page_title: Governor-General of New Zealand
section_title: Role in executive government
hierarchical_section_title: Governor-General of New Zealand / Functions / Constitutional role / Role in executive government
caption_attribution_description: English: Dame Patsy Reddy (Governor-General) welcomes the soon-to-be Ministers and Under-Secretaries
context_page_description: The governor-general of New Zealand is the viceregal representative of the monarch of New Zealand, currently Queen Elizabeth II. As the Queen is concurrently the monarch of 15 other Commonwealth realms, and lives in the United Kingdom, she, on the advice of her New Zealand prime minister, appoints a governor-general to carry out her constitutional and ceremonial duties within the Realm of New Zealand.
  The current office traces its origins to when the administration of New Zealand was placed under the Colony of New South Wales in 1839 and its governor was given jurisdiction over New Zealand. However, New Zealand would become its own colony the next year with its own governor. The modern "governor-general" and his or her functions came into being in 1917 and the office is currently mandated by Letters Patent issued in 1983, constituting "the Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief of the Realm of New Zealand". Constitutional functions of the governor-general include presiding over the Executive Council, appointing ministers and judges, granting royal assent to legislation, and summoning and dissolving parliament.
context_section_description: The governor-general appoints and dismisses Cabinet ministers and other ministers, but exercises such a function only on the prime minister's advice. Thus, in practice, the prime minister, and not the governor-general, exercises complete control over the composition of the Cabinet. The governor-general may, in theory, unilaterally dismiss a prime minister, but convention and precedent bar such an action.
  The governor-general presides over, but is not a member of, the Executive Council of New Zealand. The Executive Council (which comprises all ministers) exists and meets to give legal effect to decisions made by the Cabinet. The primary function of the Executive Council is to collectively and formally advise the governor-general to issue Orders in Council (to make, for example, regulations or appointments), which operate under the authority of "the Governor-General in Council". 
  Every reference in any Act to the Governor-General in Council or any other like expression includes a reference to the Sovereign acting by and with the advice and consent of the Executive Council.
  — Section 3 of the Constitution Act
  The governor-general also has custody of the Seal of New Zealand for all official instruments of "Her Majesty's Government in New Zealand".
caption: Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy presides over the swearing in of the new Sixth Labour Government on 26 October 2017
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