Essay on Australian Politics: Government and Democracy

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of Australian politics, examining its unique blend of Westminster and American governmental traditions. It delves into the structure of the Australian political system, highlighting the role of the federal parliament, the dominance of national parties, and the influence of the two-party system. The essay further explores the principles of liberal democracy as applied in Australia, including the protection of individual rights, free and fair elections, and the separation of powers. It also discusses the concept of responsible government, emphasizing the accountability of the executive branch to the legislative branch. The essay concludes by comparing the parliamentary system in Australia with the presidential system, highlighting the efficiency and accountability of the former. References from various academic sources are provided to support the arguments made throughout the essay.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
Political Science
Name of the Student:
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Author Note

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Australia has a representative democracy in which people who are eligible cast their
votes in favor of the candidates of their choice who represent the people and govern on the
behalf of people. Australian system of the government is a blend of some traditions native to
North America on one hand while British Government on the other hand. The Australian
democracy, thus has a unique structure and functionality of its own. It is quite exceptional that
the Australian politics have a framework in which there are constitutional monarchy as well as a
federal constitutional parliamentary democracy (Jones 2014). Australia operates through a two
party system in which, voting is the basic criteria through which people participate in the
democracy. The thesis of the paper is to analyze Australian Politics and government.
The federal parliament of Australia is run by parliamentarians who are elected by the
Australians and an amalgamation of some elements of executive which have been adopted from
the Westminster system along with a federalist senate which have been inherited from America.
The political landscape of Australia is dominated by the national parties since the very beginning
of the federation in the country (Fenna, Robbins and Summers 2013). During the nineteenth
century, the Australian Labor party became prominent in the country as they represented the
labor class within the country. There were two prominent parties which opposed the Australian
Labor party which are the Liberal Party of Australia and National Party of Australia. The Liberal
Party primarily are represented by the business and middle class people of the country who offer
a social conservative approach to the politics while the National Party represent the agrarian or
the rural. There also exist some other parties which have been able to gain very little prominence
and parliamentary representation, whereas the political scenario in Australia is heavily
dominated by the three national parties who organize the politics in the country (Fenna, Robbins

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and Summers 2013). The politics in Australia currently operate with a two party system due to
the coalition between National Party and Liberal party respectively.
A government can be called as a liberal democracy if the representative democracy
follows the basic principle of liberalism by protecting the rights of every individual as well as the
group of people, who are minority in the country. Such a government is characterized by free,
fair and competitive elections which take place between multiple parties. It should also be
ensured in such a government that there is a distinction and distribution of powers among various
divisions within the government (Avril and Neem 2014). It should be an open society in which
the rule of law is part of the regular life. People should have protection of their human rights,
which they are entitled to, in a liberal country, along with civil liberties, civil rights as well as
political freedom (Summers 2013:33). In a liberal democracy every person in the country have
their universal suffrage, which means that there should be no discrimination made on the basis of
gender, class, race, property ownership and so on, in order to determine eligibility of the people
to have their vote casted and participate in the democratic celebration, which is the election.
Australia, as a government adheres to these criteria as they are called a liberal democracy.
There are four principles on which Liberal democracy is based on. The first is the very
belief that every person is moral and rational. The second that the national condition of every
person is to grow and evolve with time. The third principle states that growth results from order
and chaos in the society rather than disorder and chaos. The fourth principle states that
concentration of power should be suspected in a liberal democracy. Liberal democracy is
organized in such a manner that it defines and limits power within the system. Legitimate
governance is promoted within a liberal democracy through a framework of freedom and justice
(Summers 2013:33). Power within a liberal democracy is determined and limited, within a liberal

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government is with the help of a written constitution, which must be abided by absolutely. The
constitution separates the power of executive, legislative and judiciary (Onyebuchi 2013: 14-19).
Liberal democracy, in Australia and other countries ensure that every citizen receives equal
treatment, dignity and respect as well as the freedom to make their own decisions (Fenna 2014:
12-32). Citizens are given the opportunity as well as the capacity to choose their representatives
and everything that is not forbidden by the law, which ensures that the government aligns liberal
and democratic practices through their governance.
A government is termed as responsible when, within the political system, the cabinet, the
executive government and ministry is accountable as well as related to the legislative branch
(Jones 2014). In Australia and other parliamentary systems too, the outcomes of the election in
the lower house is determinant for the governmental composition in the country. Similarly, the
system is also applicable for the territories and states (Fenna 2014: 12-32). The Australian
government established a bicameral parliament with two structure (Manning and Loomis 2014).
In most of the colonies, unicameral legislature existed through legislature council form.
Whereas, many out of them were either partially elected or not elected. It is a mark of a
responsible government in Australia that in each of the colonies legislative assembly was
formed, for example, in South Australia and Tasmania, it is referred to as the House of Assembly
(Fenna 2014: 12-32). A responsible government should also be about people and their control of
the government, which is given importance to, through the lower houses.
Australian system of government is a constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy
as well as a federation (Manning and Loomis 2014). It is because Australia has a monarch, or a
queen, who is represented through a governor-general in Australia while the Queen resides in
United Kingdom. The ministry of the legislative is led by a prime minister. It has two chamber in

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commonwealth parliament which makes its laws. The Prime Minister leads the government,
which is formed by acquiring majority of the seats by the representatives in the House. The
model, thus, followed by the government is often referred to as the Westminster system, as it was
derived from the parliament of United Kingdom. However, it does not entirely follow the
Westminster system as it also follows the American federalist senate system too.
Parliamentary systems are arguably better than presidential system as the former is
considered to be more efficient as it involves more accountability. In the parliamentary form of
government there is less chance of corruption (Summers 2013). In other words, corruption can be
managed and controlled in such a system. In a presidential form of governance, there is
concentration of power, whereas, in the parliamentary form of government, the chances of better
leaders are on the higher side. It can also be said that in the parliamentary form of government,
there is more scopes for a leader to prove his or her effectiveness (Verney 2013). In the
parliamentary form of government, it is very important and a mandate to engage in sessions
where cabinet and the prime minister engage to decide actions, which ensures transparency in the
system and instill trusts among the citizens. The Presidential elections are often based on
popularity which might not allow the best candidate to win, whereas, in the parliamentary form
of government, the best candidates are most likely to be chosen.

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References
Avril, Emmanuelle, and Johann N. Neem, eds. Democracy, Participation and Contestation:
Civil Society, Governance and the future of liberal democracy. Routledge, 2014.
Fenna, Alan, Jane Robbins, and John Summers. Government Politics in Australia. Pearson
Higher Education AU, 2013.
Fenna, Alan. "The Australian system of government." Government and Politics in
Australia (2014): 12-32.
Hickey, Ross. "Bicameral bargaining and federation formation." Public Choice 154.3-4 (2013):
217-241.
Jones, Benjamin T. Republicanism and responsible government: the shaping of democracy in
Australia and Canada. McGill-Queen's Press-MQUP, 2014.
Manning, Haydon, and Burdett A. Loomis. "Bicameralism, Representation and Governance: An
Australian-American Comparison." Australian Political Studies Association Conference. 2014.
Onyebuchi, Uchem Raphael. "Executive, legislative relations in parliamentary and presidential
government." Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences 1.3 (2013): 14-19.
Summers, John. "Parliament and responsible government." Government Politics in
Australia (2013): 33.
Verney, Douglas V. The analysis of political systems. Routledge, 2013.