American And Australian Federalism : Similarities Between The Us And Australia 's Federalist System

Essay: Federation of Australia By Tristan Scheirs

Defence
A very important reason why Australia decided to become a nation (having a federal government) was because of an inadequate defence force. Each of the six colonies in Australia had their own military force. But when it came to patrolling the extensive Australian coastline, they had to rely on the British navy to fulfil that task. Due to there being a number of countries such as Germany, France, and Russia who had colonised parts of the Pacific, there was a growing fear that one of them could have attacked Australia. There was a report released by British Major - General Sir J Bevan Edwards in 1889, states the individual colonies of Australia did not have enough soldiers,

Where there are problems, they are often with the way the Australian federal system operates, rather than with federalism itself. Rather than criticising our federal system, we should be working to make better use of its advantages
in order to improve our prosperity. In particular, the reform of the allocation of powers and responsibilities between the Commonwealth and the States, and reform of fiscal federalism, are desperately needed. (Twomey and Withers, 2007)

Federation in Australia was a big Debate at the time in the 1890’s some states wanted it to happen and some didn’t. They were also 6 different colonies being the same as they are today except for the ACT, South Australia, Northern Territory (as it was a part of South Australia) and Tasmania as they had not legislated for single-member electorates.

The United States is currently governed under a federalist constitution and has a deep rooted history of setting up its constitution to accommodate transparency, checks and balance and prevent tyranny. The federalist system of government is divided into the co-dependent central and state government. federalism in the united states give states the power to create their own laws, constitutions, and government structures. As stated in the U.S. Constitution (U.S.), enormous reservoirs of political power are thus derived from the people who reside in the states themselves. (champagne 2017)

A branch is contained within most governments and constitutions is the Legislative branch, and the United States and Australia are no exceptions. The similarities of the first part or article, which addresses the Legislative branches of the governments, is they both have a form of Congress, although in Australia it is known as Parliament. The constitutions determine this when they say “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress” (U.S. Const. art. I, § 1), in reference to the constitution of the United States, and “The legislative power of the Commonwealth shall be vested in the Federal Parliament” (Aust. Const. part I, § 1), as said in the Australian constitution. Also, within the Congress or Parliament exists a Senate and a House of Representatives, and the constitutions both govern the Senate will provide equal representation each state, while the House of Representatives shall represent each state by population. They also possess a similarity when governing the terms of office for those in the House of Representatives and Senate. For example, in either country the members of the Senate are elected for a six year term. In the United States the Senate contains two senators for every state, and for Australia the Senate is composed six senators for each original state. Additionally, in the Australian Senate

Australia and Indonesia both have similar structures of government as both countries have a separation of powers. A separation of powers is where the government is split into different sections so the power is spread all evenly throughout government. In Australia, only the legislative level has the power to make laws, while in Indonesia, this responsibility is held by all three levels of government. These are the National, Provincial and District. The power to enforce laws is held by

Federalism is when states or provinces share power with a national government. The United States government functions by applying the principles of federalism. The doctrinal cycle of federalism is when the state gain power for a while and then the power is disbursed to the national government for a while. The power is given back and forth between the states and the national government creating a cycle of federalism. The ideology of the Supreme Court is an important factor for determining what level of Congress will hold the power. A liberal Supreme Court is more likely to let the national government hold more power, while a conservative court is more likely to let the states hold more power. There are three types of federalism which are cooperative, dual, and new. The ideology of the Supreme Court affects what type of federalism that the country will live under.

Australia’s government design was taken from the British Westminster system after those who originally colonized Australia. A functional, western style democracy, there are a number of minor political parties operating in Australia but the country’s federal politics is an essential 2-party system at present, much like the United States (Our Country, 2015).

To introduce, Australia was country solely owned and run by Britian until 1901, the year of Australian federation, from 6 separate self-governing colonies to one, on the 26th day of January 1901. ’While Federation was not perfect, it was a system (of both laws and beliefs) that enabled Australia to flourish.’ The question itself represents the states coming together as one uniting nation. The laws, the beliefs, the privileges and the embellishment of the phrase gives you a sense of welcoming into the history of Australian federation.

The United States sets specific powers to state governments and U.S. governments. This is due to federalism. The exact definition of federalism is “a process by which two or more governments share power over the same geographic area.”(Usgovinfo.about.com).

Australia has been federated for 114 years, yet we still don’t have our own head of state. Yes, we have a head of state in the form of a Governor General, but this person does not represent the views of the Australian people, but rather serves as the representative of the Queen. A Queen that will never be a true Australian.

In America’s present-day society, it’s people are faced with the question of whether marijuana should be legalized or not. The issue brought with the legalization of cannabis is the fear that it is a gateway drug that will lead users to try other, harder drugs. More states have decided to legalize marijuana for medical or recreational use but not all agree with the decisions. There has been much research done to show the positive and negative effects of marijuana, itself, and the legalization of it; some concerns dealing with health, economic, and societal issues. Marijuana is a mixture of dried flowers of the Cannabis Sativa and may be consumed in many different forms. In a video made by ASAPScience called “ Your Brain on Drugs; Marijuana”, the speaker explains how the THC in marijuana is what creates the mind-altering effects on the brain, which considers it a “drug”, although it comes from a natural source. Some people are against the legalization of cannabis simply because it is considered a drug, which they may tend to stay away from in general. It is clear that both sides discussing the issue of whether marijuana should be legalized or not contain valid arguments, but there must also be a clear solution to what must happen.

In the Unites States of America Federalism is the basic structure of the American government; it is the distribution and balance of powers between the National government and the States government. In order to obtain a compromise between those who wanted stronger state government and those who preferred a stronger national government the founding fathers arranged and settled for a federal system rather than the alternatives of a unitary or confederal system. While both National and State governments each have specific powers and authority, they also share certain powers and must be able to cooperate effectively with each other.

It is unfair that as a part of being born in the United States citizens automatically receive a citizenship. The citizens of the United States should have to go through the same process of non-citizens in receiving a citizenship. The citizenship shouldn’t be given to anyone as a right, it should be earned.