The Australian Commonwealth Parliament Essay

In Canada, the Prime Minister has too much power, some PM take advantages of this power while others do not. The Prime Minister is the head of the party with a plurality of seats in the House of Commons. Some of the things that the PM is responsible for are: summons and dissolves, decides of the cabinet make up, advising the governor general, etc. All of these responsibilities allocated to the PM give him the absolute power. First, the PM has the ability to choose when to end the session of the parliament or simply dissolve it. The PM could use this power for his advantages. For example, Stephen Harper asked Michaëlle Jean to suspend the Parliament because he knew that a coalition was formed against him and could even lead to new elections.

Political thinkers Rousseau, Locke and Montesqieu claimed that the powers of government should be limited, divided and checked. The principle is that there should be a division of government executive, legislative and judiciary powers into three separate arms or institutions that act separately and are independent of one another (members of one branch cannot be members of either of the other two). Australia’s constitution separated powers by delegating the legislative power to Federal parliament (s.1), executive power to the Governor General (s.61) and the Judiciary to the High Court (s.71). However due to Westminster conventions (adopted from the British system of parliament) commonly practiced by the Australia government, the members of the executive (cabinet) are selected from the legislative by the Prime Minister (going against the concept of having no cross-branched members). The PM (also Westminster convention) is not mentioned in the constitution and yet exercised executive power; for example in 2003 PM John Howard exercises (s.68) by sending troops to Iraq. The constitution also provides the executive with the power to appoint the High Court Judge (s.72) and thus is could be argued that the executive has power over the Judiciary in that sense; However the constitution actively safeguards the position of the Judiciary by stating the High Court Judge “Shall not be removed except by the Governor-General in Council, on an address from both Houses of the

In a system of governance, if a hung parliament occurs, that is, when a parliament has no single party and thus no legitimate way to form a government, the government can actually gain advantages. Instead of a single party majority, minority governments allow multiple parties to govern. A minority government does not hinder a governing party because it promotes accountability to the legislature, which allows a more flexible decision-making process, that ultimately provides a Prime Minister different powers to maintain control which allows an efficient government.

"Gough Whitlam has been a towering figure in the Australian Labor Party for longer than I can remember. For more than six decades in politics, Gough Whitlam has aimed at targets higher than personal success or vindication. His energy and enthusiasm combined with the continuing powerful relevance of his goals have made him a hero to many Australians & an iconic figure in Australia's political landscape.” (Excerpt of speech by Senator John Faulkner at Gough Whitlam’s 92nd Birthday, 2008) (Source 3)

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

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.

Britain, for instance, one of the most stable parliamentary systems within our society does present an example for a parliamentary government in many aspects. For one, their parliamentary system creates clear access points to power with in the government. There is a much smaller breakdown of the “parts” of the government: The prime minister, and his political party, elected before him. The only other significant factions would be regulatory agencies, who are under the direct control of the majority. In Britain’s case the secretary of state, i.e. foreign minister are actual legislatures and therefore are more capable of introducing and even

In the past, backbencher Member of Parliaments have proven to be able to wield a great deal of power. Backbenchers have the means of voicing their concerns through caucus meetings, House of Commons committees, and private member bills. However the issue depends on when, and if, they want to wield that power. In addition, the growing predominance of influential prime ministerial power have further undermined the powers of MPs, thus making them more and more ineffectual in representing their constituents. Reforms need to be made as the current parliamentary system does not sufficiently provide the backbench government with enough influence to hold the prime minster accountable. Increasing support for independent MP initiatives and decreasing the retribution they face for these initiatives will boost the willingness for backbench contribution. This shifts the power from being centralized at the prime minister to a more

You can see that as very scary, or very enlightening. What I mean by most is that you will always have to have some people who disagree and who do not share the same ideas as you so that you can see different sides, but if you have a majority that see your vision, they are going to want to help you instead of shooting down ideas all the time that might even be great ideas. A prime minister has the parliament behind him or her most of the time, not creating any resistance at all for the prime minister.

Research Question: How do powers of an American president differ from a British prime minister, including limitations and how does that contribute to their perceived effectiveness as a leader?

One major issue that allows the Prime Minister execute such a high degree of ministerial power is the Cabinets ability to use party discipline to ensure it has its party’s support. MPs of the party must always “toe the party line” to guarantee the will of the PM is carried out. If any elected member of the Prime Ministers’ party were to vote against the PM, the PM has the executive

The Liberal Party of Australia believes in the rights and freedoms of all people, supporting the minimisation of interference in the everyday lives of Australian citizens. They promote equal opportunity for all Australians and the encouragement and facilitation of wealth so that all may enjoy the highest possible standards of living, health, education and social justice. The Liberal Party believes that wherever possible, government should not compete with an efficient private sector, and that businesses and individuals instead of government are the creators of wealth and

Australia adopted its democratic system from both the Westminster and United States pre-established versions. The structure of separation of powers intends to delegate the power of the state to three branches in order to minimise the abuse of this power and ensure justice through its protection. The powers pertaining to each branch are mutually exclusive to each arm of government . The legislative branch, responsible for the drafting and establishing of laws, the executive, aimed at putting the laws into force and implementing them and the judiciary designed to interpret the laws, are evidence of the exclusivity of each branches function within the Australian government. The legislative

The ability to hold the government accountable for their decisions and actions falls to the elected members of parliament that are not included in the executive. Within the Canadian parliamentary system the use of party discipline removes the ability for members to hold government accountable. The need for cohesion within parties began when servers like small parties merged together, in order to pass legislation they needed full party support. Party discipline arose as means to force cohesion in the early stages of the party (Hazan 2003, 3). Today party discipline is still used as a means to control the image of the party, the argument is that as a result of party discipline there is not a mechanism to hold government accountable.

The prime minister can determine the ministers in each ministry (Johnson, 2004). The head of government has certain degree of authority and freedom to delegate to its ministers, and it can lead the government to more stable political situation because fusion of power between the ministries and prime minister is achieved. Prime ministers can also nominate members of the cabinet but their functions are not just limited to advisory and consultative. The members must decide collectively broad matters of policy, involving foreign affairs, finance, and other issues of concern to the entire government (Hitchner, 1970). The collective body of cabinets reduces the role of prime minister and his executive power.