Governor-General David Hurley

Jul 19, 20232 min read

David Hurley is the 27th current Governor-General of Australia. Mr. Hurley was appointed to the role on the 1st of July 2019 by then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison, having previously served as 38th Governor of New South Wales since 2014.

Governor-General, David Hurley, addressing a crowd at a podium wearing a suit with the text "David Hurley" foregrounded.

The Australian Young Leaders Foundation

The Australian Young Leaders Foundation was an organisation established in 2020 of which Mr. Hurley personally lobbied then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison to provide funding towards. It was later revealed that $18 million had been allocated to the organisation from the federal government, despite the organisation having no address, website or staff beyond its directors. After the Albanese Government suspended the program's funding the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, rejected the notion of an inquiry being established into Mr. Hurley's role in the funding, stating that he's "not into the personalities of it, I’m into the economics of it”.

Scott Morrison's "Secret Ministries"

Throughout 2020 to 2021, then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison was appointed as Joint Minister for various federal departments including Health, Finance, Home Affairs, Industry, Science, Energy & Resources and Treasury, with many government officials, including ministers of these very departments, being unaware of said appointments.

In the Solicitor-General's statement on whether Mr. Morrison's appointment to the Department of Industry, Science, Energy & Resources was valid, he stated that Governor-General had no "discretion to refuse to accept" such an appointment:

"The Governor-General, acting on the advice of the Prime Minister, has power under s64 of the Constitution to appoint an existing Minister of State, including the Prime Minister, to administer an additional department of State. The Governor-General has no discretion to refuse to accept the Prime Minister’s advice in relation to such an appointment.

An inquiry into Mr. Morrison's ministerial appointments was conducted by High Court Justice, Virginia Bell. In her report Ms. Bell noted commentators who had criticised Mr. Hurley for not warning Mr. Morrison that the appointments would be unorthodox and for not encouraging him to make them public. Ms. Bell considered "the criticism of the governor-general to be unwarranted."

Biography

Mr. Hurley entered the Duntroon Royal Military College in 1972. He went on to serve in a number of senior positions within the Australian Army including Land Commander Australia, Chief of Joint Operations and Vice Chief of the Defence Force. He was promoted to General and Chief of the Defence Force in 2011 before retiring in 2014. That same year he was appointed as Governor of New South Wales by then-Premier Mike Baird.