Comprehensive Report: Contemporary Australian Society and Its Features

This report provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary Australian society, examining key aspects such as healthcare, government structure, education, religion, and cultural diversity. The healthcare system is described as a mixed model, encompassing both public (Medicare) and private providers. The report highlights the role of the Australian government, detailing its structure as a representative democracy and constitutional monarchy. It discusses the Australian Parliament and the division of powers between the federal and state governments. Furthermore, the report explores the Australian education system, emphasizing the government's focus on addressing social and economic changes through educational practices, including the adoption of ICT resources. It also covers the diversity of religion and culture, highlighting the multicultural nature of Australian society. The report references key sources, including books, journals, and online resources, to support its analysis of the various facets of contemporary Australian life, including its strong economy, skilled workforce, and commitment to equality.

Contemporary Australian
Society

Table of Contents
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

MAIN BODY
Australia is a western culture country having a unique geographical boundaries. This is a
stable, culturally diverse and democratic nation with having a strongest performing economy in
the world (Hugo, 2014). Australia has a rich ancient culture as well as a highly skilled
workforce. In the terms of contemporary Australia it determines a pluralistic society that rooted
in liberal traditions and equalitarianism as a key strength and societal valuation. In order to
getting profound information, it is required to analyse some important aspects of Australian
society that assist in determining its valuation.
The healthcare in Australia is provided as a mixed system. The two systems are public
which is also known as universal healthcare and private providers which includes insurance.
Medicare is Australia's health care system which is known as a primary health scheme that
provides most of the medical cost to the citizens of Australia and permanent residents. The
medical cost of the tourist or the visitors of Australia is covered by travel insurance. For people
who are not covered by Medicare scheme can benefit from voluntary private health insurance.
Apart from these services, there are many other services that are provided by the government of
of Australia (Stevens, 2015). Some of them are social welfare arrangements, regional and remote
healthcare programs, healthcare facilities for Australian Defence force personnel and their family
with the help of Department of Veterans Affairs, clinical education and training via National
Medical Training Advisory Network. The government spend lost of money on health care every
single year including aged care service and sport programs. In 2017-18, the department is
planning to spend $87.9 billion on health and aged care in Australia (The Australian health
system, 2018). It will also list nusinersen on Pharmaceutical Benefit scheme(PBS) from 1 June,
2018.
The government of Australia is also known as government of Commonwealth of
Australia. It is a both, a representative democracy an a constitutional monarchy with Queen
Elizabeth II as Australia's head of state. The commonwealth of Australia was formed on 1
January 1901 by a common agreement among the six governing British colonies which became
the six states (How Government Works, 2018). These rules for the new nation were incorporated
in Australian Constitution where they also discussed of how the government was planning to
operate and what are the issues that needs to be pass a law on. Under a federal system, the duties
and powers are divided in commonwealth federal government and the state government. The
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Australian Parliament is consist of the queen, the senate and the house of Representatives. The
parliament has the right to pass on laws which affects the whole country system. There are three
parts of Australia's Government i.e the parliament or legislature, the Australian Government or
the executive and the judiciary or federal government.
Australia has a developed well-situated society with having a developed educational
system. The government of Australia pay their maximum attention towards the continually
reappraisal educational practices in order to address the issues properly which arise due to social
and economical changes. Federal government and the state authorities supports the educational
system of Australia as well as for higher education sector they support funding practices for
indigenous students. Main objectives of them is to manage a well-organised and well-structured
educational system for each and every individual. All these activities are required a legal
framework therefore in 1995, Australian qualification framework was established which unify
the education system in Australia. ACQ covers higher, vocational educations and training
practices for students (Bodkin-Andrews and Carlson, 2016). Compulsory education in Australia
is starts at the age five or six with minor variations. In the terms of technological advancement,
the Government and Australian schools adopt ICT resources for students which allows them to
bring digital devices at educational place for the purpose of advance and fast learning. The
national innovation and science Australia has a agenda to inspiring digital literacy through
educational practices. The main motive of this procedure is to improve standard of education
through digital tools and advance technology. The agenda includes total worth $1.1 billion over
four years (National innovation and science Agenda. 2018).
Religion in Australia is diverse in which each and every individual has freedom to
manifest religion, worship and belief without having any government influence. It is a
multicultural country in which each individual have right to share their their culture, tradition,
beliefs and languages escaped within the legislations as well as without any discrimination
(Caust, 2015). The diversity in culture in religion reflected through the lifestyle, food, education
and cultural practices (Multicultural Australia, 2018). The religious composition of Australia is
share different percentage of population as Roman Catholic Christian on 25.3%, Atheist or
Agnostic at 22.3%, Christian other than Catholic or Anglican on 18.7%, Anglican Christian at
17.1%, Other beliefs on 10.1%, Buddhism 2.5%, Islam 2.2%, Hinduism 1.3% and Jewish 0.5%
(Major Religions In Australia. 2018). The society of Australia is having a rich diversity in
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ethnic, religious, cultural and backgrounds. These are the only reason that Australia having a rich
qualities in the terms of education, health, religion and cultural practices (The Success of
Australia’s Multiculturalism, 2016).
Australia is one of the best country. This is because of its great climate conditions,
multiculturalism, health benefits and many other factors (Rasmussen, 2015). There are people
from more than 100 countries which have migrated to the country which reflects the level of
diversity in the culture. The cities have a stable infrastructure, lifestyle choices and increased
number of housing availability. Australia has 37 government funded universities and 2 private
universities which shows the involvement in the education system of the country. It is a highly
developed country which has the 13th largest economy in the world. It has the third highest
human development index. The country has a great image globally in the quality of life, health,
education,political rights, civil liberty and economical freedom. Australia is also a member of the
United Nations G20 commonwealth of nation, ANZUS, world trade organisation, and many
more.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Bodkin-Andrews, G. and Carlson, B., 2016. The legacy of racism and Indigenous Australian
identity within education. Race Ethnicity and Education. 19(4). pp.784-807.
Caust, J., 2015. Cultural wars in an Australian context: challenges in developing a national
cultural policy. International journal of cultural policy. 21(2). pp.168-182.
Hugo, G., 2014. Change and continuity in Australian international migration policy.
International Migration Review. 48(3). pp.868-890.
Rasmussen, M.L., 2015. ‘Cruel Optimism’and Contemporary Australian Critical Theory in
Educational Research. Educational Philosophy and Theory. 47(2). pp.192-206.
Stevens, E., 2015. Understanding discursive barriers to involved fatherhood: The case of
Australian stay-at-home fathers. Journal of Family Studies. 21(1). pp.22-37.
Online
Australia in Brief.2016. [Online]. Available
through<https://dfat.gov.au/about-us/publications/Pages/australia-in-brief.aspx>
How Government Works, 2018.[Online]. Available through<https://www.australia.gov.au/about-
government/how-government-works>
Major Religions In Australia. 2018. [Online]. Available
through<https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/religious-composition-of-australia.html>
Multicultural Australia, 2018.[Online]. Available
through<https://www.livingsafetogether.gov.au/informationadvice/Pages/Multicultural-
Australia.aspx>
National innovation and science Agenda. 2018. [Online]. Available
through<https://archive.innovation.gov.au/>
The Success of Australia’s Multiculturalism, 2016. [Online]. Available
through<https://www.humanrights.gov.au/news/speeches/success-australia-s-
multiculturalism>
The Australian health system, 2018.[Online]. Available through<https://beta.health.gov.au/about-
us/the-australian-health-system>
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