The Queen’s representative in Australia has admitted he “made a mistake” by agreeing to give a testimonial for a building company.
Governor-General David Hurley and his wife Linda Hurley appeared in social media posts and on the website of a Canberra building company that completed renovations on their private home.
In a video, the couple praised the professionalism of the company manager and the quality of the renovations.
“We’ve been working with Brendan for about 18 months now and we’re really delighted with the outcome and the end product,” Governor-General Hurley says.
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Mrs Hurley agrees, saying the builder “went out of his way to make to make me feel happy”.
While the pair do not mention their official roles, the video superimposes their titles and attributed the written testimonial on the website to the governor-general.
In a statement released by Government House on Wednesday, Governor-General Hurley apologised.
“I made a mistake by agreeing, on the spur of a happy moment, to express my appreciation for the builder in a video and photos,” he said.
“I received no benefit of any kind for my participation.
“My words were not intended to be used in direct commercial advertising and reference to my appointment was not to be made.
“Nevertheless, I should have checked that my guidance was accurately followed.
“I have asked the builder to remove all material related to my comments.”
The building company has removed the social media posts and anonymised the website testimonial.
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So terribly, terribly pleased that this bloke outranks me, whoever he is. This is the guy who makes people stand in front of him while he remains seated, yeah? Does he wear a cummerbund under his jacket, or is that just for evening wear? I can hardly wait for him to swap my fealty to King Chuck when the moment comes.
The Liberals appointing military retirees to emphasise the GG post as the pinnacle of the ADF has led to this embarrassing nobody being our head of state. More public exposure doing social media advertising for a builder than during all of the fires, the floods & the pandemics. What was his name again?
Good to see our GG swapping endorsements for cheap Reno’s great respect for the man that does F all for a huge salary and then hocks the role on Social Media.
Should resign immediately however he won’t cause he still has to do the advertisement for his new pool.