[1] Hurley retired from the army in June 2014 and succeeded Marie Bashir as governor of New South Wales in October 2014 on the nomination of Premier Mike Baird.

His term concluded in May 2019 and he was subsequently appointed by Queen Elizabeth II as governor-general on the nomination of Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

[4] Promoted to lieutenant colonel, Hurley was posted as the Senior Career Adviser (Armour, Artillery, Engineers and Infantry) in the Office of the Military Secretary in 1990, appointed SO1 (Operations) Headquarters 2nd Division in early 1991, and in November 1991 assumed command of 1RAR, which he led during Operation Solace in Somalia in 1993.

[7] Following promotion to colonel, Hurley was appointed Chief of Staff, Headquarters 1st Division in June 1994, attended the United States Army War College from 1996 to 1997, became Military Secretary to Chief of Army, and was posted to Australian Defence Headquarters as Director of Preparedness and Mobilisation in December 1997.

[7] Hurley was promoted to major general in 2001 and served as Head Capability Systems Division from July 2001, and as Land Commander Australia from December 2002.

[5] Hurley retired from the Australian Army on 30 June 2014, and was succeeded as CDF by Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin.

[14] On 16 December 2018, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that Queen Elizabeth II had approved the appointment of Hurley as the next Governor-General of Australia, succeeding Sir Peter Cosgrove, commencing on 1 July 2019 marking him as the first representative of the monarch who had been born during the latter's reign.

The Biosecurity Act 2015 specifies that the Governor-General may declare such an emergency exists if the Health Minister (at the time Greg Hunt) is satisfied that "a listed human disease is posing a severe and immediate threat, or is causing harm, to human health on a nationally significant scale".

The program — Australian Future Leaders Foundation Limited — was given $18 million in funding,[23] despite having no office, online website or staff.

[24] This funding was cancelled by the Albanese government in September 2022, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers stating that it "didn't pass muster" or represent "value for money".