Three Components of Parliament

The queen of Australia appoints the Governor-general on the request and advice of the Prime Minister who performs the crown functions and other constitutional functions delegated to him or her. Under the Australian Constitution, the Governor-General has been given the power to reserve a bill under the pleasure of the Queen and power to assent of refuse to assent a legislation. Although it is presented as an upper house, the Australian Parliament is given powers by the constitution to determine the number of members in the senate through a

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1. Three components of Australian Parliament
The Australian constitution has facets that govern the country. It established the
commonwealth parliament which has three main components. They include, the senate of the
federal republic of Australia, the Queen of Australia and the House of representatives.
The queen of Australia appoints the Governor-general on the request and advice of
the Prime Minister who performs the crown functions and other constitutional functions
delegated to him or her. The Governor-General act as a representative of the Queen in
Australia. Under the Australian Constitution, the Governor-General has been given the power
to reserve a bill under the pleasure of the Queen and power to assent of refuse to assent a
legislation. The Governor-General exercises theses powers under Prime Ministers advice.
The senate is the upper house in Australia’s parliament. It has a total of 76 members
of parliament. The senate has members representing each state. Each state is represented
equally regardless of the population in the state. The Australian senators are elected directly
in competitive electoral processes unlike for example in the United States Senate where some
were not elected directly before 1913. Although it is presented as an upper house, the
Australian Parliament is given powers by the constitution to determine the number of
members in the senate through a legislation. This is provided that each original state remains
entitled to a minimum of six senators. Each state has over the years increased the number of
representatives. The members in each state have risen to twelve form the original six.
Constitutionally, they are required to serve a three-year term and after that will have to face
the electorate again (Barendt, 2017). The system for electing members in the senate has
changed overtime to encourage minority parties have a representative and reduce dominant
parties. However, the constitution requires that temporal or casual vacancy of a state senator
will be filled by the parliament in the state.

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The house of representative is the lower house of parliament. It is made up of member
electorates consisting of the same population. The Westminster convention system requires
that the party with the most number of seats in the house or a coalition forms the government.
The party leader of the party with most number of seats becomes the automatic Prime
Minister. Parliament is given the powers to set the number of seats in the house of
representative but the nexus provision requires them to be practical and not more than twice
the number of senators. Currently, the house of representative has 150 members. Upon the
government losing confidence in the house, it is required to resign and call for a fresh
election. The members are elected by the people and each state allocation of seats is
determined by the population in that state. The constitution also sets that each original state
will have a minimum of 5 seats regardless of the population size. Adjustment of federal state
boundaries requires a redistribution and adjustment of the number of seats but the high court
can order a reduction of number of seats like in 1977.
2. The constitution of Australia has two important doctrines
a) Division of power doctrine
Power division doctrine is the splitting up or detachment of powers that is exercised by
different states and the Australian federal government. Division of power between the
different staes ensures that there is a federal state. The aim of division of power is self-rule
and self-determination of the various states for autonomous purposes. The degree of division
is varying. The sovereignty principle should be divided between the states and the federal
government of Australia (Benoit, & Benoit-Bryan, 2015)..
Australia is made up of six states and the federal state. The six states form two self-governing
territories that make their own laws, have their own governments, own constitution and own

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parliaments. The federal government is also called the commonwealth government while the
territory and state governments are based on a parliamentary system.
While division of power is crucial in representation especially in territory and state
government, it works best in responsible government principle. This principle of responsible
government ensured that there is a guideline in the way the laws of the governments are
managed and made. By definition, responsible government means that must have the support
of coalition of parties or a party and have the majority number of seats in the lower house to
be able to form the government. With this principle, it ensures that there are checks and
balances on the executive arm of government ensuring that the executive remains totally
accountable to parliament. It also ensures that neither of the arms of government abuse their
powers (Michaels, 2015).
b) Separation of power doctrine in relation to representation and responsible
government in Australia
Separation of power dictates that that Australian government shall be separated into different
departments or arms of government. The government power is separated between the
parliament or legislature whose functions is to make laws; the judiciary whose function is
interpretation of the laws and the executive whose function is the implementation of the laws
made in parliament. For the federal government of Australia, the separation of powers should
be watertight. The objective of separation of power is to safeguard liberty of individual arm
of government and prevention of concentration of power into one arm leading to bullying or
dictatorial tendencies. The separation of power varies in various degrees. However,
watertight power separation have been abandoned overtime due to increased need to ensure
coordination’s amongst the various arms of government. In order to prevent a regime
becoming oppressive, various arms of government should hold different functions of

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government for checks and balances of each other. While separation of power is crucial in
representation especially in territory and state government, it works best in responsible
government principle. With this principle, it ensures that there are checks and balances on the
executive arm of government ensuring that the executive remains totally accountable to
parliament. It also ensures that neither of the arms of government abuse their powers. By
definition, responsible government means that must have the support of coalition of parties or
a party and have the majority number of seats in the lower house to be able to form the
government (Rosenbloom, 2016).. This principle of responsible government ensured that
there is a guideline in the way the laws of the governments are managed and made.
3. Describe the process in which a statute law is made by the Australian government
and its naming in different stages
In the legislative process of Australia, a government bill has several steps for it to become a
law.
Step 1- bill preparations
A minister or government bill is drafted in the Office of Parliamentary Counsel with strict
instructions and guidance issued by the department presenting the bill. The business
committee of parliament determines the bill to be introduced in a parliamentary sitting.
Step 2- normal routine passage of the bill through the house
In this stage, proposals are made in relation to the content or progress of the bill. Motions are
made in parliament and proposals made for or against bill. The proposals are then voted for
based on the house decision.
Step 3- giving notice

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A bill is introduced into the house in a written notice to the clerk of the house. The clerk
arranges through a notice paper and lists the bill to be discussed under the house business
agenda through a standard procedure. An example of a bill being introced and its format is
‘ I hereby give notice of my intention to present this motion for the nexts business item. A
bill for Act no….. ‘
The next step is the presentation of the bill in the house
First reading- introduction of the bill in the house
When the house is dealing the businesses of the government is when the bills for the
government is introduced. The first step is for the clerk to announce the notice next for
example notice no. 2 and then the minister who is involved with the bill presents it to the
house and hand over a signed copy to the clerk. He also give in a memorandum which
explains the provisions and reasons for the bill. The clerk of the House reads the title of the
bill which is the first reading.
Second reading
The second reading is a debate discussing the minister’s motion. This is the most important
debate of the bill. It considers the principles of the bill. The debate covers why the bill should
be supported or rejected, its necessity and its objectives. Second reading debate is dependent
on the legislative program of the government which is negotiated with the house opposition
(Oleszek, Oleszek, Rybicki, & Heniff 2015).
Consideration in detail

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This stage purpose is to look at the bill details, text, clauses by clauses to allow changes for
its proposal. This is a less formal stage than second reading for example debate can be
flexible.
Third reading
The final stage is called the third reading and usually is just a formality. The minister moves
the motion but debating is rare at this stage.
Bills introduced to both houses
In some bills, both houses are engaged, while disagreement is obvious, clauses are changes
and amended for its strengthening. This will go to the passing of the bill in the houses
Assenting
The bill passes in both houses in similar progress, certified and checked by the clerk of house.
The bill is then presented for assent to the Governor-General.
The law comes into effect as an Act.
4. Difference between inquisitorial and adversarial systems of trial
The adversarial system is a system where the court is a referee between the defense and the
prosecution teams. In adversarial system, it is more of a contest between the prosecution and
the defense. The two parties involved in the adversarial system is the accused person and the
state where the court remains the non-partisan party.

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On the other hand, an inquisitorial system is a system where courts are involved actively in
investigation of a case and proof of facts. The system resolves disputes and achieves justice
for the society and individuals.
The state and defense team in adversarial system determines the witnesses to question in a
trial and the evidence to give and the court oversees the process while in inquisitorial system
witnesses and evidence in the trial is fully in the hands of the court. The trial judge is the
most powerful party in this system determining everything in the process.
The adversarial system gets the truth through an open competition between the defense and
the state prosecutors while the inquisitorial system of trial gets to the bottom of a dispute
through thorough investigation and evidence examination.
In adversarial system, the decision by a higher court is binding to all lower courts while in
inquisitorial system, judicial precedent is rarely used. Each case is determined independently
by judges by application of relevant statutes.
The adversarial system uses the rule of lawyers actively while inquisitorial system passively
used the rule of lawyers.
The judge pronounces judgment based on evidence and cross examination and examination in
adversarial system while the judge in inquisitorial trial system plays an active role in directly
hearing and questioning of parties directly.
In adversarial trial system, the judge contribution is very minimal in a case disposal but on
the other hand, the inquisitorial trial, the judge plays a very big role in case management and
dispute resolution for judgment to be given (Shang, 2018)..
In adversarial system, lawyers in both the defense and prosecution present the references to
be used while in an inquisitorial system, the judge plays a major role in references presented.

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The inquisitorial system uses information and documents to get real facts to get priority while
in adversarial system the cross examination and examination done by the lawyers get the
priority.
In an adversarial system, case management is minimal and not effective because a judge
cannot exchange views with lawyers to make a decision while in inquisitive system case
management is done primarily by the judges by exchanging views with the parties involved
to make decision for a speedy trial.

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References
Barendt, E. (2017). Separation of powers and constitutional government. In The Rule of Law and the
Separation of Powers (pp. 275-295). Routledge.
Benoit, W. L., & Benoit-Bryan, J. M. (2015). A Functional analysis of 2013 Australian member of
parliament and prime minister debates. Studies in Media and Communication, 3(2), 1-8.
Michaels, J. D. (2015). An enduring, evolving separation of Powers. Colum. L. Rev., 115, 515.
Oleszek, W. J., Oleszek, M. J., Rybicki, E., & Heniff Jr, B. (2015). Congressional procedures and
the policy process. CQ press.
Rosenbloom, D. H. (2016). 3a. Public Administrative Theory and the Separation of Powers. In The
Constitutional School of American Public Administration (pp. 78-94). Routledge.
Shang, S. (2018). Responding to the ISDS Legitimacy Crisis by Way of Mediation: Implications
from CEPA's Dispute Resolution Mechanism. J. Int'l Bus. & L., 18, 217.