Australia: Democracy, Governance, and Citizen Participation

This essay argues that Australia is a well-functioning modern democracy, adhering to most democratic principles. It begins by contrasting Australia's parliamentary system with autocratic forms of government. The essay explores the federal and local political diversity in Australia, the nature of its parliamentary system, and the voting system, including proportional representation. It highlights the role of citizen participation and the multi-layered structure of government. The essay also discusses the representation of women in parliament and the importance of diversity. Furthermore, it examines the electoral process, including the shift from first-past-the-post to proportional representation, and the impact of these changes on the political landscape. It also underscores the importance of public participation and the legal requirement for citizens to vote, thereby strengthening the democratic fiber of the nation. The essay concludes by emphasizing the unique structure of Australia, a federation of six states, each with its own democratic government.

Australia is a
democracy

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Australian government works by prevailing parliamentary structure in their functioning
where every member has equal right to speak about the current issues and weaknesses of the
current ruling government. On the other hand, talking about some other countries such as Saudi
Arabia where there is only one person has all the right to control the country, this autocratic form
or one-man rule form of government can be found in Iran and China too. It has also been shown
that the treatment of people and especially minorities in such countries is also worse off than
democracies such as Australia which becomes evident when one learns about tragedies such as
treatment of Uighur Muslims in China (China’s treatment of Uighur Muslims exposed, 2022).
This shows that how badly people can be treated when there is no systematic arrangement of
democracy, just like Australia. One of the major golden rules which every party which rules a
nation must follow is the will of the people to ensure communal and societal hierarchy and one
of the best systems which facilitates such proceedings is democracy (Ananian-Welsh, 2019). The
main thesis statement on the basis of which this essay is that “Australia is a well-functioning
modern democracy and adheres to most principles of a democratic framework”. The thesis
statement will highlight major points related to the formation of democracy in Australia and will
make arguments in the favour of Australia being a democracy. The chosen thesis statement will
fulfil multiple purposes such as stating major aspects of democracy and contrasting it to the
current political landscape of Australia with the main objective of proving that Australia is
indeed a well-functioning democracy. The major essay map which will be utilized to support this
thesis statement will involve the exploration of the topics related to federal and local political
diversity in Australia, the form of government and the nature of the parliamentary system and a
description of the voting system and administrative participation of the Australian population
within the country’s democratic framework. The essay will also identify and comment on the
modern developments in regards to pillars of Australian government such as the composition of
women in the parliament. As of January 2022, 39% of the federal parliamentarians and 39% of
the state and territorial parliamentarians are women which are signs of a steady and healthy
democracy with is still ripe with more developmental opportunities (Trends in the gender
composition of state and territory parliaments, 2022).
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MAIN BODY
In our society, each and every person has different rights which allow them to speak up
about their needs and requirements which they are expecting to be fulfilled by the government
authority. One of the most major forms of national governance and how the political system and
major identity groups are catered towards and the way in which the relationship between the
state and the people is defined is democracy. The word democracy has been arisen from the
demos which is basically used for the people and kratos that means power. In short democracy is
the state of government in which common people have all the powers to control the functioning
of the government by their intervention (Abjorensen, 2019). However, contrary to the inflexible
and often times wrong practices which are displace out under different countries, where
individuals are not embraced with all the voting rights and does not get the amount of respect
which is needed.
One of the major arguments which strengthens Australia’s position as a democracy is that
despite its borrowing several of its administrative decision making from monarchy, it still
upholds the will of the citizens using a democratic framework. Citizen of these nations are
allowed to choose their own political leader and have enough rights to question their working if
it is not going according to their promises. The former refers to the type of democratic
framework in which the representatives of the interests of the general public are elected by them
and put in charge of everyday governance. On the other hand, the latter refers to the type of
system within which a drafted document of national importance known as the constitution lays
down the criteria on the basis of which people are elected and governed. When it comes to the
type of political and administrative framework which has been adopted by Australia, it is both a
representative and constitutional democracy as the elected representatives are given their
administrative position through a due elective process powered by the people and a written
constitution lays down various governance guidelines to be followed by the Australian leadership
in-charge (De and Shackleton, 2019). The overall framework of democracy is worked as per the
formulation of constitution like in Australia there is a federal document which contains all the
rules and obligation which needs to be followed by the people and legislative authority. Along
with a nations controlling or political authority could be divided into three sub parts.
Australian has divided- legislature, government general or executives and judiciary. One
of the major pillars of the institution of democracy which is found in Australia can be divided
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into 3 major parts which function as three separate levels of government which operate in areas
such as public health administration and societal law. The working of Australian democracy is
multi layered as the political authority wants have complete control over national and local level
which will allow them to be more open towards the wellness of the citizen by considering all of
their demand. This 3 tier structure is a major part of the country’s democratic framework and
also helps establish a majority claim to the country being a democracy as the legislature,
government and judiciary are intertwined in the continuous service of the public and to uphold
the public verdict in case of appointing politicians and their representatives.
The way in which people get to vote their preferred government electives and state level
candidates is also a very important part of the local democratic process and Australia is no
different as there is a complex system in place which is known as proportional representation. In
this type of electoral voting system, the seats are first allocated to different parties on the basis of
the share of total votes they receive and then the seats are allocated specifically to the party
members based on the name on the party’s candidate lists. This system is also very democratic
and forms an important argument in the favour of Australia being a healthy modern democracy
as this system of electoral voting allows people belonging to minorities and severely
marginalized backgrounds to get their local candidates elected into administrative positions. In
the earlier days during which the political and parliament system of Australia was heavily
dependent on the first past the post electoral system during democracy’s inception, the voting
system was heavily flawed. One of the major things wrong with this system is that it is
thoroughly against the set value of democracy as it fails to represent the popular preference of
the people and the new Australian adoption of proportional representation is a major pillar in the
country’s modern democratic scenario (EGAN NUGENT and PATERSON, 2020). One major
survey which was taken in 2018 by the Museum of Australian Democracy and the Institute for
Governance and Policy Analysis at the University of Canberra revealed that the people have
begun to lose their faith in the way Australian democracy works. This cultural shift was believed
to have been occurred due to lack of diversity and constant conflicts occurring in the federal
government due to the parliamentary system of the government. However, things have taken a
better turn as the governmental administration has improved and the new generation of the
parliamentarians have registered belong to majorly diverse groups and this also supports the
thesis as this is a very healthy development for the Australian democracy’s strengthening
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(Australia's 47th Parliament features new, more diverse faces, which may mark a turning point
in political representation, 2022). The modern political landscape of Australia has also become
quite diverse which the policies such as the gap being made to take care of the Aboriginal
population and Torres Strait Islander people being given their due and being thoroughly
rehabilitated (Mineur, 2020). In order to reflect this headstrong approach towards diversity and
electing people from less popular and mainstream backgrounds, the parliament system of
Australia has done commendable job in recent years as the people getting re-elected from
minority backgrounds have resulted in less dominance of white and British popular of Australia
which has been the majority for a while.
One of the most striking features of a democracy is the way in which the electoral process
works in a country as it defines the way in which independent candidate are elected to become a
part of a professional network. In order to claim that Australia is a democracy, the existence of a
sound electoral process is a must as the minority people of Australia must get a chance to get
their own people elected into major public offices. This is very important for the Australian
democracy as the need for people to get their problems heard and their culture represented in the
public administration is necessary for them to develop as a community. This feature of the
democracy is also important as Australia is in need for a more diverse political landscape to
successfully rehabilitate the Aboriginal population and Torres Strait Islanders (Krayem, and
et.al., 2020). Speaking of the parliament, one of the major models upon which most of the
systems of democracy are made functional is the parliamentary form of democracy. One of the
major functions of such forms of democratic systems is to ensure that the lawful absoluteness of
the three bodies, namely the legislative, executive and judiciary remains supreme and the line
between executive and legislative functions are consequentially blurred. This is done to maintain
the accountability of the executives towards the parliament and to make them derive their
legitimacy and power to command from the same framework. One of the major advantages of
having parliamentary system in place for countries such as Australia is that it always keeps the
ruling party in check as people can demand for fast and prompt re-elections in case the
government fails to take care of the people and the broader society at large.
Another major trait of democracy is the assurance of the maximum amount of public
participation when it comes to the elective process and official operations related to public
governance and Australia has also displayed major progress in this regard as the possession of a
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robust parliamentary system has been quite important to ensure that proper public accountability
is present in the country. Like in Australia or other democratic nation voice of the people is
enough to force the government so they can lookout their working and progress which is being
taken by them for the prosperity of the nation. In order to uphold the democratic fibre of the
nation, Australia has also come up with major rules inscribed in the constitution and part of the
federal framework of the company as all the citizens above the age of 18 are legally required by
law to participate and give their vote in both national and state level elections of their respective
constituencies (Nakata, 2018).
Another proof that Australia is indeed a democracy is the unique structure of the country.
Australia is a federation made up of six states which until 1901 were all separate British
colonies, the names being Tasmania, South Australia, West Australia, Queensland, New South
Wales and Victoria which all have their separate and well- functioning democratic government.
The main head of each of these six states is the governor and each of these democratic states
have a two chamber parliament except Queensland which for political reasons has only one
chamber since 1921 (Słomka, 2020). The unique democratic outlook of Australia is also special
as despite being a parliamentary; democracy, the nation also shares a queen with many countries
including Canada and United Kingdom thereby also being a constitutional monarchy. The way in
which this queen functions is also very complex as despite being the champion of Australia’s
commonwealth, the queen’s power in Australia is represented and acted through by the governor
general Nasir Khuaja which is why her operational authority is limited to the extent permitted by
the Australian constitution (Schapals et.al., 2019). The fact that despite having some clear
elements of monarchy system ingrained in its structure, Australia still follows a rigid democratic
framework with full respect to the statutory constitution is a testament to its democratic powers
and efficiency.
The most important aim of the modern democracy is to pass the laws for the common
benefit of people after due debate has taken place and Australia can only be called a democracy
if it passes laws in a democratic manner. Australian democracy has to create a framework
through which the people are governed in an effective manner and this is indicated through the
main messaging of parliament which is defined in the constitution as The Queen, The Senate and
The Representatives. The main feature of democracy which is followed in Australia and is a
common hallmark is the way in which laws are passed in the assembly after due debate between
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opposing parties. This is done in Australian context through something called the cabinet. A law
can only be duly passed if it is having been cleared by the senates and through the house of
representatives. The democratic process of forging laws is a major point which can be used to
prove that Australia is indeed a democracy.
CONCLUSION
This argumentative essay went into detail regarding the various ways in which the meaning
and key aspects of democracy are upheld and practised differently by various countries with
specific attention being given to the Australian form of democracy. This essay highlighted key
moral and operational aspects of democracy such as voting system, various types and forms of
democracy and the role of parliament in democratic proceedings in Australia. It was concluded
from this essay that Australia is indeed a well-functioning democracy with people centric
administrative values which can be seen from the diverse elective representation and the
adoption of modern voting systems such as proportional representation. In order to ensure that
the democratic essence and thread of Australia’s modern society is upheld using the community
best practices, the interests of people and their political representation must be put forward in all
major administrative operations undertaken for and by the government.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Abjorensen, N. (2019). Historical dictionary of democracy. Rowman & Littlefield.
De Feo, A. (2019). Communicating the Work of the Parliament. In Shaping Parliamentary
Democracy (pp. 101-110). Palgrave Pivot, Cham.
EGAN, M., NUGENT, N., & PATERSON, W. E. Shaping Parliamentary Democracy. Mineur,
D. (2020). Theories of parliamentarism, philosophies of democracy. In
Handbook of Parliamentary Studies (pp. 86-100). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Krayem, and et.al., 2020. Are Aboriginal people a threat to the modern nation?: A study of
newsprint coverage of a racial discrimination complaint. Australian Aboriginal Studies
(Canberra), (1), pp.18-35.
Nakata, S. (2018). The infantilisation of indigenous Australians: A problem for democracy.
Griffith Review, (60), 104-116.
Schapals, A. K., Bruns, A., & McNair, B. (Eds.). (2019). Digitizing democracy. Nueva York:
Routledge.
Słomka, T. (2020). SOCIALIST PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY: THE LIMITS OF
THE GOVERNMENT AGREEMENT IN 1989. Studia Politologiczne, 15.
Wain, R. (2022). Declared criminal: An examination of the South Australian ‘bikie gang’moral
panic.
Online referencing
Trends in the gender composition of state and territory parliaments, 2022 [online] available
Throughhttps://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/
Parliamentary_Library/FlagPost/2022/May/
Gender_composition_of_state_and_territory_parliaments
Australia's 47th Parliament features new, more diverse faces, which may mark a turning point in
political representation, 2022 [online] available through < https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-
23/federal-parliament-new-diverse-representatives/101092182>
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China’s treatment of Uighur Muslims exposed, 2022 [online] available at
https://www.aljazeera.com/podcasts/2022/7/7/chinas-treatment-of-uighur-muslims-
exposed#:~:text=More%20than%20one%20million%20Uighur,their%20culture%20and
%20religious%20identity.
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