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 …show more content…
Veto players are individual or collective decision makers whose agreement is required for the change of the status quo. Some of these veto players are established through the constitution, they are referred to as institutional veto players. Others, referred to as partisan veto players, are established not by the constitution but by how the political competition plays out. Within the federal government, Australia has 3 institutional veto players, the Governor General, and the two houses. Once you incorporate the partisan veto players you have the potential to reach a total of ~six veto players due to the coalition government and the multiple parties within the senate. (See Fig 1) The veto player theory tells us that countries which have “many veto players with conflicting policy preferences are likely to be characterized by greater policy stability, smaller shifts in policy, less variation in the size of policy shifts, and weaker agenda-setting powers’. Policy stability sounds nice but when a country needs to stay flexible and grow their policies, this stability equals …show more content…
In the past century only eight proposals, out of forty-four, have been approved in referenda. Providing some insight into how difficult it is to make constitutional changes. The Australia Report, created by Sustainable Government Indicators (SGI), states that Majoritarian Pros: A majoritarian electoral system tends to provide good clarity of responsibility as well as providing high accountability. A majoritarian system will create fewer parties and allow voters to vote in parties whom they feel will be the most responsive to their needs while having more confidence that the elected official will be able to accomplish those goals. If the officials do not accomplish those goals the voters can vote the party out during the next election cycle. Majoritarian Cons: With the majority election system, small parties have no chance to win a mandate. Less representative. Proportional Representative Pros: PR systems allow more representation with in the government allowing smaller interest parties to have a say in the
A proportionate electoral system (otherwise known as proportional representation or PR) grants its voters a voice in their vote. The way that the PR system works is that for every percentage of votes a party receives, they will be granted around the same percentage of seats in parliament. For example, if a party receives 35% of the votes, they would receive 35% of the seats in legislature. This is important for Canada because it gives smaller parties a better chance of retaining a seat. There are many different varieties of PR, due to the fact that at often times, the voting percentages do not evenly translate into the number of seats available (King, 2000). For instance, if a party receive 33.6% of the vote, they can’ receive 33.6% of seats. Because of this, numerous variations of the PR system have been created. The most common...
The United State’s Constitution, the shortest written Constitution in the world, only has twenty-seven amendments, and now it is time to add another. The power of a presidential line-item veto was denied to the Clinton Administration in 1998, but with this last Congress being the least productive Congress ever, it is time to re-think the power distribution in the legislative process. In Congress, on average, only 10% of the bills proposed make their way through, and ever reach the President’s desk. In this modern day and age a bill, on average, is 3,105 words. When Congress was first created the idea was that each proposed legislation would be contained in one bill, now bills are comprised of various provisions. Which is why the power of the line-item veto would be beneficial to expand presidential authority. This line-item veto authority is the ability to cross out certain provisions while still being able to sign in to law the entire bill. This would be beneficial to the United States government, as an amendment that would allow the president to cut out unnecessary spending to in turn lower the national deficit. The United States government needs to pass an amendment to allow Presidents to use the line item veto.
...s, be more representative, leading to policies that better reflect the average voter and smaller parties that actually have some influence in parliament. Voter apathy would likely decrease with a system that increased the value of every vote and my research has also concluded that many of the myths concerning the negatives of PR systems are unsubstantiated or are unlikely to apply in Britain. There are numerous Proportionally Representative democracies and numerous PR voting systems that have been developed, so Britain could choose that which would best suit it’s populace. The problem will be having to convince a government that has got in under the current system that the system needs to be changed, but given that one of the parties in power is pushing for a change , we may, if we’re lucky, be voting for a more democratic Britain come the next general election.
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.
The Constitution gives powers to Congress in order to execute its many responsibilities. These responsibilities are necessary and proper for carrying out its policies such as, imposing taxes and regulating interstate commerce. The constitution has 435 members in the House and 100 more in Senate. Congress faces issues with action problems and the solution to correcting these collective problems are at the expense of the incentive members. The Cabinet, President, state and federal courts, political groups, media, etc. all have input when determining a political decision in the United States. Open arrangement is an objective arranged strategy that the legislature follows in managing an issue or issue in the nation. Open approaches are focused around law; however numerous individuals other than officials set them. People, gatherings, and even government organizations that don 't follow strategies can be punished. This confounded procedure has been concluded with an anticipated arrangement of steps.
...ment plays an important role in determining the relationship between its politicians and electorates. It also “[calculates] how votes are translated into seats of political power... it... also affects the party system, political culture, the formation of government and the structure of the executive” (Trac 5). Most importantly, candidates in an SMP system can be elected with minimal amounts of public support as they do not require a majority of the votes. To be elected to the legislature in the PR system, a candidate must have “at least 3% of the party vote across the province” (Ontario Citizens' Assembly 3). In contrast to the SMP system, the PR system better represents the views of the citizens, supports a stable and effective government, and is a simple yet practical voting system. It successfully caters to the needs of the voters, unlike the traditional system.
However, the proposed systems must be thoroughly examined for their compatibility with Canada’s needs and their ability to resolve the issues outlined in this paper. From distortion in representation to Western alienation and to making the voices of minorities heard, the new system must also ensure that Parliament fulfills its role in representing, legislating, and holding the government. More importantly, after the current government abandoned its promise on electoral reform, it is important for researchers and future governments to build on the knowledge acquired by the Special Committee on Electoral Reform as well as previous experiences of the provinces with electoral
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
Democracy is defined as government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system (Democracy, n.d.). Canadians generally pride themselves in being able to call this democratic nation home, however is our electoral system reflective of this belief? Canada is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy that has been adopted from the British system. Few amendments have been made since its creation, which has left our modern nation with an archaic system that fails to represent the opinions of citizens. Canada’s current “first-past-the-post” (FPTP) system continues to elect “false majorities” which are not representative of the actual percentage of votes cast. Upon closer examination of the current system, it appears that there are a number of discrepancies between our electoral system and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Other nations provide Canada with excellent examples of electoral systems that more accurately represent the opinions of voters, such as proportional representation. This is a system of voting that allocates seats to a political party based on the percentage of votes cast for that party nationwide. Canada’s current system of voting is undemocratic because it fails to accurately translate the percentage of votes cast to the number of seats won by each party, therefore we should adopt a mixed member proportional representation system to ensure our elections remain democratic.
is dominated by the two party system they are able to use the majority selected
...ion will lead to defeat of the government. These proposed changes, proportional representation, lowering the voting age to sixteen and initiating a congressional system are unnecessary at this time as the system within Canada has the acceptance of the majority of the population.
The House of Commons is composed of 295 members who are popularly elected to serve for five-year terms. The Parliament elects the executive, the Prime Minister. Canada has a Federal system and is divided into ten provinces that have powers the way our states do. China's government is a dictatorship it is led by the communist party.
First there is the House of Representatives. The House is the lowest level of what makes up the United States Congress. Members of the House are made up of state officials. The number of House representatives that each state gets is directly affected by the state’s current population, and so the number changes with each state. There are many duties formed by the House some of which include; introducing bills, bringing up resolutions, offering amendments, and serving on committees. Members of the House are voted for directly by the people of state from which they come. Each representative must be at least
The legislative branch the first branch of the three, consist of two branches establishing Congress, the House and Senate. Each of these components elected by residents of each state has specific requirements that they must follow. The House objectives has several powers assigned exclusively to it, including the power to initiate revenue bills, impeach federal officials, and elect the President in the case of an electoral college tie (Quote GCU). The Senate objectives are managed by the Vice President of the country, known to be the President of there group. Under the President the Senate confirms appointments that requires consent and ratifies treaties (Quote GCU). This helps the entire branch with duties that are performed.
It is the branch of government that is most closely related to citizens. They are typically elected by those in the district in which they represent, and they are expected to call to the needs of their district. If the executives represent the countries as a whole, the legislature represents the local areas of the country. They have six functions, each with their own level of responsibility. The six functions are representation, deliberation, legislation, authorizing expenditure, making governments, and oversight. In our political system, we decided on a bicameral (two-chamber)