Australia's History

In conclusion the introduction of a third major party in Australian politics could be seen as a process to offset the pathetic populist competition between our two major parties. This along with a review on voting structures and a refocusing of political agendas to again centre on party policies would diversify the variety of issues arising in the political arena and benefit national interests. From all political evidence I do agree that Australia’s two-party system is outdated as the continuation of populist politics threatens to overshadow essential policy making.

Australia is run by a democratic system at all 3 levels of government (Federal, State and Local). Democracy means in Greek "rule by the governed". A democrary has key fundermentals that sustains that type of leadership.

The role of the minor parties within the Australian political system can be as their title suggests, quite minor. On the other hand, a minor party can influence the political proceedings of this country in more ways than one. Minor parties can highlight socio-economic problems that quite often fly under the radar of the larger political parties, or simply can broaden electoral debate. Often spawning from a social, or in the case of the Greens, an environmental movement, minor parties tend to only last through one election, due to a lack of support and relevance in the mainstream social fabric. The minor parties can become crucial players come election time, due to Australia’s law of Compulsory preferential voting. Jaensch (1983, p.21)

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.

political party holds the most power in the government. For example, if the Democratic party

Now I shall talk about how the Australian Constitution. It’s common knowledge to know that a constitution is pretty much the law of the land and a foundation of the laws that rule there. Constitutions are very important for countries to have. Helen Irving explains in The Oxford Companion of Australian Politics that, “Its Preamble records the agreement of the six Australian colonies to federate in 1901 and to remain together as ‘one indissoluble federal Commonwealth’.” The Australian Constitution was written as a bill when the colonies met in 1890. The constitution has a full draft by the end of 1891 but colonial parliaments failed to pass it (Irving).

The Australian national identity was affected by the foreign policy and changing of alliances in World War Two, which is seen by, Australia’s alliance with America and their detachment from the mother country, their increase in victories on the battlefield as well as their economic progress post-war, which made Australia more independent and therefore shaped how it was viewed as a country. Throughout the war Australia was left vulnerable by Britain so America was called upon to help in defense. Australia fought many crucial battles with America and their victories paved the way for national success. After the war Australia had many great achievements economically which created their national identity.

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

During the late 1700-1800s australia was made up of separate colonies, a country struggling to stay intact, low food supply and numerous convicts entering Australia. Throughout the 1700-1800s sutian reform changes have allowed the thriving development of Australia to be a completed country, such as the wool industry and gold rush.

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

Most people in Australia were involved in the making of Federation. Most people being are the voters, egalitarians*, then also the members of parliament. In 1890 The draft of Australian Constitution was drawn by four members from each colony, they were: Edmund Barton (New South Wales), Andrew Inglis Clark (Tasmania), Samuel Griffith (Queensland) and Charles Kingston (South Australia), Western Australia was not part of Federation at this time.

The main parties of Australia are: the Labour Party, Liberal Party, National Party, and the Australian Democrats; these parties are voted in through a preferential system of voting (“Australia’s Political Structure,” 2011). All citizens over the age of 18 are required to vote for these parties because of compulsory voting (adopted in 1924). Australia followed many other democracies on there decision to implement compulsory voting during the 1920s. However, the country unusually added mandatory voting without other previsions (Birch, 2009). Australia was able to do so because of several strong factors supporting the measure.

Analyze the political, social, and economic continuities and changes in Australia from 1700 AD to the present. While Australia has politically gained independence since the 1700’s, their ethnicities have shifted to create a socially diverse country as they remain closely tied with the rest of the world in regards to global trade. Since Britain used to rule Australia in the 1700’s, Australia since has had revolutions that granted them political independence from a larger ruling body. This provides freedom for all of the inhabitants in Australia from an outside force. In addition to this, the ethnicities of Australia have been allowed to mix with those of the rest of the world as new people join the society of

     Australia’s form of government has been described as a constitutional monarchy, in which the queen of England is the nominal head of state. In the federal government, power rests with the elected political party that holds the majority in the House of Representatives. The leader is the prime minister. The Senate consists of 76 members who are elected every six years. The House of Representatives has 147 members and they face elections every three years. Any laws that involve changes to the Constitution must be decided by a referendum in which the country’s citizens are called to vote on whether or not they want such changes to take place.

Australia is both the smallest and oldest continent in the world, and it is the only country that is also a continent. [1] It is an island located between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific, just south of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. At 2,941,299 square miles, Australia is the sixth-largest country in the world and only about 150,000 square miles (about the size of Montana) smaller than the continental United States. Its interior land is a flat and sparsely populated desert, but as you move outward the climate changes to grassland, subtropical, tropical, and even temperate in the southeastern region. [1] While more than 70% of Australia is arid, the rest includes a variety of rich environments including flood plains,