During the 1920s , the importance of the position declined . As a result of decisions made at the 1926 Imperial Conference , the Governor-General ceased to represent the British Government diplomatically , and the British right of supervision over Australian affairs was abolished . As the Balfour Declaration of 1926 , later implemented as the Statute of Westminster 1931 , put it : It is desirable formally to place on record a definition of the position held by the Governor-General as His Majesty 's representative in the Dominions . That position , though now generally well recognised , undoubtedly represents a development from an earlier stage when the Governor-General was appointed solely on the advice of His Majesty 's Ministers in London and acted also as their representative . In our opinion it is an essential consequence of the equality of status existing among the members of the British Commonwealth of Nations that the Governor-General of a Dominion is the representative of the Crown , holding in all essential respects the same position in relation to the administration of public affairs in the Dominion as is held by His Majesty the King in Great Britain , and that he is not the representative or agent of His Majesty 's Government in Great Britain or of any Department of that Government . However , it remained unclear just whose prerogative it now became to decide who new Governors-General would be . In 1930 , King George V and the Australian Prime Minister James Scullin discussed the appointment of a new Governor-General to replace Lord Stonehaven , whose term was coming to an end . The King maintained that it was now his sole prerogative to choose a Governor-General , and he wanted Field-Marshal Sir William Birdwood for the Australian post . Scullin recommended the Australian jurist Sir Isaac Isaacs , and he insisted that George V act on the advice of his Australian prime minister in this matter . Scullin was partially influenced by the precedent set by the Government of the Irish Free State , which always insisted upon having an Irishman as the Governor-General of the Irish Free State
1926 Imperial Conference
1926 Imperial Conference
Governor-General of Australia