Monarchial Structure And Parliamentary System

Running Head: SAP 101 1
SAP 101
Name:
Institution

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Introduction
The constitution of Australia is an amalgam of other constitution from the United
Kingdom and the United States of America. This constitution was adopted in the year 1900 and
came into force in 1901. This constitution is quitter similar to the British one with the existence
of the monarchial structure whereby the Queen is represented locally by the governor-general
(McAllister, 2015). Similarly, Australia adopted the parliamentary system from the British, with
the existence of the Commonwealth of Australia and the Australian states. Additionally,
Australia exists as a federation, with the duties divided between the federal government and the
state as enshrined in the constitution. The federal government of Australia is tasked with the
establishment of foreign policies, defense, customs, immigration, and the post office. The
residual powers that are not exercised by the federal government are left to the states and this
includes health, education, justice, and internal transport. The change of constitution can only be
effected by the majority in the federal houses or through a process of a referendum.
The formal head of state of Australia is the British monarchy but the sovereign functions
are mostly decorative, and only come into effect when the monarch is within the Australian
borders. The functions are exercised by the governor-general and the state governors who are all
appointed by the monarch. However, prior to their appointed, they are all nominated by the
Australian governments. The prime minister is the head of government who by default is the
leader of the party or coalition that won in the general election.
The Australian legislature exists under the bicameral system. The lower house is the
house of representatives and comprises of about 150 members, with two each from the Northern
Territory and the Australian Capital territory. The members of this house are elected for three-

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year terms and are charged with the responsibility of choosing the government. the other house is
the senate which comprises 71 members. There are 12 senators for each state and two senators
each from the two territories ("Australia - Government and society", 2020). The state senators
serve a six-year term while the territorial senators serve for three-year terms. The executive
which comprises of the ministers is drawn from both houses.
There are hundreds of local governments in Australia. These governments derive their
powers from legislation that exists in each state and territory. The functions of the local
governments typically include maintenance of public infrastructures, licensing and inspections,
maintaining the libraries and recreational facilities, and physical town planning (Lecours &
Béland, 2013). The local governments get their funding from their respective states and also
through the collection of revenue and taxes.
The election process in Australia is the secret ballot, known as the Australian ballot,
introduced in 1855 in Victoria. Additionally, Australia gave women voting rights in 1892.
Voting in Australia is compulsory, with citizens aged 18 years required to cast their votes
(McAllister, 2014). One can be fined if he does not participate in the voting process. The
electoral laws in Australia have been found to be quite unique as the country makes use of both
proportional and preferential systems. At both the federal and the state levels, the members are
elected in the districts using the alternative-vote preference system, whereby the voter numbers
the candidates in the order of their preference. This system is lauded as it enables the minority
parties to have a say and influence in the formation of policies. Additionally, the votes of the
losing candidates can be reallocated when the election contest is close. The election for the
federal senate seat and in the state of Tasmania, there is the use of the single-transferable-vote
proportional representation system. The voters can rank their preferences in order to ensure each

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party is allocated seats proportional to their votes share. This method enables minor parties to
have their fair share of representation in the federal senate.
Since the formation of the Australian federation, political contestation has mainly been
between the Australian Labor Party (ALP), and other anti-labor parties such as the Liberal Party
of Australia and the National Party ("Australia - Government and society", 2020). The ALP was
established in 1901 and is closely linked to the trade unions in Australia with the support base
consisting mainly of the working class. There is also the left-wing that represents various
socialism brands. There is also the Australian Democrats party that was formed in the year 1977
and has influenced federal elections by drawing support away from the main parties.
In the year 1975, the governor-general dismissed the elected ALP government and this
raise critical concerns on the nature of relationship between the Monarch and the Australian
government. Some also believed the U.S CIA and the British secret service had a hand in this
leading to some bitter resentment among various circles. There have been some intense debates
in Australia regarding the relationship of the country with the British monarch and the United
States (Mendes, 2017). Some influential minority proposed the cutting of all ties between
Australia and the monarch and declaring Australia a republic. However, the 1999 referendum
dismissed this with the voters favoring the retaining of Australia under the constitutional
monarchy.
The majority of the Australian population is seemingly disenchanted by politics. This was
purposely due to poor planning and decision making that the government seem to make on issues
affecting the society. From the deregulation of the banks and failure to act on the climate
emergency, most of the people in the society are of the opinion that the government has done

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little to improve their wellbeing (Hollo, 2020). Politics in Australia relies on the fact that most of
its citizens are not aware of what is going on with decisions being made for individual interest at
the expense of the common good. The collapse in faith in democracy by the Australian populous
is as a result of generations of privatization, outsourcing, underfunding of critical functions by
the government, targeting of whistleblowers, and gagging of advocacy for the public interest.
The citizenry believes that politics is not working for the people.

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References
Australia - Government and society. Encyclopedia Britannica. (2020). Retrieved 19 April 2020,
from https://www.britannica.com/place/Australia/Government-and-society.
Hollo, T. (2020). Australians’ faith in politics has collapsed – how can we reimagine
democracy? | Tim Hollo. the Guardian. Retrieved 19 April 2020, from
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2019/jul/19/australians-
faith-in-politics-has-collapsed-how-can-we-reimagine-democracy.
Lecours, A., & Béland, D. (2013). The institutional politics of territorial redistribution:
Federalism and equalization policy in Australia and Canada. Canadian Journal of
Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique, 46(1), 93-113.
McAllister, I. (2014). The politics of lowering the voting age in Australia: Evaluating the
evidence. Australian Journal of Political Science, 49(1), 68-83.
McAllister, I. (2015). The personalization of politics in Australia. Party politics, 21(3), 337-345.
Mendes, P. (2017). Australia’s welfare wars: The players, the politics and the
ideologies. Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work, 29(2), 145-148.