Whitlam Scandal In Australia

Briefly explain how the efforts of Parkes and Griffith resulted in the establishment of a constitution for Australia. Also, define the term ‘constitution’. (Page 246)

Vickie Lee Roach was a prisoner whose ability to vote had been taken away by Commonwealth legislation. She argued that the legislation breached her constitutional rights and argued her case in the High Court. Roach’s disqualification from voting violated both the Australian Constitution’s requirement that parliament be “directly chosen by the people” (s7 and s24) and the Constitution’s implied freedom of political communication. The constitutional phrase ‘the people’ was intended to be as broad

When you dive into the research of Parliamentary Systems you obtain unique facts you would have never thought possible. This system is designed to have two different types of parties; the majority and the minority. The Majority carries the most power although the minority has the power to question everything that the majority does. The minority is powerless, but their goal is to provide constructive criticism to the others for the sake of the country. When the next selection process comes into place they try to switch their roles. Even though this is true in 2012 Eric Black stated, “Neither of the parties have the power to pass bills and put them into effect”. (Black, 2012). Not even the queen has the power to

The legacy of this government was that it instigated major changes in the social and cultural fabric of Australia but it also challenged the philosophy of what an Australian is and what Australia represented. The late 1960s and early 1970s were times of great change. Perspectives and acceptances about imperialism, women's liberation, racism, ideology, religion, war, morality, social responsibility and the natural environment were changing for a great many people throughout the world. Some issues were long term political debates that had been presented previously but not received enough support for legislative change.

Before Whitlam came into power Indigenous Australians had tough lifestyle. In 1966, 200 Gurindji stockmen and their families walked off Wave Hill for a strike against Vestey’s, which was a British pastoral company that ran the cattle station, they employed the local Aboriginal people. It was to protest against their poor working and living conditions they suffered from. Aboriginal workers would be paid less to non-Aboriginal employees (Naagovau, 2015). This then lead to an attempt to introduce equal wages for the Aboriginal employees in 1965, but in March 1966 the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission decided to delay it further until 1978. The Wave Hill walk off had started the first Aboriginal land claims (Naagovau, 2015). December 1968, people of a well known Indigenous community called Yirrkala became the first Aboriginal people to bring a claim for their recognition to their land title to the Northern Territory Supreme Court, this was known as the Gove Case (QLDeduau, 2015). This action was reviewed and put on trial in May 1969. In the 1967 Commonwealth Referendum there was more than 90% of the voters to assist the Commonwealth to allow all Aboriginal people to be counted in the poll. All states except Queensland had abandoned the policies and laws that

A significant failure experienced by the Whitlam government was economic issues. Economic issues were causing major dispute and controversial opinions from the public. By the end of the Whitlam governments term inflation had reached 15% and wage inflation was 30%. Large portions of money funding by the Labor governments were now being spent on numerous welfare programs established by the Whitlam government and were adding hugely to Australia’s debts. When the Whitlam government entered office in 1972, unemployment rates sat at 2%, by the end of this term in 1975 this increased to 5%. From a surplus of 1.5% of GDP in 1973, the balance of Australia’s transactions with the world crashed to a deficit of 3.2% by the end of 1974. Additionally, following a significant downfall in 1974, the Commonwealth budget was in serious deficit. As the Whitlam government pressed on with its big spending reforms despite pleas of restraint from the Treasury, Commonwealth spending surged 46% in 1974-1975, dwarfing the 20% rise the year before. The economic problem in the Whitlam government was one that required serious attention and reconstruction. The economic scheme that the Whitlam government had in play was very unpractical unrewarding and caused many issues. The popularity and trust in the Whitlam government began to rapidly decline after the 1974 election as the government

- Also, another example from Australia, a more democratic Senate can block the passage of budgetary measures which are under the control of the House of Commons only. But, despite the issue being outside the Senate’s mandate, in 1975, Australia’s Senate blocked the passage of the budget and resulted in the dismissal of government and creating a new one by the Governor General (Smith, 2003, p. 248).

The purpose for this was to act as a check on the power of the prime minister, but the party structure meddles with that reason.

The Australian Labor Party is the oldest party of Australia, founded on May the 3rd in 1901. The first Labour prime minister was Chris Watson. The Labor government aims to promote equality and to involve the Australian people in the decision making of the nation. In basic terms, the ALP is all for the rights of the people of Australia.

Ever since Whitlam’s departure, government systems have been somewhat ‘conservative’ in their approach to reform. Consequently, much of Edward Gough Whitlam’s legacy has been eradicated, such as the removal of free university education, by successive ‘conservative’ government schemes. However, that which remains of Whitlam’s legacy continues to shape Australia's reform policies (Murphy, 2014). His legacy is evident in and lives on in the following reform policies that are still active in Australia’s political system to

Cabinet has been widely thought to be the most powerful body of the New Zealand government. This belief could have been correct some 20 odd years ago, but has since fallen into antiquity with the introduction of the MMP voting style in 1996 (citation). In a discussion over the realistic power of Cabinet it will be found that the creators of such a body had enough forethought to include several inarguable weaknesses and checks so as to retain a notion of separation of powers. These weaknesses should be both plentiful and convincing enough to leave no doubt that, despite its obvious powers, Cabinet is still second to the supremacy of Parliament.

Tension between the principles of responsible government and federalism was anticipated by the framers of the constitution, predicting that the one of the two will eventually cancel the other one out. This tension surfaced in the majorities decision in Engineers and is explored using the historical evidence of the framers intentions, the ideas that influenced them, and Justice Gageler’s critique of the Engineers decision. Chordia and Lynch argue that the majorities decision in Engineers focused on responsible government, while completely ignoring the principles of Federalism. This is evident in the delivery of the majorities decision, declaring that the two fundamental features of the Australian

Look at pages 11 and 12 of your ‘Inside the Parliament of Victoria’ booklet and answer these questions.

* A lower house of parliament with an ability to dismiss a government by "withholding Supply" (blocking or rejecting a budget), passing a motion of no confidence, or defeating a confidence

The separation of power in the New Zealand parliamentary system is pertinent for an efficient and democratic government. The different branches of New Zealand government have to be detached to ensure that one does not act unconstitutionally, nor has undue power over another (New Zealand Parliament, 2014). Each branch has separate roles and acts as breaks to hold the other sectors accountable for their decisions (Palmer, 5). The legislator branch consists of members of Select Committees, Parliament and the Governor General (Palmer, 5). Their role in the system is to examine, debate and provide scrutiny over drafted