5
Governor-General as the Queen's representative".[1] The remainder of Ch II largely concerns the architecture by which that executive power is exercised by the Executive Government. It is necessary to examine that architecture closely for the purposes of this advice.
10. Section 62 of the Constitution establishes the Federal Executive Council to advise the Governor-General. The advice of that body is required as a condition of the exercise of certain powers that the Constitution vests in the "Governor-General in Council".[2] Section 62 also provides that the members of the Federal Executive Council "shall be chosen and summoned by the Governor-General and sworn as Executive Councillors, and shall hold office during [the Governor-General's] pleasure". By clearly established convention, the Governor-General exercises that power on the advice of the Prime Minister.[3]
11. Section 64 of the Constitution, headed "Ministers of State", provides:
The Governor-General may appoint officers to administer such departments of State of the Commonwealth as the Governor-General in Council may establish.
Such officers shall hold office during the pleasure of the Governor-General. They shall be members of the Federal Executive Council, and shall be the Queen's Ministers of State for the Commonwealth.
Ministers to sit in Parliament
After the first general election no Minister of State shall hold office for a longer period than three months unless he is or becomes a senator or a member of the House of Representatives.
- ↑ See s 2 of the Constitution, which provides for the appointment by the Queen of a Governor-General to be "Her Majesty's representative in the Commonwealth".
- ↑ See s 63 of the Constitution.
- ↑ See Republic Advisory Committee, An Australian Republic: The Options (1993), Appendix 7 at 282. See also Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Federal Executive Council Handbook 2021 (2021) at [13].
