Australia's Intergovernmental Relations

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 Commonwealth of Australia is both a representative democracy and a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as Australia 's head of state. (How government works, 2016). Since the 1990s globalization has gained widespread currency in Australia on a social, economic, political and cultural level. (Holmes, 2012, p. 340) Laws and politics have an influence on Australia’s economic system, which is capitalism and socialism. (Political Economy, n.d.) Analysis of political and economic approaches by government can add insight into the flow on effects on a community and its individual.

Another major aspect this limb deals with is that of Australia’s relationship with the United Nations and other major international organisations .

The Northern Territory Intervention and the Closing the Gap initiative are two Federal Government strategies that were designed to end the disparity between the health of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

When you think of the “land down under” you don’t really think of the kind of government they have. I chose to write about the Australian government because I really don’t hear much about Australia. It currently has a pretty interesting story to tell when it comes to their government. I became a bit interested in Australian politics when I saw a political animated cartoon on the internet that depicted Kevin Rudd, the last Prime Minister, on a news television show and it was quite humorous. I am going to give a quick history lesson on Australia then go into how the government formed and came to be. Then I will talk about the Australian constitution, the Australian arms of government, their federal system, political parties and Australia’s

There are two main perspectives on foreign aid in Australia – are we giving too much or not enough? Foreign aid is given to developing countries, and is necessary to build an environment where policies and infrastructure can be in place to support other sources of finance. Australia is part of the worldwide foreign aid commitment as we value that everyone should have a fair go, and the country plans to give $3.9 billion over 2017 and 2018. We help countries in need by contributing, food, resources, providing financial assistance, exchanging goods, personal time and knowledge. The main types of aid are humanitarian aid, which is disaster relief and emergency aid and development aid, which is a long-term commitment between nations. Australian aid is strongly on development aid particularly focused on the Asia-Pacific region, but it also has a strong commitment to African and South Asia. Interestingly, 90% of Australia’s foreign aid goes to Asia-Pacific countries such as Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, because if they build into a developed nation, then we can build trade relations, regional security and partner in defence. This is a polarizing issue that divides the nation due to different views on Australia giving aid, however, a strong foreign aid program is vital for Australia to build successful relations and regional security.

The founding fathers created the constitution, outlaying the branches of government and clarifying their roles and responsibilities, providing a checks and balances system. It is comprised of three branches, the Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch, and the Judicial Branch. Each state, city and county has its own constitution that outlines the levels of local government. In the beginning, the idea was to create a government that could efficiently establish laws and enforce them, but also ensure that no one person or one group of people could not possess

First, why did the Western Australian government believe it had a done deal with the Commonwealth that the Bell legislation — which would have cost the Australian Tax Office $300 million in lost tax revenue, as the legislation put the ATO down the queue of creditors of the failed Bell Group — would not be challenged by the Commonwealth? “[T]he Commonwealth’s agreement was critical to the passage of the Bell Act,” WA Treasurer Mike Nahan said in WA Parliament in May. “We had a deal with the Commonwealth that it would not oppose the Bell Act. Despite the deal we thought we had, the Australian Taxation Office thought that it had to have its say in the High Court.”

The federal fiscal framework engages the mechanisms of intergovernmental relations in which the issues of resource organization, division, shortages and transfers, garner conflict and are greater enhanced by the regional and socio-political differences and interests inherent throughout Canada. Federalism is the autonomous division of power allotted

To be successful as a unified or United States, meaning a group with the same but often times different agendas, a few things had to become true. First the individual governments of these states had to feel that their best interests were represented within the united whole. Second that their powers within their borders would not be encroached upon too much, and lastly that the benefits of an overarching federal government would outweigh any loss they experienced. This is a delicate cooperation that we will explore more in depth hurricane Katrina as an example.

The issue of federal spending power is rooted in the constitution in which provinces are given money raising powers but their provincial responsibilities and service requirements greatly outweigh the revenue they collect creating a vertical fiscal gap which provides the need or reliance for federal revenues (Ouiment, 2014). Had provinces been given greater financial authority or fairly equal levels of spending to their budgetary requirements then there would be less of a need for federal transfers and federal spending in areas of provincial jurisdiction (Grewal, 2010). As noted above, transfers such as equalization are used to bring all provinces to a national standard addressing horizontal gaps. Federal transfers and spending power then cause conflict within jurisdictions, particularly when transfers are restrictive, infringe on the provinces sovereignty or are inadequate, leading provinces to battle for separate deals to adjust persistent regional gaps, furthering the system of structural fiscal imbalance (Ouiment, 2014). The ability and intentions behind the federal governments spending power in areas of provincial jurisdiction create province wide tension with the federal government however it is maintained that spending power is a constructive force required to help provinces adapt and be flexible to the

The issue of illegal immigration is a good example of the intergovernmental relations mess in the US because it uses a large amount of government funding to subsidize, process and prevent illegal immigrants from taking advantage of the government. There are also many organizations in place to make sure that this job is done which takes collaboration.

Interest rate drops in the latter half of the year has not had much effect on

Introducing Chapter 4, the author explains how federalism is a fundamental part of U.S government and how it gives equal power to both national and state governments. “History indicates clearly that the principal factor in the formation of federal systems of government has been a common external threat.” The authors’ quote informs the reader that people have always been weary of a strong, national government and that there is always a constant

The taxation system in Australia that we are having in this day and age has in long run been the result of changes that have taken place over 40 years. However, the government does not feel sure about the progress they have made, as they are looking for a more gainful undertaking. The change that the government looks for is something that is less expensive, more attractive and less complex. The administration might want to support and consider a wide range of proposals on the off chance that they have a tendency to be productive. This report has been penned down to give the legislature a recommendation of change. The report has been separated into few portions for that reason, whereby the initials segment discusses issues and