a consitution
a set of rules that may apply to a social club, organization, or nation
the commonwealth constitution
- 1st Jan 1901
- legal framework and rules that apply to the governance of Australia
Australia before the constitution
- 6 separate colonies answerable to the British government
agruments for federation
- economy ( trade more efficiently )
- transport ( rail network )
- defense ( unified military )
- nationalism ( away from mother country )
- racial purity ( restriction of immigration )
agruments agaisnt federation
- trade ( job loss over competition )
- fear ( smaller states being disregarded over larger states )
- apathy ( feeling that federation was irrelevant )
- expense (the national government would be expensive to run )
- cheap labor ( QLD, determined to protect sugar industry by allowing pacific islands to work on sugar plantations )
federation
the action of forming states or organizations into a single group with centralized control
division of power
- section 51 specifies the legislative power of the federal parliament
- the division of power between the state and federal parliaments
exclusive powers
powers only federal parliament have
- currency
- citizenship
- tax
- foreign policy
- defense
examples of concurrent powers
education
- federal ( uni )
- state ( schools and teachers )
environment
- federal ( world heritage sites )
- state ( approvals for development )
health
- federal ( payment to doctors and pharmaceuticals )
- state ( hospitals )
concurrent powers
areas both state and federal parliament have legislative power
residual
leftover powers not in the constitution go to the state
separation of powers
power is distributed between three arms of government
- legislature
- executive
- judiciary
separation of power - legislative
makes and amends the laws ( the governor-general + senate + house of reps )
separation of power - executive
puts the law into action ( prime minister + ministers )
seperation of power - judiciary
makes judgements about the law ( high court + federal court )
why is seperation of powers important
- ensure rule of law
- prevent tyranny
- hold each sections to account
- delegation to uphold, make and change or put into actiom
hard seperation and soft seperation
hard seperation - between the judiciary system and the other two systems as it doesnt link as much
soft seperation - between executive and parliament systems because some of their roles cross over
referendum
nationwide vote
how can the constitution be changed
- a bill is passed by both houses of parliament
- the change is approved by referendum by the majority amount of people in the majority amount of states with and overall majority
how to vote in a referendum
yes or no vote
is a referendum hard to pass
yes because it needs a huge majority vote
aims of the high court
- to protect the constitution by ensuring the government acts within its powers
- to exercise original jurisdiction over constitutional matters
- to act as the final court of appeal
constitutional interpretation
when the high court interprets the words of the constitution when resolving disputes
the privy council
- the highest court of appeal in Britain
- until 1986, Australians had the right to appeal matters to the privy council
