Australian Liberal Democratic System: An Essay Analysis

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of the Australian liberal democratic system. It defines key terms like political ideology and liberal democracy, outlining their core principles. The essay details the essential characteristics of the Australian system, including its emphasis on individual rights...Read More

Running head: AUSTRALIAN LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM
Australian Liberal Democratic System
Name of the student
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Author note

1AUSTRALIAN LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM
Political Ideology refers to values, assumptions along with the programs that can help
in organizing the perception of the political issues. Political ideology consists of the
normative statements regarding the values along with the guides to the action with the help of
which the values can be achieved. Liberal Democracy refers to the political ideology where
the representative democracy carries on the operation under principle of the classical
liberalism. Liberal Democracy can be said to be characterized by multiple political parties,
separation of the powers and rule of the law in the everyday life of the people (March, 2016).
This essay elaborates on the essential characteristics of the Australian Liberal Democratic
System. This essay also discusses how the liberal democratic system of Australia helps in
enhancing the well-being of the citizens.
Democracy can be said to be system of the government in which citizens exercise
power with the help of voting. Within a direct democracy, citizens form the governing body
and they vote in relation to each issue. The citizens elect the representatives within
representative democracy from amongst themselves. The representatives meet so that they
can form the governing body like the legislature. According to Lovenduski and Hills
(2018), powers of majority can be exercised within the representative democracy however
constitution limits majority and offers protection to minority. An individual is held to be the
most significant unit within the liberal system. It can be said to be more important as
compared to the group or the whole society. In Liberalism, the society is organized in a
manner that can help in maximising ability of the individual and make the choices on the
basis of their whim. Liberalism upholds the tenet that the freedom of an individual should not
impede on freedom of another person. The liberals think that people have the capacity of
using the reason along with the rationality in carrying on dealings with world (Chou, Pan &
Poole, 2017).

2AUSTRALIAN LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM
Liberal Democracy have the universal suffrage that provides the citizens right of
voting irrespective of ethnicity or the gender. Liberal democracy lays stress on separation of
the powers, independent judiciary and the system of the checks and the balances in between
the various branches of the government. The governmental authority is exercised in
accordance with what is written and the publicly disclosed laws are enforced on the basis of
the established procedure. The constitution is held to be the limit on authority of government.
It has been stated by March (2016) that the system of government in Australia is on the basis
of liberal democratic tradition that is inclusive of religious tolerance along with the freedom
of the speech. The Constitution of Australia sets out rules along with the responsibilities of
the government and it outlines power of the three branches- judicial, executive along with the
legislative. The legislature comprises of parliament- body having legislative power that can
help in making the laws. The executive helps in administering laws that are made by
legislative branch and judicial system helps in establishing the courts of the law of the
country.
The individual rights and the freedoms can be said to be crux of liberalism along with
the democracy. The Australians enjoy a great deal of political freedom and the people are free
of joining the political parties and organizing the protest movements. Australian government
limits its power over the individuals and it safeguards the civil liberties of the people. The
government in Australia sanctions the public scrutiny over the commitment to that of power
sharing (Brown, Head & Connors, 2017). There exists laws that helps in turning the natural
rights into that of the positive rights which are protected by the state. The combination of
Westminster along with the Federal Parliamentary System in Australia helps in protecting the
citizens from the harm and it helps in entrenching liberal along with the democratic freedoms.
According to Dryzek (2017), codification of the rights can be said to be limited within the

3AUSTRALIAN LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM
Australian political system that helps in avoiding the unnecessary encroachment on that of
the rights.
Australia can be said to be a federation and the power is shared in between the federal
and the state parliaments. Three levels of the government in Australia co-operates in the
various areas like the education along with the health that helps in improving the conditions
of life of the people. The liberal democratic system in Australia has helped in the promotion
of the individual freedoms and it has proved to be useful in the area of community decision
making. A cooperative approach has been adopted that has helped in tackling the issues
within the community (Holloway, Miragliotta & Manwaring, 2019). The liberal democratic
system in Australia has helped in defending the civil liberties of the people against the
encroachment of the governments. The people in Australia are provided with the freedom of
making the decisions and they have been taught to accept the responsibility in the Australian
liberal democratic system. The people have the capacity of choosing in between the
alternatives and they have been provided with the necessary amount of freedom within
Australia.
The liberal democratic system in Australia is instrumental in enhancing the well-being
of the citizens. The citizens of Australia gets involved in the politics that acts as a positive
force in the political system of Australia. It has been stated by Chapman, Froumin and Aspin
(2018) that the voting is held to be compulsory within Australia and the enrolled voters go
out for voting that helps in pointing forward to the freedom of the citizens. It has been stated
by McLeod (2015), the membership of the political parties can be said to be a useful measure
in relation to the democratic participation. The proportion of the citizens who are members of
the political party within Australia has reduced dramatically in mid-twentieth century. The
reason for the decline is that the political parties have become professional in the approach of
winning the elections. The political participation can be said to be low within Australia

4AUSTRALIAN LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM
however the pluralists have stated that the people are not represented with the help of direct
participation within the political system (March, 2016). Concerns that the citizens have are
represented with the help of the interest groups who are active within politics and in the
society.
It can be said that Australia has vibrant along with the growing set of the interest
groups. All the social groups in Australia are represented with the help of the liberal
democratic system in Australia. According to Moadoph.gov.au. (2019), the interest groups of
Australia possess the resources that helps them in serving the people living within Australia.
Australia has market economy and the owners of the capital exercises the direct control on
lives along with the working conditions of the Australian workers. The decisions within
Australia regarding the deploying of the economic resources are made with the help of the
powerful private individuals. The politicians are also instrumental in making the decisions
that can help in serving needs of the business (Lewis & Fleming, 2017). The liberals are
supporters of the market and they have the right to the private property.
The leaders in Australia are selected with the help of the free and fair elections and
the political pluralism is greatly respected in Australia. Australia has a responsible
government and the government of Australia is answerable to that of parliament that works
for the welfare of the people of Australia. According to Gauja (2015), the ministers have the
responsibility in Australia and the ministers are expected of accepting the full responsibility
for the decisions that are made by the department. There exists the rule of the law within the
framework of the Australian liberal democratic system that is instrumental in upholding law
which is subject to the judicial process (Abc.net.au., 2019). There exists Parliamentary
Sovereignty in Australia and the government seeks approval of parliament for the various
kinds of decisions that helps in benefitting the state. There exists separation of the powers and
the power can be said to be distributed in between Ministry, courts and that of Parliament. It

5AUSTRALIAN LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM
helps in the process of defining the distinct roles along with the functions that is instrumental
in serving people. The national identity of the Australians has been framed on the basis of
egalitarianism that has helped in the establishment of a protectionist state. It has helped in
developing the qualities of the individual initiative along with the self-reliance that has been
able to contribute to the welfare of the Australians.
Political Ideology comprises of the values along with the assumptions that can
organize perception in relation to political issues. Democracy is a system where the citizens
can exercise the power by taking recourse to voting. The people in a liberal democracy are
provided the right to vote that helps the people in exercising their will. There is the separation
of powers along with the independent judiciary within the liberal democracy that helps in
keeping a check on the activities of the government. Australia has interest groups that has
helped in reflecting the voice of the common people. Interest groups have the resources that
can help in the betterment of improving the condition of life of the people. The market
economy of Australia empowers owners of that of capital exercises in improving the
condition for the workers.

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References
Abc.net.au. (2019). Retrieved 22 August 2019, from
https://www.abc.net.au/ra/federasi/tema1/aus_pol_chart_e.pdf
Brown, A. J., Head, B. W., & Connors, C. (2017). Introduction: Integrity systems and
democratic accountability. In Promoting Integrity (pp. 19-28). Routledge.
Chapman, J., Froumin, I., & Aspin, D. (2018). Creating and managing the democratic
school. Routledge.
Chou, M., Pan, C., & Poole, A. (2017). The threat of autocracy diffusion in consolidated
democracies? The case of China, Singapore and Australia. Contemporary
Politics, 23(2), 175-194.
Dryzek, J. S. (2017). The forum, the system, and the polity: three varieties of democratic
theory. Political Theory, 45(5), 610-636.
Holloway, J., Miragliotta, N., & Manwaring, R. (2019). Issue competition between Green and
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from https://www.moadoph.gov.au/democracy/australian-democracy/

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Gauja, A. (2015). The state of democracy and representation in
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