First female governor-general appointed

Australia is to have its first female governor-general, who is the representative of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, the country's head of state.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd yesterday announced that Quentin Bryce, the governor of northern Queensland state and a former head of the federal sex discrimination commission, has been appointed to a five-year term.

Bryce, a 65-year-old former lawyer and academic, will replace Major General Michael Jeffery, a Vietnam war veteran whose term expires next month.