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GOVERNOR DE KRETSER: The executive powers really relate to the role that the governor
has acting on the advice from government. In other words the government is there to
govern having been elected by a majority of the people of Victoria and the government
brings forward legislation which would then pass through both houses of parliament and
require royal assent before that legislation can be enacted. There are also regulations,
appointments to committees which the governor again exerts approval on the basis of advice
taken from the government of the day through its ministers. There are also what are called
reserve powers where for instance the government of the day loses a motion of no confidence
in the house. Under those circumstances the premier of the day may want to visit the governor
and say that he is unable to continue to govern under those circumstances and under those
circumstances the governor would then initiate an election. The Premier would need to resign
under those circumstances.
Otherwise usually elections now in Victoria are usually on a fixed date with a four year
term. Those reserve powers really are very rarely
used and a governor always hopes that he never has to use those powers, but they have been
used on some occasions in the past. And it is extraordinarily rare and the governor would
need to recognise that that’s a very serious act and that he would need to for instance
counsel the premier of the day that he was in fact going to exert those powers, in other
words giving the premier a warning to that effect and you know they are serious issues
and very rarely utilised.