Australia is a constitutional monarchy and the United States is a democratic republic. Furthermore, both Australia and the U.S. are federated nations, wherein governmental power is shared between national and state governments. This essay will review the similarities and differences between Australian and American government by exploring their federation, party systems, and their legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
Paths to Independence
In order to understand the origins of both governmental structures, a discussion of each nation’s historical independence is required first. On 1 January, 1901, six British colonies came together to form the Commonwealth of Australia. This outcome was the result of “deliberation, consultation, and debate, unlike many other nations that unified as a result of war or conflict” (PEO). Popular support for federation came from a realization of the inefficiencies associated with near self-governance while subordinated to the British Parliament. In 1889, Premier of New South Wales Sir Henry Parkes encouraged the colonies to federate; from 1890 to 1899 a series of conferences and conventions were held to create a constitution (PEO). At the turn of the 20th century, the British parliament passed the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, and Queen Victoria signed it soon after (Office of Parliamentary Counsel). The Commonwealth is proclaimed in Centennial Park, Sydney; Henry Parkes, “The Father of Federation,” died in 1896 before this
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,
Federation for Australia was when six independant Brisitsh colonies were no longer divided. It was the year “1901” when Federation happened for Australia. Federation took place because of the need to be more organised, to improve the defence of Australia, better transportation, stronger communication, to unify the economy and to strengthen the pride of being Australian. The idea of six colonies uniting as one had an apeal to people which lead to motivating the spirit of Australia and being as one. However, it was a long process to Federation, requiring referendums and the Queen's approval.
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.
Federation in Australia was a big Debate at the time in the 1890’s some states wanted it to happen and some didn’t. They were also 6 different colonies being the same as they are today except for the ACT, South Australia, Northern Territory (as it was a part of South Australia) and Tasmania as they had not legislated for single-member electorates.
Walter Nugent and Norman Graebner explains their view on if the Mexican War was an exercise in American Imperialism or not. Nugent believes that the war was an exercise in American Imperialism. He explains that the United States were imperialistic from the beginning and to expand their territory was one of the primary objectives. Graebner on the other hand does not believe that the war was an exercise of American Imperialism. He suggests that the war occurred from a lack of communication and believes that President James Polk wanted a war. He made a decision to take over territory initially by negotiations but, those negotiations didn’t work which left him with his final decision; war. This war has impacted the United States and Mexico
Throughout this essay, a comparison of both Australia’s constitutional democracy and the federal republic system in the United States will take place. Australia and the United States are both a part of the federal system. Within the federal system, the national and state governments divide the power in order to govern (Parliamentary Education Office, 2016). Both Australia and the United States have two chambers, the House of Representatives and the Senate. Parliament Education office, (2016) states that there are numerous similarities between these two countries, for example, both these nations decide on the making of legal guidelines for their government. However, Australia and the United States have different forms of government and this affects how the political system is managed. Australia is a constitutional monarchy, in which the queen is the head of the state (ABC, 2004), and the United States is the federal republic where the President is the head of state (Parliamentary Education Office, 2016). A constitution is a formal structure for the state and specifies the power and institutions of the central government and its relationship with different levels. Additionally, it expresses the rights of citizens and creates limits on the government (Hague & Harrop, 2013). In a republic government, the people and their elected representative have the power and there may be an elected or nominated president (Stevenson, 2010). A constitutional democracy and the federal republic
Dr. Seuss story The Lorax is filled with allusions and themes, that reference the Bible, American history, and other books. The Lorax published in 1971, and in the 1970s American history it was the environmental movement and laws were passed to clean the air and water. The story of the Lorax portrayed how nature is something that needs to be protected and not destroyed by big factories. Ted goes on a quest to find a real tree, a truffula tree that the Lorax protects to impress a girl. On his journey, he met the Once-ler, the man who knows what happen to all the truffula trees. Ted also encounters Mr. O’Hare, the mayor of Thneedville and the owner of the biggest company in Thneedville. O’Hare was consumed with making more money and
Kristen Lewis’ article, “Malala the Powerful” was about how a girl as shot in the head by the terrorist group, the Taliban because she was using her voice to stand up and say everyone deserves an education, especially girls. In Pakistan, the religion is strict therefore the Taliban decided to control the government, that made life for women and girls brutal. The Taliban ordered that girls were not allowed to attend school. Malala completely disagreed so she used her voice on the internet incognito to bring awareness about what was happening. The Taliban was out of control, Malala’s family was forced to move South. With all the commotion she revealed her identity, making her well known world wide. Once news broke on who she was, the Taliban
In the Australian constitution the Queen holds the executive power and also has legislative power. The Governor General is appointed by the Queen and is also the commander-in-chief. Another difference between the two countries is the Australian judicature. The High Court of Australia does not have the power of judicial review. Ultimately, in Australia the parliament and the prime minister have the complete power.
In 1901, the six British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania federated to become the Commonwealth of Australia. Several factors including defence and immigration, railways and nationalism contributed to the federation of 1901 when Australia was officially declared an independent nation separate from Britain with an independent government.
Australia’s government system was constituted in 1901 when the British Parliament passed the national constitution of the commonwealth of Australia.
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.
When comparing the communist nation of China with the democratic nation of Australia many differences are apparent. The application of the legislative (law making and modifying function), executive (administrative function) and judiciary (law enforcing and dispute resolving function) is vastly different between the two nations as can see when we compare and contrast the underlying principles of each system of government. Firstly, both nations claim to uphold the concept of the rule of law, although due to corruptive forces surrounding the Chinese court system, this concept is often thwarted and equality before the law is not upheld. Within the constitutions of both nations the basic principles of separation of powers have been applied;
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.
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.