SYDNEY, April 13: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Sunday named Queensland governor Quentin Bryce as Australia’s next governor-general, the first woman to act as the British queen’s representative in the country.

Mr Rudd, who returned to Canberra on Sunday from an 18-day world tour during which he met Queen Elizabeth II at the Buckingham Palace, said the monarch had approved Bryce on his recommendation.

The prime minister said that Ms Bryce — a lawyer, academic and former federal sex discrimination commissioner — “captures the spirit of modern Australia”.

He said the 65-year-old grandmother, who grew up in a small town in Mr Rudd’s home state of Queensland, had demonstrated a strong commitment to rural Australia, the rights of women and Aborigines.

Mr Rudd said he was pleased that a woman would serve as governor-general, a post created under the constitution in 1901 and a person who, as the monarch’s representative, has the power to dismiss the government.

“It’s taken us 107 years, it’s been a while, it’s good that it’s happened,” he told reporters.

Ms Bryce, who will replace Vietnam war veteran Maj-Gen Michael Jeffery when he retires in September, said her appointment marked a great day for Australian women.

“I grew up in a little bush town in Queensland of 200 people and what this day says to Australian women, and to Australian girls, is that you can do anything. You can be anything,” she said.

“And it makes my heart sing to see women in so many diverse roles across our country in Australia.” Under Mr Rudd’s centre-left Labour government, which won office in November, Australia has a female deputy prime minister, Julia Gillard.

Mr Rudd sidestepped the issue of whether the next governor-general, who like her predecessors will carry out largely ceremonial duties, would be the nation’s last if Australia cuts ties with the monarch and becomes a republic.

Australia’s governor-general has the power to appoint a prime minister in the event of a hung parliament after an election, or dismiss the leader if he or she loses the confidence of lawmakers or acts unlawfully.

While also nominally the commander-in-chief of the Australian Defence Force, the governor-general in practice acts on the advice of the government.-—AFP