Australia, formally known as the Commonwealth of Australia, was formed in 1901. This was the result of six independent British colonies that came together to form a new nation. The foundation for this federation, as they refer to themselves by, is known as the Australian Constitution. This written document acts as the basis for which how the government can operate and what it can do. Under the Constitution, the Australian Government is a federal system of government. Utilizing this system powers are divided between the central, Australian Government, and states of the nation, the six state governments. For the Australian Government, the central power, laws written and passed by this governing half of the entire system affect all Australians. In essence it is the law of the land and should be followed by all. The Australian Government is split into three arms. The first is known as the legislative arm, or parliament, and is responsible for the debate and vote of new laws to be initiated. These laws, if passed, are introduced under the power of section 51 of the Australian Constitution. Section 51 of the Australian Constitution in principle defines what the government can decide upon. The second of three arms of the Australian Government is the executive arm. This third is responsible for authorizing and sustaining the laws established by the legislative arm. Some members of the legislature, entitled ministers, are members of both the legislative and executive arms of the Australian Government. These specific members are tasked with special responsibilities for certain areas of the law. Lastly, the third of the three arms of the Australian Government is the judiciary. This is the legitimate arm of the Australian Government, and by t...
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...CCA. As far as states and territories go their own laws govern consumer protection. Typically these are in the form of a Fair Trading Act.
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australia.gov.au. (n.d.). Home. Retrieved April 11, 2014, from http://australia.gov.au/
Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade homepage. (n.d.). Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade homepage. Retrieved April 11, 2014, from https://www.dfat.gov.au/
Homepage â National Archives of Australia. (n.d.). Homepage â National Archives of Australia. Retrieved April 11, 2014, from http://www.naa.gov.au/
Sharman, C., & Moon, J. (2003). Australian politics: the Commonwealth, the states and the territories. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Welcome to business.gov.au. (n.d.).business.gov.au. Retrieved April 11, 2014, from http://www.business.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx
The decision for Australia to adopt the Federal system was on the principle of which the State’s governments wanted to keep their power. For this reason there was the separation of powers between the newly formed Commonwealth government and the existing State governments. At a constitutional level, there are rulings in which the powers are separated, these rulings due to disputes have slightly changed since 1901. These changes all fell towards the one government, the Commonwealth (Federal) government. However this was not just a landslide event, the Constitution of Australia set up this imbalance of powers between the Commonwealth and State governments. We will explore this further in the points discussed later in this essay.
Australia's federation came about through a process of deliberation, consultation and debate. Before 1901 Australia did not exist as a nation. It was six British colonies, which were self-governed, but under the power of the British Parliament. The colonies were almost like six separate countries. In the 1880s there was so much disorganisation within this system, which caused a belief that a national government was, needed to deal with issues such as trade, defence and immigration saw popular support for federation grow.
Australia is currently a constitutional monarchy, meaning that the Queen is our current head of state. We also have a written constitution, which limits the Queen and other authorities power. The governor general, who is appointed on the advice of the prime minister, represents the Queen.
Australia became an independent nation on January 1, 1901 when the British Parliament passed certain legislation allowing the six Australian colonies to regulate their own authority as part of the Commonwealth of Australia. The Commonwealth of Australia was established, and remains as, a constitutional monarchy, meaning that it was founded with a written constitution, and that the Australian head of state is also head of the Commonwealth (Queen Elizabeth II.) The Australian Constitution was initially drafted by several men in the 1890’s though it wasn't passed by the British Parliament until 1900 as part of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act. By definition the Australian Constitution is a composition
Australia is a bicameral federation Parliamentary democracy. Power is divided between the Commonwealth federal government and the six state governments. The Federal Parliament, or the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, is the legislative branch. The Queen (represented by the Governor-General), the Senate (Upper House) and the House of Representatives (Lower House) make up the Federal Parliament. The Federal Parliament includes two separate chambers: The House of Representatives and the Senate. The Senate represent the six States and the two self-governing Territories while the members of the House represent electoral divisions according to population. The House of Representatives consists of 150 members, each elected from single member
Since the dawn of time for a society to work it needs to have a level of structure that applies to everyone and is understood by everyone. Australian legal system is broad and complex. It is the nature of the encompassing laws and regulations which reflect how people, organisations and governments behave on the many different levels of operation and these are created to make sure that everyone understands their rights and obligations. There are two sources of Law in Australia: Statute Law regulated by Parliament and comprise of legislations and acts; and Judge-made Law or Common Law where decisions made by judges are based on previous cases.
Although it is required to consider the common law rule, principles and to apply settled laws to new facts. The court is also restricted by different legal doctrines of precedent, separation of powers and the court is required to make Australia laws remain predictable and certain.
The Australian Legal System has a rich and detailed history dating from 1066. Law is made in Parliament. We have four sources of law and three courts with different jurisdictions that interpret the law when giving out justice. Important doctrines act as the corner-stones of our legal system. There is a procedure in the courts for making appeals. Separation of powers exists between officials in the courts, the parliament and the Executive. Everyone in Australia is treated equally under the Rule of Law, no matter their office or status. The Law is always changing as society changes, but it can never be perfect and cannot please everyone.
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...
The roots of Australian laws are similar to traditional Aboriginal laws, dating back to before the Norman Conquest in 1066, where each separate village had their own laws developed to their own customs. This changed however, after a centralized legal system was established after 1066. A common law was formed, that applied to all of England. This was later combined with equity law and mercantile law, which is the basis of Australian law today, known as ‘statute law’.
A referendum has been a relatively effective mechanism in facilitating the shift of power from the States to the Commonwealth. The referendum (section 128) is a concept that aimed to change the wording in the Australian Constitution to give the commonwealth more specific powers. This is done through the passing of the constitutional alteration bill through parliament. Since federation, all citizens have the right to vote in referendums with any proposed changes either being accepted or rejected by the people. The way this works is that the Governor general authorises a referendum and this referendum must meet dual criteria in order to be successful for instance, the federal criterion which is having a majority of states and democratic criterion; having a majority of voters. The Commonwealth has tried to use the process of the referendum to shift power. For example, the referendum for Constitutional Alternation (Aboriginals) in 1967 aiming to remove racial discrimination, such as including them in
Nowadays, the Australian legal system has three powers, which are legislative, executive and judicial. Legislative power is in charge of making the laws; subsequently those laws will be passed to the executive power to administer the laws it...
What is defined as a global citizen? They’re considered to be people or countries who understand their obligations at a global level. Over the past 50 years the countries of the world have become increasingly interconnected. With this, there has been an increasing awareness that only global cooperation can solve problems including poverty and epidemics, stop wars, and reverse environmental degradation and climate change. As the globe battles with these underlying problems, Australia’s partake, even the smallest amount, is fundamentally important, especially with its stance currently as being the 15th richest country in the world. However, in recent years Australia hasn’t demonstrated, in a few of these global issues, the true values and morals of being a good global citizen.
The idea of the globalisation of Australian businesses, the process where businesses develop themselves internationally is one of the main issues in our current society. The concept of globalisation has occurred due to many factors, such as reduced trade barriers, a reduction in tariffs and quotas, new developments in technology and also new innovations in transportation technology. These factors that have caused globalisation can result in many consequences, both positive and negative. These consequences are free trade caused by a reduction in tariffs and environmental costs such as pollution caused by factories and greenhouse gasses causing global warming.
One of the features of the Australian constitution is that is it structured in a way that theoretically reflects the rule of law. This is reflected through the ‘separation of powers’ doctrine, which is assumed to be a fair structure of government. Its principles suggest that power does not lie with one branch of government, but is spread out amongst three (legislative, executive and judicial).