EDITOR'S NOTE: The High Court overturned Cardinal George Pell's conviction for historic child sex offences in a judgment ruling handed down April 7, 2020. In a unanimous decision all seven High Court judges found Victoria's Court of Appeal should not have upheld Pell's conviction It found the evidence could not support a guilty verdict.

The Governor-General will not use his power to unilaterally strip controversial sex therapist and commentator Bettina Arndt of her membership of the Order of Australia despite a bipartisan motion in Parliament calling for her to be expelled.

Ms Arndt attracted widespread condemnation after she praised a Queensland police officer on Twitter for keeping an "open mind" about whether a man who murdered his wife and children by setting them alight had been "driven too far".

Bettina Ardnt has lashed calls for her Order of Australia to be rescinded. Credit:Joshua Morris

The Governor-General’s official secretary, Paul Singer, told a Senate estimates hearing that while the Governor-General, David Hurley, had the formal power to rescind an Order of Australia on his own, he had not considered doing so "because in practice the Governor-General does always act on the advice and recommendations of council".