Everything about Australian Politics totally explained
The
Politics of Australia take place within the framework of
parliamentary democracy.
Australia is a
federation and a
constitutional monarchy, and Australians elect state and territory legislatures based on the
Westminister tradition, as well as a
bicameral Parliament of Australia, which is a hybrid of Westminister practices with the uniquely
federalist element of the
Australian Senate.
The legislative branch
At the national level, elections are held at least once every three years. The
Prime Minister can advise the
Governor-General to call an election for the
House of Representatives at any time, but
Senate elections can only be held within certain periods prescribed in the
Constitution. The last general election was in November 2007. The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia consists of
two chambers:
The voting system for the Senate underwent a significant change in 1948. Prior to that date Senate elections were conducted using a
'first past the post' voting arrangement. This could result in landslide victories to one political party under relatively small changes in the popular vote, as well as periodically resulting in a Senate with a large majority of
opposition Senators. The change to a preferential system of voting has resulted in the numbers of Senators from each party more closely reflecting the numbers of votes the party list received, and a more balanced composition of the chamber. For most of the last quarter of a century, a
balance of power situation has existed, whereby neither government nor opposition has controlled the Senate, with governments needing to seek the support of minor parties or independents to secure their legislative agenda.
The relative ease with which minor parties can secure representation in the Senate compared to the House of Representatives has meant that such parties have focussed their efforts on securing upper house representation, both at the national and state level (the two territories are
unicameral). They have usually been unable to win seats in the House of Representatives (the Greens won a House seat at the 2002
Cunningham by-election, but lost it in the
2004 general election). Minor parties do however affect lower house politics through their recommendations to voters regarding which party should receive voters' preferences, a strategy regarded as decisive in the outcome of the
1990 federal election. A focus on the upper house has moulded the platforms and politics of minor parties, for which an upper house brokering role is the best opportunity to affect legislative outcomes. The demands placed on parties by this role can cause internal tensions within, and external pressure on, these parties, demonstrated by the splits within, and political decline of, the
Australian Democrats.
Because legislation must pass both houses in order to become law, it's possible for there to be disagreements between the houses that can stymie government bills. Such deadlocks are resolved under section 57 of the Constitution, under a procedure called a
double dissolution election. Such elections are rare, not because the conditions for holding them are seldom met, but because they can pose a significant political risk to the government that calls them. Of the six double dissolution elections held since
federation, half have resulted in the fall of the government that called them. Only once (in 1974) has the full procedure for resolving a deadlock been followed, with a
joint sitting of the two houses being held after the election to deliberate upon the bills that originally led to the deadlock.
The executive branch
Reflecting the influence of the
Westminster tradition of British government,
Australian government Crown ministers are drawn from amongst the elected members of parliament. The government is formed by the party or parties that have the confidence of the majority of members of the House of Representatives. In practice, this has equated to the party or coalition of parties that holds a majority of seats in that chamber.
By convention, the Prime Minister is always a member of the House of Representatives. On the only occasion that a Senator was made Prime Minister (
John Gorton in 1968), Gorton immediately resigned and contested a seat in the House of Representatives.
The same high degree of discipline that characterises Australian party politics extends to the executive, where all ministers individually defend collective government decisions, and individual ministers who can't undertake the public defence of government actions are generally expected to resign from the ministry. Such resignations are even less common than breaches of cabinet solidarity. The rarity of public disclosure of splits within cabinet reflects the seriousness with which internal party division is regarded in Australian politics.
Political parties and Australian politics
The role of parties in Australian politics
Organised, national political parties have dominated Australia's political environment and parliament since federation. Politics since 1900 can be characterised by the rapid and early rise of a party representing organised, non-revolutionary workers the Australian Labor Party and the coalescing of non-Labor political interests into two parties: a centre-right party that has been predominantly socially conservative and with a base in business and the middle class (now the Liberal Party of Australia); and a rural or agrarian conservative party (now the National Party of Australia) (see following sections for more detail). While there are a small number of other political parties that have achieved parliamentary representation, these three parties dominate organised politics in all Australian jurisdictions, and only on rare (and generally short-lived) occasions have any other parties or independents played a role in the formation or maintenance of governments.
Whether Australia's political system should be characterised as a '
two-party system' is a matter of debate, and can be said to vary to some degree from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Of Australia's three main parties, two (Liberal and National) are in long-standing coalition at the national level however they're not always in coalition at the state level, and the Liberal Party isn't always the senior partner (the National Party predominates in the state of Queensland). However, as the National Party only ever considers a coalition or similar arrangement with one of the other two parties (ie. Liberal), the system might be regarded as a two-party one in terms of choices of government, even though voters in some electorates may have a choice between three candidates with realistic chances of being elected to office.
Despite the entrenched role of formal parties in Australian politics, they're 'almost totally extra-legal and extra-constitutional'. In contrast to some other countries, such as the United States, Australian political parties and their internal operations are relatively unregulated. There is however a system of party registration through the
Australian Electoral Commission and its state and territory equivalents, including reporting of some aspects of party activities, principally the
receipt of major donations.
Political parties in Australia today
Three political parties dominate Australian politics.
The Australian Labor Party (ALP) is a social democratic party founded by the Australian labour movement and broadly represents the urban working class, although it increasingly has a base of middle class support. The Australian Labor Party currently governs.
The Liberal Party is a party of the centre-right which broadly represents business, the suburban middle classes and many rural people.
Its junior coalition partner is the National Party of Australia, formerly the Country Party and now known for electoral purposes as "The Nationals", a conservative party which represents rural interests.
Minor parties include:
The Australian Democrats, a centrist, socially liberal and environmentalist party
The Australian Greens, a left-wing and environmentalist party
The Country Liberal Party, a party which only runs for office in the Northern Territory. It is part of the Liberal/National Coalition
The Family First Party, a socially conservative party.
The list of political parties in Australia comprises the names and federal leaders of significant political parties as well as the names of other parties, including formerly significant parties.
The History of Australia's political parties
Australian politics operates as a de facto two-party system. Unlike in the United States, however, internal party discipline is extremely tight. Australia's system wasn't always a two-party system, however, nor was it always as internally stable as in recent decades.
Contemporary Australian national politics
The Australian Labor Party came to power in the November 2007 election, ending John Howard's 11 years in office as Prime Minister and head of Liberal/National coalition government. The Labor Party now holds a majority in the House of Representatives. The Senate, however, reverted to its prior state, with the balance of power being held by minor parties. However, until July 2008, the Liberal/National coalition will retain their majority in the Senate, when the transition to the new parliament will take place in the upper chamber.
More info: Australian federal election, 2007
Administrative divisions
In the states and territories, elections are held at least once every four years (except in Queensland, which has three-year terms). In New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory, election dates are fixed by legislation. However, the other state premiers and territory Chief Ministers have the same discretion in calling elections as the Prime Minister at the national level. (See Main articles: Australian electoral system, Electoral systems of the Australian states and territories).
Regional or local government within each state is handled by Local Government Areas and unlike other equivalent forms of local government, they've relatively little power compared to the state governments (See Main article: Local government in Australia).
Further Information
Get more info on 'Australian Politics'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://politics_of_australia.totallyexplained.com">Politics of Australia Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
