Australian Federalism

To define the terminology of federalism to a simplistic way is the sharing of sovereignty between the national government and the local government. It is often described as the dual sovereignty of governments between the national and the local to exert power in the political system. In the US it is often been justified as one of the first to introduce federalism by the ‘founding fathers’ which were developed in order to escape from the overpowered central government. However, federalism in the United States is hitherto uncertain where the power lies in the contemporary political system. In this essay I will outline and explain how power relationship alternates between states and federal government. Moreover I will also discuss my

Essay: Federation of Australia By Tristan Scheirs

Defence
A very important reason why Australia decided to become a nation (having a federal government) was because of an inadequate defence force. Each of the six colonies in Australia had their own military force. But when it came to patrolling the extensive Australian coastline, they had to rely on the British navy to fulfil that task. Due to there being a number of countries such as Germany, France, and Russia who had colonised parts of the Pacific, there was a growing fear that one of them could have attacked Australia. There was a report released by British Major - General Sir J Bevan Edwards in 1889, states the individual colonies of Australia did not have enough soldiers,

In this essay, it will be seen that the expansion of the external affairs power since Federation reflects Australia’s growing independence from a Dominion of the United Kingdom and its transition into nationhood.

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

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

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.

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

Australian federation was a main turning point in Australia’s history, not so much for it’s camaraderie and sprit, but to legislate and retaliate against three main concerns that had arose in our developing nation; Australia’s defence, immigration and trade. With the introduction of Federation to Australia, all three problems were fixed, and much more.

Will Australia become a republic in the next twenty years? This is a difficult question to speculate on. The main area of law governing this issue is section 128 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (U.K). Other issues in this debate are regarding appointment, termination and the powers to be awarded to the proposed Head of State, and the impact the change will have on the States. Examining the history of Australian Legislative powers, and reasons why Australians would want to change, is also useful when speculating on this issue.

At the present time, evidence of how the role of the constitution applies to the governance of Australia, can be illustrated by the current considerations due in the High Court in determining citizenship eligibility of parliamentarians. This ruling, dependent upon the High Courts’ interpretation of the constitution, will determine the legality of some parliamentarians to be members of parliament. Example3: Over site

By federating Australia would be able to become their own country in the world, therefore being able to ditch Britain’s long hold on the continents image. Before Australia federated we were 6 British colonies, each consisting of many British people who helped develop the colony into a stable community. But in 1870 a report published showed that non-indigenous born people had a higher percentage over the people who were born in Britain . These Australian’s did not like calling themselves British and looked for something else to call themselves, around this time people stopped wearing British fashion and paintings of Australia started showing a less “Little Britain” theme and a more rustic, dry Australian theme. It was also around this time when the Australian Anthem was performed for the first time, only strengthening Australia’s push to be their own.

Whilst in theory there should be a distinct division between the three arms of government, in practice the Australian political system makes evident overlaps. The overlapping nature of government often arises as an issue over which parties are to exercise what kinds of power. Essentially however, each head or group is designed to keep the others in check.

The legal definition of federalism per Merriam Webster is the “distribution of power in a federation between the central authority and the constituent units (as states) involving especially the allocation of significant lawmaking powers to those constituent units” (Merriam-Webster, 2003). This, in simpler terms, means that it is a form of government in which there is a breaking down of powers between two different levels of government that have equal status. The purpose of this paper is to define and compare the three different types of federalism.

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 distribution of powers is an essential feature of Federalism. The object for which a federal State is formed involves a division of authority between the Central Government and the State Government. The tendency of federalism is to limit on every side the action of the Government and to split up the strength of the State among co – ordinate and independent authorities are especially noticeable”. A Federal Constitution establishes a dual polity with the Union at the Center and the States at the periphery, each endowed with sovereign powers to be exercised in the field assigned to them