Australia is a very interesting, complex and understood country. This country is as diverse as its landscape and its people. Australia’s political evolution is a story of aborigines, criminals, aristocracy, sheep and gold. To understand Australia’s political socialization and culture and their impacts on current levels and types of political participation requires a discussion on Australia’s history. As with all colonized lands, there are many sides to the same story. This diversity resulted in a journey to independence that is very different than that of the United States. In this paper I will discuss key points in Australia’s history, what the current political structure looks like, and a general idea of the type and volume of citizen participation. The history of Australia begins with its first known people called the “Aborigines.” The Aboriginal people settled mostly in the coastal areas of Australia in tribes as hunter gatherers. The Aborigines were known as “fire stick farmers” as they would burn away dry brush to expose grass for their herds which subsequently burned up nutrients in the soil making a large portion of the land unsuitable for farming. This would be a sore subject in the Aborigines relationships with the first settlers who wanted to build and grow and not be nomadic; thus the …show more content…
In 1901 when the Parliament created the Commonwealth of Australia, the six existing colonies banded together to form the states of a nation, ruled by a constitution creating a federal system of government with powers divided between the state governments and the federal commonwealth. The state and the federal governments have executive, legislative and judicial branches and individual constitutions. Next I will discuss how the citizens participate in this structure of
Today for most Australian’s the potential of what a vote can represent is lost in political apathy and some could argue that this directly relates to how the leaders of the two main political parties continually compete for the populist vote. This environment is dominated by the media portrayal of our political parties and as a result of this, policies for the long term interests of the country have become secondary to short term wins (Marsh, 2010).
The referendum campaign effectively focused public attention on the fact that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians were second class citizens with all sorts of limitations - legislative and social - on their lives. This decade-long campaign to change the Constitution came to symbolise the broader struggle for justice being fought during these years. Activists presented the case for a Commonwealth government
During the European age of expansion in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, various European nations were colonizing the newly discovered Americas. Spain and France would become prominent players in the Western Hemisphere, both conquering and colonizing new territories. However, each country had different methods of developing their colonies in the New World. Spanish and French settlements contrasted greatly with one another in terms of economic development and Native American relations.
Before the 1700’s, the ethnicities in Australia were mainly restricted to only that of the Aborigines, and there were mainly only Aboriginal cultures present in Australian society, but by the 1770’s and the claiming of Australia for Britain, Australia became a melting pot of many different societies. Before the British arrived, Australia was made up of mainly Aboriginal and indigenous people who had lived in Australia for a long period of time. These people had no government nor specific social system, their existing form of “social classes” was simply kinship groups and small tribal groups. There were no wealthy landowners or any special “elite” people that were held at a higher standard in regards to society. The tribes usually kept to themselves, except for when trading, and the kinship groups were made of large immediate and extensive families. Over time, when the British moved people into Australia, this changed to model a more Europeanized society, like that of Britain. To kick off the large diversity in the ethnicities and the change in society of Australia, convicts, slaves, and various people were transported to Australia from Britain in 1778. These people were recorded in James Cook’s record books, and their ethnicities were recorded to help show the inflow of people into Australia’s society. With this flow of people from Britain
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.
The piece Advance Australia … within reason, was conveyed on the 5th of January by Amy Mackintosh, at the annual “University of Students for Youth Political Activism’ meeting held at The University of Melbourne. Mackintosh steadily argues the reasons why Australia should not have become a republic, and how the country should stay as a monarchy. The tone of the speech is very colloquial and even sarcastic, with the middle part being more analytical and serious. The speaker gives the impression that the argument for Australia to stay as a Monarchy is unbiased and logical.
The main parties of Australia are: the Labour Party, Liberal Party, National Party, and the Australian Democrats; these parties are voted in through a preferential system of voting (“Australia’s Political Structure,” 2011). All citizens over the age of 18 are required to vote for these parties because of compulsory voting (adopted in 1924). Australia followed many other democracies on there decision to implement compulsory voting during the 1920s. However, the country unusually added mandatory voting without other previsions (Birch, 2009). Australia was able to do so because of several strong factors supporting the measure.
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
When Aboriginal people arrived in Australia more than 50,000 years ago, they observed the environment and found it to be shaped by frequent burnings of the bushland; specifically when the land was driest. They observed the functions and effects the bushfires had on the diverse ecosystem. As a result, the indigenous Australians adapted to their environment, and fire became a large aspect of aboriginal culture. They used it as a sophisticated tool in all aspects of life, never letting a fire die to the extent of the European settlers calling them ‘Peripatetic pyromaniacs’. Fire had a number of functions in aboriginal society, namely as smoke signals, for clearing tracks, dissuading unwanted fauna and most importantly, used as a tool for a very
In 1967, a landmark event occurred for the Indigenous Community of Australia. They were no longer declared Flora and Fauna This means that Aboriginal people would be considered a part of the landscape and not humans in their own right.. In 1967, a Referendum was held by all members of Australian society voting on the issue of allowing Indigenous Australian to be a part of the census and thereby able to vote and be counted as part of Australia’s population. This achieved not only citizenship for Aboriginal people, but put the issue of Indigenous Rights on both the political and social platforms. This essay will look at the lead up to the Referendum, how Aborigines and their supporters communicated their belief in their rights to the
This report will cover the history of the Aboriginal Voting rights in Australia. The Aboriginals did not gain the right to federal voting at least 150 years after the British colonized in Australia. All citizens of a nation deserve equal rights.
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.
A high voter turnout secures legitimacy for the governing party that won with a majority, reiterating the idea that a mandate to govern is arguably one of the most prevalent principles of democracy. This essay will, therefore, be arguing that the system of compulsory voting in a democratic country such as Australia complements democracy rather than reducing the freedoms of the electorate.
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.
come together to decide on different policies and programmes to satisfy their supporters interests. Some of the major political parties in Australia are Australian Labor Party (ALP), the National Party of Australia, the Liberal Party of Australia and The Greens. In recent years as our technology has gotten more advanced, Politicians have realised that the best and easiest way to state news and upcoming events is by social media. Social media is an app or websites that allow people to create and share pictures, information, news and events that occur across the world. Apps such as snapchat and Instagram are mainly used for sharing pictures, videos and talking to friends.