Former governors-general or their spouses could be stripped from lucrative entitlements if found to have engaged in serious misconduct, under a plan by the Greens.
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Greens senator David Shoebridge presented a bill on Monday to introduce powers for either a minister or parliament to axe allowances to former governors-general who had engaged in serious misconduct.
The call comes after former governor-general Peter Hollingworth had been found to have covered up child sex abuse in the Anglican Church.
The Anglican Archbishop was appointed governor-general by the Howard government in 2001, but he resigned in 2003 over his role in handling allegations of abuse in the church.
A hearing has commenced in Melbourne to determine if Dr Hollingworth should be defrocked.
Former governors-general receive a total on $600,000 a year in entitlements which includes a $357,000-a-year pension.
After a current or retired governor-general dies, their spouse is entitled to a lifelong allowance of five-eighths of the rate of a former governor-general.
Senator Shoebridge said his office had been contacted by abuse survivors calling for greater accountability in the role of governor-general.
He said serious misconduct could also include acts of corruption or fraud and other serious criminal offending.
"If a former governor-general goes to jail, or is proven to engage in the most serious misconduct, they keep on receiving up to $600,000 a year in entitlements, that's about $11,500 a week, no questions asked," Senator Shoebridge said.
"If someone is struggling to get by on $282 a week in JobSeeker payments and they miss a job interview they get a warning, if they do it twice they can have their payments halted.
"It's one rule for the elite and another for the rest of the country. How is that fair, how is that decent, how is that reasonable?"
The ability to remove entitlements exists for MP, judges or senior public officials.
A similar bill was introduced by former Greens Senator Rachel Siewert in 2019 but it failed to progress to a vote in the previous parliament.
Senator Shoebridge called nonpartisan debate on the issue which he said was clearly a matter of public interest law reform
"The Governor General's office is notoriously free from scrutiny and notoriously non-transparent. It's a slap in the face to not see accountability in the in the nation's highest office," he said.
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