Ruqayyah Snyder
Australia has a system of responsible government, which is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. In Australia, the principle of responsible government works together with the principle of the separation of powers to guide the way in which laws are made and managed. The country has 16 government departments, with ministers forming the core of the government, and a subset of these ministers forming the cabinet, the de facto highest executive body.
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What You'll Learn
Australia's three levels of government
Australia has three levels of government: federal, state, and local. The establishment of these three levels of government was an outcome of the Federation in 1901, when the six British colonies united to form the Commonwealth of Australia. The Australian Constitution, which sets out the legal framework by which Australia is governed, gives the country a federal system of government. This means that power is shared between the federal government and the state governments.
The federal government is responsible for areas that affect the whole nation, such as foreign affairs, social security, industrial relations, trade, immigration, currency, and defence. It raises money through taxing incomes, spending, and businesses. The federal parliament consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives, with the latter being led by the Prime Minister.
State and territory governments have responsibilities including justice, consumer affairs, health, education, forestry, public transport, and main roads. The decision-making body of state government is the state parliament, which meets in the Parliament House of the particular state. Each state parliament, except for the Queensland Parliament, is made up of two houses. Representatives elected to state parliaments are generally known as 'Members' – Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), Members of the House of Assembly (MHA), or Members of the Legislative Council (MLC).
The local level of government is usually called the city council or shire council. Councils are established by state governments to look after the particular needs of a city or local community. The people's representatives who form the Council are called aldermen or councillors, and the head of the Council is the Mayor or Shire President. Local government responsibilities include local road maintenance, garbage collection, building regulations, land subdivisions, public health, and recreation facilities.
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Suffrage and the right to vote
Suffrage in Australia has evolved over the years, with the country being the second in the world to grant women's suffrage at a national level. The fight for women's suffrage in Australia was a long and arduous journey, with female suffragists struggling against traditional views of women that were deeply embedded in society and the law.
In the colonial period, some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people theoretically had the right to vote in colonial elections. However, due to their remote locations, the disruption of the Frontier Wars, and racial discrimination, they were often excluded from exercising this right.
The first step towards women's suffrage in Australia was taken in South Australia in 1894 with the passage of the Constitutional Amendment (Adult Suffrage) Act. This legislation granted women in the colony the right to vote and stand for parliament, making South Australia the first electorate in the world to give equal political rights to men and women. This was the result of a decade-long struggle by female suffragists, who faced strong opposition from those who felt that women were stepping outside their traditional roles. The success in South Australia inspired the formation of similar groups in other colonies, such as the Victorian Women's Suffrage Society, the first suffrage society in Australia formed in 1884.
In 1902, the Commonwealth Parliament passed the Commonwealth Franchise Act, which established a uniform franchise law for the federal Parliament. This Act granted British subjects over the age of 21 who had been living in Australia for at least six months the right to vote and stand for election to federal parliament. However, it excluded "natives of Australia, Asia, Africa, and the Pacific Islands (other than New Zealand)", maintaining racial restrictions on suffrage.
It wasn't until the 1960s that these racial restrictions began to be lifted. The Commonwealth Electoral Act of 1961 removed the disqualification on Africans and Pacific Islanders, and the following year, the Commonwealth Electoral Act gave Indigenous Australians the right to enrol to vote in Commonwealth and Northern Territory elections. Finally, in 1966, Queensland extended voting rights to all Indigenous Australians, marking the completion of universal suffrage in Australia.
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The Westminster system
Executive authority within a Westminster system is exercised by the cabinet as a whole, along with more junior ministers, but in effect, the head of government dominates the executive as the head of state will take advice from them on the exercise of executive power, including the appointment and dismissal of cabinet members. The head of state, usually a monarch or president, is a ceremonial figurehead who is the theoretical, nominal, or de jure source of executive power within the system.
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The role of the Australian Parliament
The Australian Parliament is made up of the King (represented by the Governor-General), the Senate, and the House of Representatives. The structure and power of the Parliament are set out in the Australian Constitution, which was established at Federation on 1 January 1901. The Parliament meets at Parliament House in Canberra.
MPs represent Australians by considering how bills and decisions of Parliament will affect them. They also find out about people's interests and concerns and speak about them in Parliament. MPs help their constituents—the people they represent—if they are having difficulties with issues such as taxes, immigration, or pensions. The Australian Government is formed in the House of Representatives. The government is the party or coalition of parties that maintains the support of the majority of members in the House. This is part of the principle of responsible government, where the government must maintain the support of and be accountable to the Australian Parliament.
The leader of the government is the Prime Minister, who stands and speaks at the main table in the House of Representatives. Ministers account to Parliament for their decisions and the performance of their departments. The principle of responsible government in Australia works together with the principle of the separation of powers to guide how laws are made and managed.
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The Australian Constitution
In Australia, the principle of responsible government works in conjunction with the separation of powers to guide the way laws are made and managed. The country has three levels of government: federal, state, and territory, with each level having its own responsibilities. The federal level is responsible for matters that affect the entire country, such as defence, foreign affairs, immigration, and trade. The state level deals with issues that are primarily of state interest, as outlined in the Constitution. The territory level includes the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and the Northern Territory (NT), which are governed according to federal law and the laws of the ACT or NT.
The establishment of these three levels of government came about in 1901 when the six British colonies of New South Wales, Western Australia, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania united to form the Commonwealth of Australia. This marked a shift from the previous colonial governance structure, where each colony was run by a non-elected governor appointed by the British Parliament. By 1860, all colonies except Western Australia had been granted partial self-government, with Western Australia following suit in 1890.
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Frequently asked questions
A responsible government embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, which is the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. In this system, the government is responsible to parliament rather than to the monarch or, in a colonial context, to the imperial government.
Yes, Australia has a responsible government.
In Australia, the government must maintain the support of and is accountable to the Australian Parliament. Ministers account to Parliament for their decisions and the performance of their departments.
Australia's responsible government came about as a result of the country's federation in 1901, when the six British colonies united to form the Commonwealth of Australia. By this time, all the colonies, except Western Australia, had been granted partial self-government by Britain. Western Australia became self-governing in 1890.
Australia has three levels of government: federal, state, and territory. There are also over 500 local government bodies, often called councils, municipalities, or shires.
