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Essay on australias constitution
Essay about aus constitution
Essay about aus constitution
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The Australian constitution is a national legal document, enacted by the British government on the 1st of January 1901 as a part of Australia’s federation, it can be very difficult to change yet it requires constant renewal to keep up to date with today's society. As the Australian states and territories have the ability to create their own laws, the Constitution is employed to regulate them. Any state or territory law that is viewed to be in direct defiance of the constitution can be repealed and then is reviewed and examined via the High Court of Australia. If the High Court rules that the state's law is unconstitutional it will then be voided. Due to the fact, the constitution overlooks all the laws carried out by the Australian states and
The milestone judicial decision in Cole v Whitfield pronounced a pivotal moment in Australian jurisprudence in relation to the interpretation of s92 of the Australian constitution. This essay will critically analyse the constitutional interpretation approach utilised in Cole v Whitfield. This method will be compared with the interpretational methods exemplified in Commonwealth v Australian Capital Territory. Although within these two cases there appears to be a preference towards a particular interpretational method, each mode has both strengths and weaknesses. Accordingly, the merit of each should be employed in conjunction with one another, where the court deems fit, complementing each other. This may provide a holistic approach to interpreting the constitution.
The roots of Australian laws are similar to traditional Aboriginal laws, dating back to before the Norman Conquest in 1066, where each separate village had their own laws developed to their own customs. This changed however, after a centralized legal system was established after 1066. A common law was formed, that applied to all of England. This was later combined with equity law and mercantile law, which is the basis of Australian law today, known as ‘statute law’.
From five states arose delegates who would soon propose an idea that would impact the United States greatly. The idea was to hold a meeting in Philadelphia called the Constitutional Convention in 1787 meant to discuss the improvements for the Articles of Confederation and would later be called the United States Constitution. The United States Constitution was greatly influenced by Ancient Rome, the Enlightenment, and Colonial Grievances.
The decision for Australia to adopt the Federal system was on the principle of which the State’s governments wanted to keep their power. For this reason there was the separation of powers between the newly formed Commonwealth government and the existing State governments. At a constitutional level, there are rulings in which the powers are separated, these rulings due to disputes have slightly changed since 1901. These changes all fell towards the one government, the Commonwealth (Federal) government. However this was not just a landslide event, the Constitution of Australia set up this imbalance of powers between the Commonwealth and State governments. We will explore this further in the points discussed later in this essay.
Legal system is a comprehensive term that is used to confirm the existence of the law; it also explains the law-making process and how this is enforced on everyone. The Australian legal system regulates all level of governments, organisations, and all people whether they are Australian born or have migrated here, and they must obey Australia’s regulations. The legal system here was developed from the United Kingdom’s legal system, as Australia was a colony of the British. At a glance, the British government granted restricted rights to their colonies, including Australia to set local government system. This was intended to developed laws in local area, also to deal with specific situation at that time. As a result, the legal system in each of the colonies started to develop separately. According to Carvan J (2010) the Australian law is adopted from several sources, including the rules of equity, parliamentary laws, delegated legislations, judge-made laws, and international laws. (Austrlian Legal System, 2007)
Many would state that the constitution is not a living document and therefore, it does not change to meet the needs of the nation. One purpose behind this contention would be the constitution comprising no Bill of Rights. A Bill of rights is the arrangement of the most essential rights to the natives of a nation. Australia is the main Western popularity based nation with not a protected or elected administrative bill of rights to ensure its natives (Mchugh 2007). According to Lowitja O'donoghue, previous ATSIC Chair It says very little about what it is to be Australian. It says practically nothing about how we find ourselves here - save being an amalgamation of former colonies. It says nothing of how we should behave towards each other as human beings and as Australians. This in itself obviously depicts the incapacity of the constitution as a political rule of the country. A sample would be the situation law of Gradidge v Grace Bros Pty Limited (1988). There, a hard of hearing quiet in the Compensation Court of New South Wales obliged manual/visual dialect translation. The translator kept on translaing trades between the judge and the advodates throughout lawful submissions. She persevered in doing so notwithstanding the direction of the judge that the trades did not have to be deciphered. Her emphasis after deciphering everything that happened in the general population ...
Australia is a monarchy of the United Kingdom. It always has been, and yet this does not seem to have significantly and adversely affected our development and growth towards our country. Thus, there seems no legitimate purpose to change this; since a republican Australia displays a lack of conclusive benefits towards our economy and ‘way of life.’ An Australian republic would cost billions to undertake and is simply unnecessary as there are more important issues facing Australia; and if the Australian citizens are not calling for a referendum, then any serious discussions from politicians or other related public figures are irrelevant and meaningless.
A Constitution is a set of rules put in place to govern a country, by which the parliament, executive and judiciary must abide by in law making and administering justice. In many countries, these laws are easily changed, while in Australia, a referendum process must take place to alter the wording of the Constitution (Commonwealth of Australia, date unknown, South Australian Schools Constitutional Convention Committee 2001). Since the introduction of the Australian Constitution in January 1901, there have been sufficient proposals to alter and insert sections within the body to reflect the societal values of the day, ensuring the Constitution remains relevant to the Australian people. Although Constitutional reform can be made on a arrangement of matters, the latest protests on Indigenous recognition and racial references within the body of the Constitution has called into question the validity of racial inclusion, and whether amendments should be made to allow for recognition. This essay will focus on the necessity of these amendments and evaluate the likelihood of change through the process of referenda.
A Constitution is document that states how a country is made. The growth of Canada can be interpreted through the Canadian Constitution, because the Constitution states the equal rights and freedoms of all Canadians, equal distribution of legislative powers, convenient education, and legal stability and accurate predictability. The Canadian Constitution is a very efficient way of looking at the laws and the maintenance of the country, because it describes the structure of Canada, it provides very well legal stability and predictability and the Constitution is very important for Canadians. The Canadian Constitution plays an effective role of determining the structure of Canada, its stability and predictability of laws and the rights and freedoms of Canadians.
The Australian Legal System has a rich and detailed history dating from 1066. Law is made in Parliament. We have four sources of law and three courts with different jurisdictions that interpret the law when giving out justice. Important doctrines act as the corner-stones of our legal system. There is a procedure in the courts for making appeals. Separation of powers exists between officials in the courts, the parliament and the Executive. Everyone in Australia is treated equally under the Rule of Law, no matter their office or status. The Law is always changing as society changes, but it can never be perfect and cannot please everyone.
The two constitutions both have a preamble, however the Australian constitution is many more times greater in length. They both state how the power is bestowed on the federal government, but the power from each comes from different places. Australian takes it from the Queen, where USA takes it from the people, displaying how the separation from the British Empire by the Australians was more peace oriented than the rebellion of the United States. The Australian preamble doesn’t deal with legitimacy to USA standards because it doesn’t state the reasons for its creation where USA simply states, “in order to form a more perfect union.” The Australian preamble sis redundant in that it states things in it that are restated later in the body of the constitution.
There are increasing debates on the issues of Federalism and globalisation in Australia. The question whether Australia would be well governed as a Federation or not remains topical among other issues associated with globalisation. A number of reports indicate that our current federal system is a concern. There are issues in overlaps in policies, roles and responsibilities, vertical fiscal imbalance, an increased reliance on the commonwealth for grants being allocated where states cannot raise enough revenue. In this report I will argue that the Federation in Australia is working, however clarity of roles and responsibilities and more decentralisation would need to occur in certain areas for it to become more effective. This
Kirby, M. 1997, ‘Bill of Rights for Australia – But do we need it?’, viewed 30 March 2014, < http://www.lawfoundation.net.au/ljf/app/&id=/A60DA51D4C6B0A51CA2571A7002069A0>
In countries such as the United States of America (USA) the constitution is a supreme law that overrides all other legislation. It is also entrenched meaning that a public referendum or parliamentary majority of 75% or higher is required to alter it. In addition, any lawsuit that their Parliament wishes to pass, must comply with the constitution. In certain predicaments those without this supreme law document have the ability to choose not to comply with laws that are transcribed in their constitution. An example being the allowance of passage for a new bill that does not fully comply with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.
Will Australia become a republic in the next twenty years? This is a difficult question to speculate on. The main area of law governing this issue is section 128 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (U.K). Other issues in this debate are regarding appointment, termination and the powers to be awarded to the proposed Head of State, and the impact the change will have on the States. Examining the history of Australian Legislative powers, and reasons why Australians would want to change, is also useful when speculating on this issue.