I feel that this bears repeating from my previous post on the countries that the Queen of England rules, minus the myriad of countries that she used to rule, due to relevancy of Q's query of who really controls Australia! Who is actually the supreme ruler of Australia? Queen Elizabeth II not ONLY reigns supreme in England but also Canada, New Zealand, Australia & a dozen other commonwealths! She wields the ultimate power!

Queen Elizabeth II appoints a Governor General to act on her behalf in Australia! That same Governor General in turn appoints the Prime Minister! The Queen does have the power to fire the entire Australian government!

People mistake the Queen for only being a figurehead in England quite often! In actuality, SHE is quite powerful! She's the only one with the power to declare war on another country! SHE can pardon people, she can have people arrested & seize their property, she however is immune to any prosecution, she doesn't need a passport to travel yet she controls the issuance & withdrawal of passports, she doesnt even need a license to drive & she's exempt from FOIA requests! SHE is in charge of appointing & removing Prime Ministers & Ministers, a bill from parliament cannot even become a law without her approval, she has the power to suspend/summon parliament, she has the power to make someone a lord so that they can have a seat in the upper house of parliament, heck she could dissolve all of parliament, forcing current members out & calling for a new election! ALL of Britain's military forces are commanded by her, she is indeed the commander in chief & ALL swear an oath to serve her, ergo Her Majestys Service, SHE has the power to commission officers & remove commissions! She's the head of a religion, The Church of England, thus can appoint Bishops & Archbishops! She has the power to declare a state of emergency, that which the U.S. calls martial law & call up forces necessary for that purpose! She even controls the regulation of coinage via the Royal mint & it's design in the UK! I would say that's a far cry from just a figurehead!

Queen Elizabeth the second is not the most powerful woman in Britian but the World! She is the Commander in Chief of all her Realms, in NZ for example they swear allegiance to the Queen, not the Government or the people. So All armed forces, police, fireman, Air force, Navy and other government officials are under her command! She is the Head of State in Canada, Australia, New Zealand & a dozen other commonwealths atop her reign in the UK! She may not have exercised this authority but she has the power. So, all that Ceremonial stuff & figurehead crap NEEDS to stop being emphasized as she rules the biggest Armies, Navies & Air Forces in the World!!!