A referendum has been a relatively effective mechanism in facilitating the shift of power from the States to the Commonwealth. The referendum (section 128) is a concept that aimed to change the wording in the Australian Constitution to give the commonwealth more specific powers. This is done through the passing of the constitutional alteration bill through parliament. Since federation, all citizens have the right to vote in referendums with any proposed changes either being accepted or rejected by the people. The way this works is that the Governor general authorises a referendum and this referendum must meet dual criteria in order to be successful for instance, the federal criterion which is having a majority of states and democratic criterion; having a majority of voters. The Commonwealth has tried to use the process of the referendum to shift power. For example, the referendum for Constitutional Alternation (Aboriginals) in 1967 aiming to remove racial discrimination, such as including them in …show more content…
Whenever the commonwealth chooses to exercise a particular power a state law often becomes invalid under section 109 which is the inconsistency rule. In this way the commonwealth increases its specific powers at the expense of states. For instance, the matrimonial causes act in 1959, where all states ere inconsistent with it and therefore invalid. By exercising its divorce power, the commonwealth removed state law from the field of divorce. The intention of Co-operative Federalism (refer to section 96) is for the states to enter into a voluntary federal co-operative agreement by the states unwilling referring powers to the Commonwealth or supporting a referendum and an issue that requires a national perspective. This is done by state and federal ministers meeting and agreeing on general principles, departmental officer completing the details, uniform legislation being passed in every
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 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.
Sections 7 and 24 of the Commonwealth Constitution confer an implied right to vote. This interpretation comes from that the people elected to be the members of the Senate and the House of Representative are defined as ‘directly chosen by the people’. In other words, the equal electorate needs for the people who participate in elections to express their wills through their representative. Accordingly, the implied right is consistent with the definitions of representative democracy and representative government. The following case, Rowe, is considered the both notions, bu...
Cooperative federalism is more of a blurred line of responsibility between the state and federal government. An example of this would be in the days following the 911 attacks, the federal government asked the local/state governments to look into people they suspected of terrorist
Shadowing World War II, there was an amplified fear of communism in Australia. The influence of the threat of Communism in Australian local politics from 1945 to the 1950’s was very strong as you can see through Robert Menzies, the Petrov Affair, The fear of Ussr spies, the royal commission and the Alp split show relevant threats to the Australian Domestic politics by saying they are spies, traitors and liars.
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.
What is defined as a global citizen? They’re considered to be people or countries who understand their obligations at a global level. Over the past 50 years the countries of the world have become increasingly interconnected. With this, there has been an increasing awareness that only global cooperation can solve problems including poverty and epidemics, stop wars, and reverse environmental degradation and climate change. As the globe battles with these underlying problems, Australia’s partake, even the smallest amount, is fundamentally important, especially with its stance currently as being the 15th richest country in the world. However, in recent years Australia hasn’t demonstrated, in a few of these global issues, the true values and morals of being a good global citizen.
The 1967 referendum resulted in the change of the Constitution on August 10 of that year, initiating the start of great change for the lives of indigenous people in Australia. The referendum sought to change Sections 51 and 127 of the Constitution. Section 51 stated the Federal Government could make laws for anyone in the nation except aborigines, leaving state governments in charge (Creative Spirits – 1967 Referendum, online, 14/8/15). Section 127 specified that when the population of the Commonwealth was counted, indigenous people were not included (Creative Spirits – 1967 Referendum, online, 14/8/15). According to Faith Bandler, an indigenous civil rights activist, it was important to force the Commonwealth to be responsible for the aborigines
The evolution of power gained by the Federal government can be seen in the McCuloch versus Maryland (1819) case. This case des...
The colonisation of Australia occurred throughout 1788-1990. During this time, Great Britain discovered Australia and decided that it would become a new British colony (“Australian History: Colonisation 17-88-1990”, 2014.). It was decided that convicts would be sent to Australia and used for labour to build the new colony. There are many health determinants that are effecting the health of Indigenous Australians including; poor living conditions, risk behaviours and low socioeconomic status. Many of these determinants have an effect on the Indigenous Australians due to the colonisation of Australia.
During the last June Liberal’s party meeting, the Prime Minister, Tony Abbott has put forward an immense proposal on Australia federalism as he states “it is time to make each level of government sovereign in its own sphere” (ABC, 2014). In his speech, Abbott says that the federation has great strengths but they are combined with buck passing, duplication, waste and inefficiency. Hence, by giving each level of government sovereign in its own sphere, Abbott is planning to hand more power to the States and limiting Commonwealth’s roles as specified in the White Paper on reform of the federation (DPMC, 2014). In response to Tony Abbott’s proposal, this essay will support the idea to reform the federation. To provide a comprehensive argument, I
Australia became a democracy on the 1st January 1901, before day all women in Australia were allowed to vote and be elected. By definition, democracy means government by people, meaning that everyone should have an equal say in what decisions are made the affect their lives. If democracy advertises that everyone is equal and has a fair say, then Australia is not truly living up to the definition. Women are still being under-represented in Australia’s parliament since it was made legal for them to vote and be elected. Women make up more than half of Australia’s population and yet they represent less than a third in the parliament.
Multiculturalism is the ethnic and cultural diversity that exists within a certain area. Different countries display various forms of multiculturalism. The most common form of multiculturalism is whereby a citizen of a certain country is born overseas, or of the parents of the individual is born overseas. English speaking countries have a lot of multiculturalism in them. Just like the United Kingdom, Australia has adopted multiculturalism as a national identity. My essay explores how Australia appreciates and accepts many different ethnicities and cultures.
There can be no gainsaying, as to the fact that Australia is not only a choice destination for many, but also houses some of the most beautiful cities in the world (Bastian, 2012). As a matter of fact, Bastian (2012) continues to state that this change is strongly attributed to immigration, which continues to foster strong cultural and economic growth in Australia. As Australia continues to open its borders to an increasingly diverse population, Australians themselves continue to open their minds to accommodate diversity in the form of new lifestyles, foods, traditions, values, beliefs and so forth (Bastian, 2012). According to Henry & Kurzak (2013), the 2011 census show that 26% of Australians were born abroad and 20% have either one or both