According to The Australian of 27 June , 2006, the former defence force chief General Peter Cosgrove has declared that the Governor-General is the Head of State. He said he strongly supported appointing a woman as Australia’s next Head of State, and that he had no interest in the position.
"I think the office of governor-general or president or whatever it becomes in the future is enormously pivotal in our form of democracy." "And I believe that, really, if the next governor-general or president is not a woman, hold a royal commission." On the latter, an editorial in the Herald Sun of 29 June, 2006, observed: “…gender should not play a role in who gets the top constitutional job — the nation deserves the best available man or woman.”