Kevin Rudd
Diamond
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2013
- Messages
- 332
- Reaction score
- 130
The Parliament of Australia, also known as the Commonwealth Parliament or Federal Parliament, is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It is bicameral, and has been influenced both by the Westminster system and United States federalism. Under Section 1 of the Constitution of Australia, Parliament consists of three components: the Monarch, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. The Australian Parliament is the world's sixth oldest continuous democracy.
Elections for the Prime Minister will be held weekly.
Prime Minister:
Tony Abbott
Labour:
Julia Gillard (pandabackflips)
Kevin Rudd (Reziduu)
Liberal:
Tony Abbott (topgear72)
John Howard (Elbowz)
China United:
StigJam89
PalmerUnited:
Clive Palmer (ohh_juice)
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Constitutional law in the Commonwealth of Australia consists mostly of that body of doctrine which interprets the Commonwealth Constitution. The Constitution itself is embodied in clause 9 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, which was passed by theBritish Parliament in 1900 after its text had been negotiated in Australian Constitutional Conventions in the 1890s and approved by the voters in each of the Australian colonies. (The British government did, however, insist on one change to the text, to allow a greater range of appeals to the Privy Council in London.) It came into force on 1 January 1901, at which time the Commonwealth of Australia came into being.
The Constitution created a framework of government some of whose main features, and sources of inspiration, were the following:
- constitutional monarchy (British and existing colonial models)
- federalism (United States model)
- parliamentary, or "responsible", government (British and existing colonial models)
- distinct textual separation of powers (US model)
- direct election to both Houses of Parliament (then a novelty
- only very limited guarantees of personal rights (rejection of the US model)
- judicial review (US model)
A brief overview of the other listed features will provide a background for the doctrinal developments examined below.
Constitutional monarchy
Main article: Monarchy in Australia
Australia is a constitutional monarchy. Although the term "Head of State" is not used in the Constitution, it was intended that the Commonwealth (like the colonies) would continue to recognise the British Sovereign."The Queen" (meaning Queen Victoria, defined to include "Her Majesty's heirs and successors in the sovereignty of the United Kingdom"), was one of the three elements of Parliament, along with the Senate and the House of Representatives (section 1). Today, the Queen of Australia has replaced the Queen of the United Kingdom within Australia's parliament, but they happen to be the same person. The Monarch is represented in Australia by an appointed Governor-General. The executive power is vested in the Governor-General "as the Queen's representative" (section 61), as is the command-in-chief of the armed forces (section 68).
The Australian Constitution provides the Governor-General with a number of powers, including; the power to dissolve Parliament (Sections 5, 57), the power to refuse assent to bills presented to her (section 58) and the power to dismiss the government Ministers(section 64). However, the practical use of such powers is restricted by constitutional convention, which mandate the Governor General to act on ministerial advice, except in exceptional circumstances. Because the conventions are not written in The Constitution, the limits of the Governor General's powers are unclear. Convention does, however, allow The Governor General to exercise some powers without ministerial advice in exceptional circumstances. These powers are known as reserve powers.
The reserve powers allow The Governor General to commission a Prime Minister when no party, or coalition of parties has a majority of seats in The House of Representatives and the power to dismiss a Prime Minister, who has been subject to a vote of no confidence in the House of Representatives.
The reserve powers may also include the power to dismiss a Prime Minister who is engaging in persistent illegal action (Governor Sir Philip Game of New South Wales dismissed Premier Jack Lang on this ground in 1932). However, it remains controversial whether they include the power to dismiss a Prime Minister who, while retaining the confidence of the House of Representatives, is not able to get the annual supply Bill passed by the Senate, as happened during the Australian constitutional crisis of 1975 when the Governor-General acted against the advice of Ministers.
The role of the Queen is today even more circumscribed and amounts only to appointing (and,in theory, dismissing) a Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister, as well as performing (by invitation) certain ceremonial functions when she is personally present in Australia. See Constitutional history of Australia for further details on the development of the monarch's role in relation to Australia.
The importance of constitutional conventions in this area means that Australia cannot be said, strictly, to operate entirely under a written constitution, but has to some extent a system like the British unwritten constitution. However, it would be a mistake to exaggerate the importance of this aspect of Australia's constitutional arrangements:
- the reliance on constitutional convention is confined almost entirely to the relations between the Queen/Governor-General and the Ministers of State; and
- more completely written constitutional systems also develop binding conventions: for instance, popular election to the Electoral College of the United States, though not mandated by the United States Constitution, has probably become a binding norm.
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History of the Parliament House:
Parliament House is the meeting facility of the Parliament of Australia located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. The building was designed by Mitchell/Giurgola Architects and opened on 9 May 1988 by Elizabeth II,Queen of Australia. Costing around A$1.1 billion, it was the most expensive building in the world at the time of its construction.
Federal Parliament meetings were first held in Melbourne until 1927. Between 1927 and 1988, the Parliament of Australia met in the Provisional Parliament House, which is now known as "Old Parliament House". Construction of Australia's permanent Parliament House was delayed while its location was debated. Construction of the new building began in 1981. The principal design of the structure is based on the shape of two boomerangs and is topped by an 81-metre flagpole.
It contains 4,700 rooms and many areas are open to the public. The main foyer contains a marble staircase and leads to the Great Hall which has a large tapestry on display. The House of Representatives chamber is decorated green while the Senate chamber has a red colour scheme. Between the two chambers is the Members' Hall which has a water feature and is not open to the public. The Ministerial Wing houses the office of the Prime Minister and other Ministers.
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