Analyzing the Role of Minor Parties in Australia's Democracy

This essay delves into the intricacies of politics and citizenship in Australia, examining the role and significance of minor parties and independents within the country's parliamentary democracy. It highlights the three levels of government—local, state, and federal—and their respective responsibilities. The essay discusses how the party with the majority in the House forms the government, while the party with the most non-government members forms the opposition. It also explores the concept of a hung parliament and the formation of minority governments with the assistance of minor parties. The analysis extends to the historical context of political culture in Australia, shaped by the relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, and the impact of political philosophies on shaping the culture. The essay references scholarly articles to support its arguments, providing a comprehensive overview of the political landscape in Australia.

Politics and citizenship in Australia 0
Politics and citizenship in Australia

Politics and citizenship in Australia 1
This essay comprises the details on the politics and citizenship in Australia. It includes the
issue such as whether minor parties and independents are significant to the Australia’s
parliament democracy.
The Australian parliament is created on the existence of the political parties. The members of
the house of legislatures are exclusively nominated to represent constituents within each
democratic division. Australia is an association of 6 states comprising two self-governing
territories having own constitutions, parliaments, governments, and laws. Gauja (2015, p.23-
34) discusses that there are three levels of government in Australia such as local, state and
federal (Gauja 2015, p.23-34). All these are working together to make sure that all the
citizens are capable of living, working and participating fully in the community. The federal
government is accountable for economic matters, general taxation and major issues such as
communications, national security, and welfare. The federal government is also liable to
collect taxes and provide funding to state and local government. Sauter and Bruns (2015,
p.47-60) argues that the state government makes a decision on the local and city matters. On
the other side, local government gathers taxes in the form of fees, fines, and rates. The local
government faces issues in Australia in obtaining funds from both state and federal
government (Sauter & Bruns 2015, p.47-60).
The party in Australia has the assistance of the members of the house, establishes the
government. Vromen and Gauja (2016, p.355-360) discusses that the party has a maximum
number of non-government members in the house forms the official opposition. The leaders
are selected by each parliament party. The leaders of the government become the prime
minister respectively (Vromen & Gauja 2016, p.355-360). A hung parliament exists in the
country when there is no single party in the House of Representatives. A minority
government is formed when a party does not have a majority of seats in its own right. Such a
government is able to attain majority with the assistance from the minor parties. The
relevancy of the minor party in Democracy can be realised by the amount of holding balance
of power by it. They have a role in establishing procedures to augment the long term
effectiveness. The interests of the minor parties match up with the wider public interest. The
minor party has also altered the subtleties of the legislative process in the Australia’s
parliament democracy.
From 1901 to 1910 adherence to the party were more unsolidified than these can later
become. Whereas the governments were minority governments and were formed and

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unformed on the floor of the house. Australia has mainly governments either under the
Australian Labor Party or union of non-labor parties. There are mainly three major parties
epitomized in the House of Representatives, Australian labor party, liberal party of Australia
and the Nationals. The labor party was formed in 1901 and is considered the oldest political
party. The present liberal party was established in 1944 the present liberal party was
established in 1944. The country party was formed in 1920 and retitled as National Country
Party in 1975, National Party of Australia in 1982 and since 2003, known as the nationals.
Ward (2002, p.21) discusses that the political culture in the mid-nineteen century of Australia
was formed by the troubled relationships between Indigenous and non-indigenous peoples.
The modern political culture of the country is still haunted by the historical background. The
governments in Australia found it difficult to move away from the colonialist indulgences of
the relationship to the indigenous people. The political philosophies have a great role in
shaping the culture. The culture policies assist in the international economic and political
challenges.

Politics and citizenship in Australia 3
References
Gauja, A., 2015. The state of democracy and representation in
Australia. Representation, 51(1), pp.23-34.
Sauter, T. and Bruns, A., 2015. # auspol: The hashtag as community, event, and material
object for engaging with Australian politics. In Hashtag publics: The power and politics of
discursive networks (pp. 47-60). Peter Lang.
Vromen, A. and Gauja, A., 2016. The study of Australian politics in the 21st century: a
comment on Melleuish. Australian Journal of Political Science, 51(2), pp.355-360.
Ward, I., 2002. Talkback radio, political communication, and Australian politics. Australian
Journal of Communication, 29(1), p.21.