Major General Micahel Jeffery, a former Governor of Western Australia, and a former career soldier, a decorated war hero from Vietnam who later commanded the Special Air Service, then all Australian special forces, and then the Australian Army's 1st Division, before finally serving as Deputy Chief of the General Staff, and Assistant Chief of the General Staff for Materiel. He is a political conservative, and his appointment reflected the Howard governments commitment to national security as being of paramount importance in the early twenty-first century.
He has now served his five year term, the last part of which has been presiding over the new Rudd government - who he has, in the proper Constitutional tradition of a Governor-General, treated with respect and courtesy (and they have done the same).
He is to be replaced this Friday by Australia's first female Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, a former Governor of Queensland and a woman's rights activist and academic. She is the former (and founding) Chair of the National Childcare Accreditation Council, the former Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner, the former Queensland Director of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission. Her appointment reflects the values of the Rudd government.
The Howard era will truly end on Friday.
All fixed.
A very sad day.
You mean Rudd hasn’t tapped an aboriginal for the job? Shocked.
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