This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Australia’s governor general, General Sir Peter Cosgrove, says he plans to retire at the end of March when his five-year term expires.

He will stand down to allow someone with “new vigour” to take over, according to reports.

“That’s when my five years is up,” Cosgrove has told the Australian. “It’s not fixed, but if you do the job properly, at the end of five years you’re probably running out of puff a bit … after five years, the job deserves and ­demands new vigour.”

Last week, as rumours swirled that the former deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop may be chosen as Cosgrove’s replacement, Bill Shorten wrote to Scott Morrison to ask him to extend the governor general’s tenure for six months, to give Shorten a chance of picking Cosgrove’s replacement if he wins the election.

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“Congratulations on your election in the recent party room meeting,” the Labor leader wrote to the new prime minister.

“As you would know, General Cosgrove’s commission is due to end in March of 2019. Given that a general election must be held in or before May of next year, an extension to his term would allow an incoming prime minister to nominate to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II an appropriate successor and new governor general following the next election.

“Such an extension is within convention and would be supported by the opposition.”

Cosgrove has said he would adopt a low profile in retirement, with no plans to stay in the news. “I’ll do what most governors general do,” he reportedly said.

“You very much, when you retire, you take, in a profile sense, a back seat. You don’t want an immediate past governor general turning up and making a pro­nounce­ment or something.

“You can still get involved in plenty of worthy projects in the community, in a less-noticed way. You try not to be on the front pages.”