Jamie Briggs (Mayo, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

It is a great pleasure to sum up debate on the Governor-General Amendment (Salary) Bill 2014. As the minister for territories, can I add my congratulations to General Cosgrove on his appointment. He will make an outstanding Governor-General of our country. He is the perfect person to be appointed to high office and I concur with the earlier comments made by the member for Canberra, the member for Swan and the member for Brand. General Cosgrove will be a terrific addition to the national capital. We look forward to the celebrations at the end of March to highlight just how important this capital is for our country and for the institutions it represents. As the minister responsible, I look forward to the celebrations at that time. It will be the big year of celebrations with Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge visiting Australia and attending on Anzac Day.

Thank you to all the members who have spoken on the Governor-General Amendment (Salary) Bill 2014. The purpose of the bill is to set an annual salary of $425,000 during General Peter Cosgrove's tenure as Governor-General. On 28 January 2014, the Prime Minister announced that Her Majesty the Queen had approved his recommendation to appoint General Peter Cosgrove AC, MC as our next Governor-General following the retirement of Her Excellency the Hon. Quentin Bryce AC. A former Australian of the Year, General Cosgrove has dedicated his life to serving and supporting the Australian community. General Cosgrove's compassion and commitment to Australia was displayed during his time as Chief, Australian Defence Force, and as chairman of the recovery task force that helped rebuild shattered communities following Cyclone Larry in Far North Queensland. The Prime Minister has said that he cannot think of a finer or more suitable person to serve as Governor-General than General Cosgrove.

Section 3 of the Constitution states:

The salary of a Governor-General shall not be altered during his continuance in office.

This means two things: firstly, that the Governor-General's salary is fixed and does not increase from year to year; secondly, that alterations to the Governor-General's salary must occur prior to the commencement of a new Governor-General. The Governor-General Act 1974 was passed in order to determine the Governor-General's allowances and salary. In order to alter the Governor-General's salary, an amendment to the act must be made.

It has been longstanding practice that the Governor-General's salary has been calculated with reference to the Chief Justice of the High Court's salary. The proposed salary has therefore been determined through forecasting and projected wage growth of the Chief Justice's salary over the next five years. The Governor-General's designate has requested that his salary take into consideration his Commonwealth funded superannuation from his previous service in the Australian Defence Force and be reduced by that amount. This is in line with a precedent established by His Excellency Sir William Deane in 1995 and Her Excellency Ms Bryce in 2008, both of whom were entitled to Commonwealth funded pensions through their previous work. The proposed salary of $425,000 per annum therefore takes into account General Cosgrove's military pension and has been calculated in relation to the Chief Justice's salary. I commend the bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation announced.

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