So what of the governor-general now that the Albanese government has backed away from funding his favoured charity?
The Australian Future Leaders Foundation (AFLF) might have been well intentioned — aimed as it was at creating a network for young Australian achievers — but it reeked of the monarchy. There is ample evidence that the foundation, proposed by people with links to the royal family and promoted by the queen’s representative in Australia, received special treatment from Scott Morrison, whose government was prepared to back it with $18 million and special tax status.
The idea was always out of kilter with Australia in 2022. For months the funding decision sat there as just another example of Morrison’s trademark abuse of process. But that all changed with revelations of Morrison’s secret ministries, signed off by Governor-General David Hurley. That raised a perception that the prime minister and the governor-general gave special treatment to each other. (The G-G’s office has firmly rejected the allegation.)
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The grant is gone, but we are left with a host of serious, unresolved questions — not only for the incumbent governor-general but also for his office.
It’s the connections, old boy
Proponents of the AFLF were able to gain the kind of access to the governor-general’s office that other charities would kill for. The record shows there were a dozen meetings between the G-G’s office and the foundation’s executive director, upper-crust Englishman Chris Hartley. That then translated into access to the Prime Minister’s Office as the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet took the running on backing Hartley’s regal idea with taxpayer money.
The conflicts of interest
As Crikey reported earlier this week, the governor-general was ultimately in the position of signing into law two legislative amendments that had been passed specifically for the benefit of the AFLF. One was to enable the payment of $18 million (with a guarantee of more) and the other was for the much coveted Deductible Gift Recipient tax status.
These conflicts are separate from the perceived conflict of Scott Morrison, the prime minister of the day, overseeing the funding of a charity promoted by the governor-general. The legislation enabling the multimillion-dollar, multiyear funding of the foundation describes it as “an initiative of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in consultation with the Office of the Official Secretary of the Governor-General”, a description that places it perilously close to being a joint venture.
Does this not, in theory, compromise the independence of the G-G’s office?
Truth to be told, what are the connections?
Citizen journalists who go by the Twitter names Ronni Salt and Jommy Tee have produced deep research showing a series of interactions between Chris Hartley and Governor-General David Hurley, raising the suggestion that their relationship is more than portrayed in Senate estimates hearings earlier this year. This may or may not be the case, but it does call for an answer.
There are also the ties that bind Chris Hartley LVO and the secretary of the governor-general, Paul Singer MVO.
Singer is a former officer in the Royal Australian Navy. Relevantly for this saga, Singer is an alumnus of CSCLeaders, a program for Commonwealth leaders. Chris Hartley is listed as a non-executive director of CSC Global alumni.
Singer was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order, a royal honour he was granted in 2016. Hartley received his royal honour in 2000.
An office besieged by politics
The actions of the governor-general and his office may not be illegal, but they are a bad look.
On another level, the foundation saga also represents yet another chapter in the former Coalition government’s assaults on the integrity of government institutions. The Coalition destroyed the independence of the AAT by stacking it with political mates. It routinely appointed political friends to boards and agencies.
When it came to the governor-general, the Coalition used the Order of Australia awards relentlessly to stack the awards body and to reward its political friends with honours, rubber-stamped by the G-G. Ultimately Scott Morrison believed it was totally acceptable to use the G-G’s office to give himself more and more power, not even bothering to front up to the governor-general in person, so disdainful did he become.
Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue found that Morrison’s actions with respect to the G-G were legal but breached “the principle of responsible government”.
There are calls for the governor-general to step down or to explain himself more fully.
At the very least the net result is that the office of the governor-general has been left tarnished from its dealings with Morrison. It is an open question if the incumbent can repair it, having failed to confront it.
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