The Australian Constitution

Formed in 1901, The Australian Constitution is a document consisting of a formal set of rules associated with informal conventions that cooperate with political institutions to establish governance of a polity. It is a unique mixture of the rather informal British Constitution with some components of the very formal United States of America’s Constitution. The Constitution is the fundamental law of Australia which is binds the Commonwealth Parliament and the Parliament of each state. The Constitution of Australia serves great importance to the Australian political system, by setting forth the manner in which our courts, parliaments and cabinets operate within the Australian policy. In the structure of the Commonwealth Parliament, set out in the Australian Constitution, the two major interests represented are the people and the states. The Constitution was drafted at a series of conventions, as before 1901 Australia was a collection of six self governing British colonies with the main power ruling over the colonies being dependent on the British Parliament. From this point on, after 1901 when the Australian Constitution was introduced, Australia became an independent nation.

The Australian Constitution emerged in the 1890s, when representatives from the Australian colonies, drafted a document that would set out to unite the colonies into a federal system (South Australian State Electoral Office 2001). The drafting on the Constitution established a structure of a federal system of government, as well as set up a basis for a connection between the central government and state government (South Australian State Electoral Office 2001). The Constitution is formed by two main parts, the first part inc...

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