While people believe that there is a two-party system in Australia, others think it is a manority government (Costar & Curtin 2004). This essay will examine the existence of other party systems from two aspects. The first one is the government’s formation, by focusing on the party structure of the Senate and the House of Representatives, also analyzes the position of the Nationals .The second one is the legislation making process, by studying a legislative case to indicate that two major parties did not have fully control.
First, the Senate is operated by a multiparty system. Because of the proportional voting, minor parties and independents find it easier to win a place in the Senate and become influential (David 2016). In fact, an “independent’s day” is claimed after each elections, because they refuse to cooperate with two major parties (Prosser & Warhurst 2014), and they will continue to play a significant role in the Senate (Prosser 2012).
Second, there is a two-and-a-half party system in the House of Representatives. Warhurst (2008) agreed this statement because the Liberal is supported by the Nationals. In fact, by utilizing the effective number (Taagepera 1999) to calculate the party system from 1946-2013 (Michael Gallagher 2015), most of the result were closed or even higher than 2.6, therefore, a two-and-a-half-party system is proven.
In fact, the Nationals should be treats as a “half” party individually. The first evidence is the ideology differences, the Nationals ideology is “Country-Mindedness” (Davey 2010) and focus on the regional development, whereas the Liberal is economic liberalism and emphasize business growth. The second one is the political position of the Nationals. Alan Siaroff (2003) indicated that a “h...
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...rty system is just happening “naturally” as the electoral system has been used to eliminate other weak parties (Katz & Mair 2009).
In conclusion, this essay prove the existence of a multiparty system in the Senate and a two-and-a-half-party system in the House of Representatives. Moreover, this essay also indicate that the National should treat as a “half” party. Furthermore, a multiparty system is recognized in the legislation passing process in both House. In fact, some one already believe that Australian is running a multiparty system (Curtin & Miller 2011) or a full coalition government (Paun 2011). In addition, people are currently tend to vote for the option C:”none of the above” (SBS 2015), because they cannot identify the differences of ideology and policy between two major parties (Katya & Hilary 2008), therefore, a multiparty system will be shaped firmly.
This assignment deals with the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and the Australian Liberal Party. It will go explain in depth their origins, motives objectives and achievements.
Before the Declaration of Independence in 1776, colonies were separate from each other; there was very little interaction. As Britain exerted their power on the colonies, imposing unreasonable taxes without colonial consent, people realized their freedom was threatened. Colonists felt the need to unite and act together to call for independence. When the country finally claimed its independence, Americans started to drift apart once again due to the differences in their viewpoints. Political parties came into existence. Composed of two parties, the Federalists and the Republicans, they took turns to govern the country with their own ideas and principles. They shared different ideas on many aspects and opposed every move the opponent made.
In light of the recent Senate scandal, the public’s attention has been directed to the government’s credibility and its members’ discipline again. Mike Duffy’s 90,000 dollars scandal has put the Canadian government’s party discipline into the spotlight. While it is well-known amongst general public, there are other similar incentives and disincentives shared between the Members of the Parliament (MPs) and senators in keeping them disciplined, as well as some different ones that set them apart. In this essay, I am going to analyze the main levers of party discipline in the House of Commons and the Senate for their effectiveness. By comparing the similarities and differences, I will explain for the motivations behind the Senate, even if they have seemingly fewer incentives than the MPs, such as free of worrying about being re-elected.
If the parties in our governmental system would openly discuss about the difference in positions and in point of views within the groups in realizing these controversies will minimize the unnecessary troubles greatly. Another possibility of improvement would be following the great examples of other countries with the Westminster governance system. For example, in countries like Australia and New Zealand have already a well-established party discipline rules that are less strict than the ones in Canada and way more effective than the ones we have. In an article, it was said that” Australian parties are considerably more discipline than those in the UK an even those in Canada, although the degree of discipline in the latter has been the subject of much critical comment. Parliamentary votes in the UK are subject to varying degrees of party discipline, with the most rigid being the so-called” three-line whip’ votes. Neither Australia nor Canada has such gradations. In New Zealand party discipline has increased under its mixed Member proportional (MMP) electoral system and, unless party leaders have agreed to a conscience vote, standing orders require a party vote to be taken rather than individuals casting their votes in the chamber. “(Sawer, Abjorensen and Larkin
A two-party system is a political system in which only two parties have a realistic opportunity to compete effectively for control. As a result, all, or nearly all, elected officials end up being a member in one of the two major parties. In a two-party system, one of the parties usually holds a majority in the legislature hence, being referred to as the majority party while the other party is the minority party. The United States of America is considered to be a two-party system. A two-party system emerged early in the history of the new Republic. Beginning with the Federalists and the Jeffersonian Republicans in the late 1780s, two major parties have dominated national politics, although which particular two parties has changed with the times and issues. During the nineteenth century, the Democrats and Republicans emerged as the two dominant parties in American politics. As the American party system evolved, many third parties emerged, but few of them remained in existence for very long. Today the Democrats and Republican still remain as the dominant parties. These two parties hav...
This is confirmed by the period 1945-79, when power tended to alternate frequently between the Labour and Conservative parties. However, during this period, Labour won power twice with a majority of less than twenty seats, resulting in a near hung parliament. This tends to weaken the idea that the electoral pendulum has swung evenly for both parties. It is important to consider the period of time looked when attempting to identify which system best describes
When many people hear the words the Senate and the House of Representative they might think of Congress. They do not truly go into depth of what those two departments mean, and they do not understand how vital they are to our own government. Congress is part of the Legislative Branch and is a bicameral legislature. Which means that is a legislature that is separated into two houses, and in that case is the House of Representatives and the Senate. Many know the words "The Senate" and "The House of Representatives" but they do not truly know what those words entail, many do not know the contrast and comparisons of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Barnes, Lithwick, and Virgint explain: “Canadians appeared to prefer the current FPTP system to a system which includes proportional representation. However, the consultations also found that respondents were “open” to considering change, including a voting system in which every vote for a party counts” (p. 1). As previously mentioned, the MMP system still aligns with FPTP in the way that it still uses a single member to represent each constituency, and the first vote which a citizen casts for a candidate will still use FPTP principles to calculate the winner. The main difference between these two systems is the party vote, which is used to fill the remaining seats and compensate for any discrepancies would allow Canadians a greater say in who is
The Role of the Senate and House of Representatives. The Congress of the United States consists of the Senate and the House. of Representatives, which means the USA is bi-cambial. The Congress of the United States was created by Article I, Section 1, of the Constitution, adopted by the Constitutional Convention in September.
Plurality voting and winner-take-all rules directly undermine any chance of a third party victory, leading to the perpetual existence of a two-party political system. With winner-take-all election rules making any third party victory far from possible, the two major parties can shift their identity early on in the election to align better with the concerns of the general public that may be expressed from third party support. Third parties do not pose much of a threat to the two major parties due to their inability to carry a state through electoral votes. Any large desire for policy change will likely provoke a major party critical realignment before it leads to any third party victory. The two major parties will likely, based off of historical patterns, bring forth a candidate whose campaign is unique to the nation-wide concerns, leading to a shift in overall voting
The US has a two party system in which two parties dominate in the US
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The American Political System The American political system is a federal system, which consists of
In representative government, parties are often found. Perhaps the most prevalent danger in a party system is a party split, which paralyzes government just as much as a divergence of executive, legislative, and judicial powers in government.