Essay On Separation Of Powers

The principle of the separation of powers is that, in order to prevent oppressive government, the three powers of government should be held by separate bodies—the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary—which can act as checks and balances on each other. (Locke, 1690) Australia’s system of separation of powers (SOP) is a hybrid of the UK Westminster system of government and the American federal and constitutional features of government. This system of government was chosen because they provide essential philosophical and theoretical bases for which separation is essential and although this system incorporates the best aspects of the UK and US systems, many crossovers have been incorporated as a result. Consequently this shows vulnerability in the Australian federal and state system exposing it to exploitation, and mistreatment.

2. Relevant Laws

The notion of a separation of powers in government stems back into ancient Greece. Most notably derived from the works of; Locke (1690), Montesquieu (1748) Blackstone (1765¬) and Madison (1788). As a result the English and American models of the SOP were developed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with Australian system of government deriving from both these two systems.

The Commonwealth of Australian Constitution Act (1900) sets out a type of separation of powers between the legislative power (section 1), executive power (section 61) and judicial powers. (section 71) The legislative arm of the Commonwealth consists of the Queen, the Senate, and the House of Representatives, is this is known as the law­making body in the Country. The Judiciary power of the Commonwealth is vested in the Federal High Court and other courts within federal jurisdiction and is the body for the ad...

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...n use today emphasized that the very people that have the power to make laws, do not put them into practice.

As stated in section 2 the federal separation of powers doctrine states that executive power is implemented by the Government, legislative power is implemented by the Parliament, and judicial power is implemented by the court (predominantly the Supreme Court). The Queensland Constitution however does not separate the roles and powers in the same way as the Federal Constitution and there is no set doctrine of the Separation of Powers similar to what found at the federal level. Instead the Separation of Powers Doctrine theory is partially accepted and followed, but only in a limited way. Therefore there is no constitutional hurdle to the Queensland Parliament (the executive government) legislating to intrude upon the exercise of judicial power.

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