Impartiality expected: Governor-General appointee facing early scrutiny

Mostyn, approved by His Majesty King Charles III, was announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as the successor to His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Ret’d) and to be appointed Australia’s 28th governor-general when she is sworn in on 1 July this year.

The future governor-general and 2021 Officer of the Order of Australia has almost immediately garnered scrutiny regarding her now-deleted social media posts reportedly praising the use of the phrase “Invasion Day” in reference to Australia Day and likening British colonial arrival in Australia to “bloody invasion”.

Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia (VVAA) national president Max Ball, speaking to Defence Connect about the recent announcement, said military veterans are generally welcoming of the new appointment despite the comments.

“The VVAA is very pleased to welcome Samantha Mostyn as Australia’s next governor-general and we hope to see her at the Australian Vietnam Forces National Memorial in Canberra soon,” he said.

“I’m sure she will dedicate the same degree of effort and interest into veterans’ affairs as she has in her business and community leadership.

“(In regard to her comments) generally, veterans look on all Australians as Australians and we have always had a relatively significant number of Indigenous veterans in the service.

“Veterans respect the institution of the governor-general … and as the governor-general, we expect that she treats everyone and every subject impartially.”

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Mostyn started her career as an associate in the Court of Appeal of the NSW Supreme Court and has worked at law firms Freehills and Gilbert + Tobin. She has more recently been awarded an honorary doctorate of laws from the Australian National University and was a member of the Australian faculty of The Prince of Wales’s Business & Sustainability Programme for 12 years, and a senior associate in the International Programme.

She has also been employed at senior levels in telecommunications and insurance companies in Australia and globally; held senior non-executive roles on boards including Transurban, Virgin Australia, and has been chair of Citibank Australia.

After accepting the appointment announcement, Mostyn disclosed that her father had been a Royal Military College Duntroon graduate who served Australia for almost 40 years including in the Vietnam War and travelled to the United States of America and Canada.

Ball, who previously served under Royal Australian Signals Corps Major William “Bill” Mostyn at Australian Force Vietnam headquarters during the Vietnam War, said her father, Major Mostyn, was a good officer and a fine man.

“He was very energetic … drove us a little crazy as happens when energetic people are confined by desk work at headquarters,” he said.

“(The new governor-general has) a proud heritage in the sense of military service.”

Mostyn has previously spoken at the National Press Club of Australia in March 2023 and November 2021 and addressed the National Press Club about the Uluru Statement in September 2020.

“It seems to me that this is the moment where we have an underlying mission where we have before us an offer, a generous offer from Indigenous leaders, known, as the Uluru Statement from the Heart,” Mostyn said during the September 2020 address.

“If you think about the generosity that sits at the heart of that statement that was delivered by Professor Megan Davis and Pat Anderson asking us to think about whether we could once and for all deal with the emotional and social well-being framework for Indigenous peoples, that starts with rectifying the origins of the Australian story.

“And if we could just think about the enormous mental wealth we would create by engaging with that offer, moving down a path in partnership with Indigenous Australians to actually move to a Voice to the Parliament, a Makarrata Commission, and learn as much as we can from one of the most enduring cultures at hand, that will teach us much about mental wealth.”

Conservative political group Advance, formerly known as Advance Australia, has reportedly labelled the appointment of Mostyn as a “corporate activist against the Australian majority” and an “insult to mainstream Australians”.

“Sam Mostyn is an exceptional leader who represents the best of modern Australia,” according to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

“She has lived her life in the service of a powerful Australian principle: when more people have the opportunity to fulfil their potential, our nation is a better place.

“Australia will always be a stronger and more successful country, when we draw on the skills and smarts of all our citizens.

“This understanding has driven Sam’s tireless advocacy for gender equality, particularly in the world of business, for women’s safety and for reconciliation.”