Why Do We Have a Governor-General?

Why Do We Have a Governor-General?
Author: Peter Turner
Publisher: Redback Publishing
Total Pages: 32
Release: 2019-08-01
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1925860418

Taking a fresh new approach to the subject of how Australian society is structured and governed, this series explains some of the key roles in Australian civic life, from that of ordinary citizens to those of Members of Parliament, the Prime Minister and Governor-General. The titles explain the rights, responsibilities and privileges of individuals in each social position, and the relationships that exist between the Prime Minister, the Governor-General, Members of Parliament and private citizens. An excellent resource for civic studies, the series provides a comprehensive introduction to the law-making process, and insight into how the government and wider Australian society function.

For Want of a Nail

For Want of a Nail
Author: Robert Sobel
Publisher: Greenhill Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2002
Genre: Burgoyne's Invasion, 1777
ISBN: 9781853675041

For Want of a Nail is an alternate history classic. The outcome of one battle in the American Revolution diverges from reality, and sparks an unstoppable chain of events which affects the history of the whole North American continent. In reality, the British general John Burgoyne, heavily outnumbered by American troops, surrendered his army to General Horatio Gates at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, a major turning-point of the Revolution. Robert Sobel takes a step sideways and presents the alternative version: reinforcements arrive at Saratoga, Gates' men flee, and Burgoyne is victorious. Rather than openly allying itself with the American rebels, France withdraws its support, as does Spain, and the colonies surrender. Those former rebels who refuse to live in the Confederation of North America established by the British leave their homes and settle in what becomes the United States of Mexico. From then on the two continental nations find themselves constant rivals, locked in military, political and economic conflict. Sobel provides a detailed, intricately documented insight into two warring powers that develop in such dramatically different ways from their shared origins.

The Veiled Sceptre

The Veiled Sceptre
Author: Anne Twomey
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 913
Release: 2018-04-12
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1107056780

The extension to other Realms of the reserve power to refuse a dissolution

The Office of Governor-General

The Office of Governor-General
Author: Sir Paul Hasluck
Publisher: Carlton, Vic. : Melbourne University Press
Total Pages: 64
Release: 1979
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

The events of November 1975 sparked off lively debate as to what the Governor-General does. The real point at issue in that controversy was not whether a Governor-General has the power to dismiss a Prime Minister. The fact that the power was exercised is proof that the power exists. The question to be asked is whether the Govenor-General was justified by the facts as he saw and interpreted them, and, if he were justified, whether he was wise to use the power. There is a difference between an extreme situation and a customary action. The controversy over the dismissal of a Prime Minister concentrated attention on one aspect, but in this lucid essay Sir Paul Hasluck sets out the wide range of the Governor-General's duties and the place of office in the whole structure of Australian government.

Dear Quentin

Dear Quentin
Author: Quentin Bryce
Publisher: Melbourne Univ. Publishing
Total Pages: 447
Release: 2017-04-03
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 0522871178

As Australia's first female Governor-General, Quentin Bryce handwrote more than fifty letters each week. She wrote to those she had met and connected with as her role took her from palaces to outback schools, from war zones to memorials, from intimate audiences to lavish ceremonies. She received even more letters from every corner of the country. Generous, witty and always heartfelt, her letter-writing skills were honed at boarding school, from where she would write to her parents every Sunday. Dear Quentin is a rich collection of the letters the Governor-General wrote and received during her six-year term to prime ministers Rudd and Gillard, VC Mark Donaldson, pals Anne Summers and Wendy McCarthy, Indigenous elders, war vets, Girl Guides, grandchildren, as well as the proud owner of a calf called Quentin. Royalties from this book will be donated to Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, making a real difference to child health through world-leading research and disease prevention.

House of Commons Procedure and Practice

House of Commons Procedure and Practice
Author: Canada. Parliament. House of Commons
Publisher:
Total Pages: 1216
Release: 2000
Genre: Law
ISBN:

This reference book is primarily a procedural work which examines the many forms, customs, and practices which have been developed and established for the House of Commons since Confederation in 1867. It provides a distinctive Canadian perspective in describing procedure in the House up to the end of the first session of the 36th Parliament in Sept. 1999. The material is presented with full commentary on the historical circumstances which have shaped the current approach to parliamentary business. Key Speaker's rulings and statements are also documented and the considerable body of practice, interpretation, and precedents unique to the Canadian House of Commons is amply illustrated. Chapters of the book cover the following: parliamentary institutions; parliaments and ministries; privileges and immunities; the House and its Members; parliamentary procedure; the physical & administrative setting; the Speaker & other presiding officers; the parliamentary cycle; sittings of the House; the daily program; oral & written questions; the process of debate; rules of order & decorum; the curtailment of debate; special debates; the legislative process; delegated legislation; financial procedures; committees of the whole House; committees; private Members' business; public petitions; private bills practice; and the parliamentary record. Includes index.

The Three Governors Controversy

The Three Governors Controversy
Author: Charles S. Bullock
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2015
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0820347345

The death of Georgia governor-elect Eugene Talmadge in late 1946 launched a constitutional crisis that ranks as one of the most unusual political events in U.S. history: the state had three active governors at once, each claiming that he was the true elected official. This is the first full-length examination of that episode, which wasn't just a crazy quirk of Georgia politics (though it was that) but the decisive battle in a struggle between the state's progressive and rustic forces that had continued since the onset of the Great Depression. In 1946, rural forces aided by the county unit system, Jim Crow intimidation of black voters, and the Talmadge machine's "loyal 100,000" voters united to claim the governorship. In the aftermath, progressive political forces in Georgia would shrink into obscurity for the better part of a generation. In this volume is the story of how the political, governmental, and Jim Crow social institutions not only defeated Georgia's progressive forces but forestalled their effectiveness for a decade and a half.

The Palace Letters

The Palace Letters
Author: Professor Jenny Hocking
Publisher:
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2020-11-03
Genre:
ISBN: 9781922310248

What role did the queen play in the governor-general Sir John Kerr's plans to dismiss prime minister Gough Whitlam in 1975, which unleashed one of the most divisive episodes in Australia's political history? And why weren't we told? Under the cover of being designated as private correspondence, the letters between the queen and the governor-general about the dismissal have been locked away for decades in the National Archives of Australia, and embargoed by the queen potentially forever. This ruse has furthered the fiction that the queen and the Palace had no warning of or role in Kerr's actions. In the face of this, Professor Jenny Hocking embarked on a four-year legal battle to force the Archives to release the letters. In 2015, she mounted a crowd-funded campaign, securing a stellar pro bono team that took her case all the way to the High Court of Australia. Now, drawing on never-before-published material from Kerr's archives and her submissions to the court, Hocking traces the collusion and deception behind the dismissal, and charts the private role of High Court judges, the queen's private secretary, and the leader of the opposition, Malcolm Fraser, in Kerr's actions, and the prior knowledge of the queen and Prince Charles. Hocking also reveals the obstruction, intrigue, and duplicity she faced, raising disturbing questions about the role of the National Archives in preventing access to its own historical material and in enforcing royal secrecy over its documents.