Usefulness of Federalism in Australia

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USEFULNESS OF FEDERALISM IN AUSTRALIA

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Federalism refers to a kind of governmental system that is being run through a combined
governmental mode including a state and a central government. This kind of governmental
system has been adopted by Australia and has been being practiced on both regional and central
level from the date of their commencement of constitution. However, the relevance of federalism
in Australia has been under doubt since quite a long time because of its decreasing positive
impact in Australia. Thus, this study has focused on all the aspects of federalism in Australia in
order to present its advantages and disadvantages at this present era. For this reason, the
phenomenon of federalism has been discussed first. Furthermore, characteristics of federalism in
Australian constitution and governmental system have been illuminated. Finally, some evidences
have been provided that shows the fact that the relevance of this governmental structure has lost
its previous usefulness in this age and how.
Federalism can be called a governmental mode that is a combination of one or regional
governmental bodies and a central or general governmental body. In that case, the central
government is called the federal government. The powers are divided between these two
governments while the country runs according to the decisions made by both of the governments.
The difference between other governmental modes like Devolution and federal government is
that here powers are shared equally by both levels of governments.1 One of the advantages of
having this mode of government is that this mode allows an integration of different communities.
Ethnic groups and more and gives democratic benefits to all of them. However, this mode of
1 Cheryl, Saunders, ‘Federalism is a natural fit for Australia’ <https://theconversation.com/federalism-is-a-natural-
fit-for-australia-but-we-need-to-make-it-work-31846>

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government also bears some challenges such as overpowering the general government by
regional governments and so on.
Australia is one of the examples of practicing a federal government since 1901 when
Australian commonwealth was set up officially. This can be said that Australian federation has
been inspired by the US model of federal government. However, Australian government follows
a Westminster parliamentary system. Australian constitution has several features of federalism.
For example, according to Australian constitution, Australian government supports a strong
bicameralism where all the states have been represented equally through the senate without
allowing any kind of disparity in between them.2 On the other hand, the legal system of Australia
has also been bestowed on a state and a central level including High Court, Supreme Court and a
two-levelled amending system.3
The federal mode of Australian government was made official by the Commonwealth of
Australian Constitution Act 1900. The original federation of Australia has been criticized by
many because of the policy conflicts and rising chaos between the two levels of government. For
that reason, many concerned communities such as Abbott Liberal National Party Coalition
Government have issued their suggestions on reforming Australian federation in order to reduce
the issues generated by the commencement of it.
Federalism has been known to be one of most successful modes of government in the
whole world. However, the situation is quite different in Australia. Recently, federalism has been
2 Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (s 7)
3 Commonwealth Of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (s 128)