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A former military officer and decorated war hero on Monday was sworn as the new Australian representative of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.

In a ceremony in Parliament, Michael Jeffery officially took over as governor general of Australia, replacing Peter Hollingworth, who resigned three months ago amid two sex scandals.

Prime Minister John Howard picked Jeffery, 65, as Hollingworth's replacement in June, hoping the career military officer would help restore the public's confidence.

Diplomats and other dignitaries packed the public galleries, while lawmakers crammed inside the Senate chamber as Jeffery was sworn in by Chief Justice Anthony Gleeson.

"I'm so very proud yet extremely humbled to be appointed your governor general," Jeffery said in a brief speech after receiving his commission, signed by the British monarch and Howard. "I will do my best to fulfill the constitutional and public obligations of this high office, with dedication, dignity and integrity."

Australia gained independence from Britain in 1901, but it retains the British monarch as head of state with a governor general as its representative.

Although mostly a ceremonial post, the office holds potentially sweeping powers, including the ability to dismiss a government and the prime minister — something that happened once in 1975.

Hollingworth was forced to resign in May after an Anglican Church inquiry found he had failed to take strong action against known pedophiles in the church when he was a senior archbishop in the early 1990s.

Hollingworth acknowledged he had made "errors of judgment." It later became public that he was also fighting a lawsuit over allegations that as a young priest over 40 years ago he had raped a woman at a church camp. A court later dismissed the case.

Jeffery retired from the defense forces in the early 1990s.

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