Government & Its Structure
The Commonwealth of Australia is a constitutional monarchy, a federation, and a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was established on 1 January 1901. The Constitution of the new Commonwealth had been drawn up by various contemporaries of colonial parliamentarians during the 1890s. It was endorsed by the people at referendums and embodied in an Act of the British Parliament in 1900, which authorized "Queen Victoria" to proclaim the establishment at federation.
The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal system with 6 states, 2 domestic territories, and a number of overseas territories, the latter consisting of small islands and a part of Antarctica. The 6 states are New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia. The 2 domestic territories are the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory, the last of which, a small district containing the national capital, Canberra, is similar politically to the District of Columbia in the United States.
Upon Federation, the Constitution made provision for a national level of government referred to as the Commonwealth, with legislative power exercised through a federal Parliament comprised of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The former six colonies became six states. Each retained its own Parliament, able to exercise legislative powers, except as limited by the new federal Constitution.
Australia is a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II of England as the formal head of state. She is represented in Australia by a governor general. In practice, the political system is headed by the prime minister and the Australian parliament, which resembles that of Great Britain or Canada. Australia's parliament has 2 houses:
The House of Representatives: The House of Representatives consists of members elected in single-member electorates by compulsory voting of all those aged 18 and over, with a unique form of preferential voting system.
The Senate: The Senate is elected under a proportional representational voting system based upon equal numbers of representatives from each state, plus a smaller number of representatives of the mainland territories.
The structure of government:
The Constitution provides for the powers of the Commonwealth to be exercised at three levels:
Power is conferred on the Parliament
Executive power, to assent to and administer laws, and to carry out the business of government, is conferred on the Governor-General, Ministers of State, departments, other government agencies, and the Defence forces
Judicial power is vested in the High Court of Australia and other courts established by the Parliament.
Portfolios
Commonwealth Portfolios assigned to each Cabinet Minister. Each portfolio may contain one or more agencies. The 17 portfolios in place at June 2003 are:
- Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
- Attorney-General
- Communications, Information Technology and the Arts
- Defence
- Education, Science and Training
- Employment and Workplace Relations
- Environment and Heritage
- Family and Community Services
- Finance and Administration
- Foreign Affairs and Trade
- Health and Ageing
- Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs
- Industry, Tourism and Resources
- Prime Minister and Cabinet
- Transport and Regional Services
- Treasurer
- Veterans' Affairs
Major Political Parties:
The major political parties in Australia are the Australian Labor Party, Australian Democratic Party, Liberal Party, National Party, and Green Party.
