Australia vs China Political Structures Essay

Australia and Indonesia political systems are instrumental in shaping the development of individual nations. These systems determine the policies that are to be followed by the government and the governed and aim to establish political stability. Despite Australia is a constitutional monarchy and Indonesia is a republic, the two country have many similarities and differences in the political system. This extended response identifies and compares the key features of government system and election between Australia and Indonesia political systems.

Section 51 (xxix) of the Constitution of Australia grants exclusive power to the Commonwealth to legislate with regard to external affairs. Since its inception, through the development of case law, the external affairs power has been found to consist of three limbs:

The Australian Constitution is a rich amalgam of various classical political principles. The concepts of the Rule of Law and the doctrine of the Separation of Powers evident in Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws are both salient examples of political theses that are central to Australian Constitutional Law. The structure of the Constitution itself and decisions of the High Court of Australia unequivocally validate the entrenchment of the doctrine separation of powers in the Commonwealth Constitution . In particular, the High Court has applied this with relative rigour with respect to the separation of judicial power. The separation of the judicial power is fundamentally critical to upholding the rule of law. The High Court in Wilson v Minister for Aboriginal Affairs noted that “the separation of the judicial function…advances two constitutional objectives: the guarantee of liberty and, to that end, the independence of Chapter III judges” . Kitto J in R v Davidson also identified that the judiciary should be subject to no other authority but the law itself . This is a critical aspect ensuring the concept of legal equality is upheld. Therefore, its role clearly extends to providing checks and balances on the exercise of power by the legislative and executive arms of government . This ensures the liberty of the law and limits the abuse of the judicial system. Judicial Power is defined as “the power which every sovereign must of necessity have to decide between its subjects

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.

Australia’s current political system is a Constitutional Monarchy. A constitutional monarchy requires that a hereditary monarch is appointed as the head of state. The monarch in a constitutional monarchy has got a largely a figurative and official role than a practical one. In this current system, the responsibility to pass legislation is tasked only to the democratically elected parliament. In Australia’s case, the hereditary monarch Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of Australia and the Head of the Commonwealth, of which Australia is a part of. The position held by Her Majesty, cannot be contested by an election like the Prime Ministers, however it is a birth right of those in her lineage. Due to the exclusivity of the position as the hereditary

Australia 's Federal System is dynamic and the division of lawmaking power between the Commonwealth and State since 1901 has changed dramatically; Critically discuss, focussing on the major reasons for those changes.

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

The Australian government system has been originally created in 1901 through the Constitution. With the fundamentals carved in the Constitution, the Australian System is often referred to as a ‘Washminster System’ as it is a hybrid of the Washington (US) and Westminster (UK) system of government. With the fusion of North America and the United Kingdom’s government systems, the phenomenon of the bicameral system was implemented in the Australian system. Bicameralism’s origins are from England and it was later established in the United States. Hence, the onset of the Australian system’s structures was anglocentric by reflecting the foundations and concepts of England. However, the concept of bicameralism is known to have existed since medieval times and has since been in the chronical of the Western political progress for centuries. Bicameralism is an important system in the Australian government. It refers to a government which consists of two chambers, or houses. Alike North America, the houses are known as the House of Representatives (the lower house) and the Senate (the upper house). On the other hand, in the United Kingdom, the chambers are known as the ‘House of Commons’ (the lower house) and the ‘House of Lords’ (the upper house). In 1789, North America altered their constitution in order to ratify how the American citizens were represented. Through bicameralism, the House of Representative would represent the people equally by population, whereas the Senate would

The movement from a British colony to the independent and proud nation of Australia took place at the turn of the 20th century. This was not a quick change and it was not a result of one singular factor or event. Many factors and events contributed to the Federation of Australia in 1901. Federation was influenced by the people of the nation, and their decision and thoughts on uniting of the colonies. Before Federation, the colonies of Australia were not one country. They had different railways, different defence forces and even identities. Federation meant that the colonies of Australia – Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia – would unite into one country. They would have the same currency, government and identity. Federation was a major turning point in Australian history,

It appears that sections 2, 3 and 4(1)–(3) may be supported by the Defence Power, under section 51(vi). Section 2 provides the objects of the ASIATIC Act. It states that the legislation’s purposes, with respect to “defence of the Commonwealth of Australia”, to support any Australian Government agency and its members (s 2(i)), to control anti-social behaviour interfering the policies for defence (s 2(ii)), to prevent the recurrence of the anti-social behaviour (s 2(iii)), and associated the purposes (s 2(iv)). Dixon J stated that a law with respect to the defence power expresses connection to defence of the Commonwealth in its purpose or object, according to its purposive nature. This provision clearly states that the Act has the connection to the

What began as a thoroughly independent and autonomous set of state governments has evolved with a much greater emphasis placed on the Federal power. However, this distinction of power is not outlined in a transparent and efficient way in the Constitution, and throughout the timeline of Australian politics, it has not been uncommon to see contests between the two governments on matters of roles and responsibilities. In times of conflict, section 71 of the Constitution outlines that the High Court can rule an overriding decision on these disagreements, which has strengthened the law making powers of federal parliament. This means that although the federal government has the power to override the state, the High court can still make a judgement that would overrule both federal and state powers. Since the federal government is responsible in the funding of various services it is fair to say that they have more power. The federal parliament can 'grant financial assistance to any state on such terms and conditions as it thinks fit' (Constitution, S96). This means the federal government can offer help to the state government, when needed, in order to help with decision making. If this is the case and the federal parliament does help the state, then this shows how the federal parliament influences the way in which those laws made under state powers are

The framers of the Australian Constitution designed a federal system of government that combined two fundamentally contrasting political concepts, responsible government drawn from the Westminster system, and federalism adopted from the American model of government. The framers objective to protect the independence of the former Australian British colonies after federation is evident in the records of the National Australasian Convention Debates (1891), and the Constitutional Assemblies held during the 1890’s (Evans 2010, pp. 14-16; Galligan 2001, p. 7; Olds 2015, p. 243). As a result, the Constitution implemented a federal system that comprised of two separate spheres; State government and Commonwealth government, and a bicameral parliament

The separation of powers doctrine states that each arm of the government should be separate from each other and not exercise the powers or functions of the others.2 Though the Australian government does not strictly comply in the separation of powers because the

The Division and Separation of power are essential to keep our societies rulers to have a restriction on their powers. The importance of each on the Australian domestic law especially in relation to the rule of law, and protecting individual rights, and the legal system.

‘It is well-known that the Separation of Powers doctrine is sine qua non for maintaining the rule of law however, an absolute separation of power does not exist in the Australian legal system.’