Chapter 2+3 Political systems Flashcards
political system
a system of government that has resulted from historical factors, geographical considerations and the nees of its population
- as a system it has components, processes and an organisation/structure
institution
- parliament
- goverments
- cabinet
- courts
- public service
processes
- constitutional law and rules, legislative processes that make laws, chains of accountability to ensure the govs carry out laws accordingly to the rule of law, trial processes and procedures for sesloving disputes and protecting our rights, fair electoral system to elect public occicials (MP)
organisation/structure
- an elected law making assembly
- legislature with one or two more houses
- accountable, reponsible and elected gov
- an executive and independant court system
- a judicature and a separation of powers etween the legislature, executive and judiciary with ‘checks and balances’
- a political ‘neautral’ parliament public service and a federal division ofgovernment and a repesentative gov
self government
- each colony was rules by a governor who exercised the authority of the british crown
- the authority of power was not limited
- the begining of the 19th century each colony began to move towards self government
- each colony had a constitution
story of federation
- by 1860 AUS has 6 seperate colonies
- at this time, the settler had weak recognition of being Australian
- overtime, each colony began to form closer relationshios –> identifying as ‘Australian’
- they became attracted to the idea of ‘formal union’
- federation occured in 1901 –> all 6 colonies agreed to create a federal form of government
- 6 separate states and 1 commonwealth gov
- federation did not represent a breaking of tiles with the british
factors encouraging federation
3 of them
- defence
- immigration
- trade policy
founding fathers
- Sir edmund barton
- charles kingston
- sir henry parks
defence
a factor encouraging federation
- national defence force to be created for better defence and protection
- people feared that colonies could be vulnerable to attack from other nations
immigration
a factor encourgaing federation
- in the 19th century people did not support immigration of non-british colonies
- they wanted strong immigration policies
- the first law was for white people to only come into AUS
economic intergration/trade policy
a factor encouraging federation
- trade restrictions made travelling between colonies difficult
‘austrlian identity’
- colonists shared a common language, culture and heritage, and increasingly began to identiy as australian
reasons against federation
- rivalry
- policies
- physical distance (too far)\
- historical traditions (penal colonies -> NSW, QLD, TAS, WA from 1850, Vs free colonies -> VIC, SA)
UK influence
- responsible government
- westminister conventions
- bicameralism
responsible government
UK influence
- key aspect of AUS political system
- inherited by the UK
- the executive givernment (the cabinet and ministry) is drawn from and accountable to the legislative branch (parliament)
- a system where the executive government sits in the parliament (they are drawn)
- WMS is responsible government creates a fusion between the parliament and executive
deciding executive
- formed from the HOR
- different to USA –> separation between congress (legislative branch) and president (executive branch
formation of government
- if no party is able to win a majority this is called a ‘hung parliament’
- if no hung parliament, a party must convince other members to support them to form a ‘minority government’ -> in 2010 this occured (guillard won)
- ‘coalition’ –> two parties form a coalition - liberal and nationals have formed a coalition (two seperate parties in gov)
how is the executive government accountable to parliament
- question time –> MPs question and scrutinise gov decisions
- parliamentary inquiries and committees –> can investigare and look into gov, senate examine gov
- individual ministeral responsibility and censure motions –> can kick out the minister if they did the wrong thing, HOR vote, never been used
- collective ministerial responsibility and no confidence motions –> can kick out whole gov, members lose confidence (HOR), new election called
- executive spending –> may be authorised by law, get given monet and must sign
westminister conventions
UK influence
definition
are unwritten rules or accepted practices that have the effect of limiting the power of government
- not judiciable –> can’t be challenged in court if they are not followed
- not laws
govenor general powers
examples of sections
- legislative and executive powers
e.g. legislative powers
- section 58, GG must sign bill
- section 28, GG issues writs for elections and dissolve parliament
e.g. executive powers
- section 67, appoing gov officials
- section 64, appoint and dismiss ministers
e.g. express powers
- powers written in the constitution that the GG must exercise on advice (when told by prime minister)
- e.g. approve treaties
e.g. reserve power
- expressed in constituion but GG can use without acting on the advice of the PM
- e.g. John Kerr used his power in section 64 in 1975 to dismiss prime minister gough whitlam
bicameralism
UK influence
- brittish house of commons (lower chamber) “house of the people”
- brittish house of lords (upper chamber), examples legislature
USA influences
- constitution
- federalism
- division of powers
constitution
USA influence
- contains the structure of the US gov
- power divided
federalsim
USA influence
- the power and responsibility to govern is divided between central (federal) gov and a number of regional (states) gov
- AUS system of gov is commonwealth
- division of powers
division of powers
USA influence - under federalism. THERE IS 3
- Exclusive powers
- concurrent powers
- residual powers
case study
concurrent powers
in 2013, the legislative assmebly for the ACT passed the same sex act 2013, leagilising same sex marriage. the Cth gov challenged the act in the high court, and argued that it was inconsistent with the marriage act.
case study
balance of power
tasmanian dams case 1983
- TAS proposed and made plans to construct a dam (franklin dam) to generate jobs and electricity
- the Cth gov opposed the dam and the Cth giv passed the Worl Heritage Properties conservation act 1983. the Cth did not support
- this banned the construction of the franklin dam
- TAS gov argued the law was constitutionally invalid and that the Cth did not have the constitutional power to ban the dam
- Cth argued they did have power because of S51 - the ‘external affairs’ power –> the parliament shall, subject to this constitution, have power to make laws for the peace, order and good gov of the Cth with respect to external affairs
- Cth argued they signed an international treaty protecting the world heritage sites, which the area was listed
- in 1981, the area where the dam was proposed was nominated for listing under the world heritage convention
- Cth argued the external affairs power gave the cth power to make legislation to put into effect agreemenrs it makes it international
high court decision
- had to interpret ‘external affairs’
- had to choose between narrow and broad interpretation
steps for executive
- hold a federal election to determine composition of parliament, only deciding 151 members
- party needs to obtain a majority of these 151 seats sp 76/151
- party that wins can choose anyone when forming a government -> must be from parliament
westminister conventions examples
- responsible government -> operates via convention
- the governor general must act on advice of the PM
- the PM must be a member of the lower house e.g. John gorton was a senator who was commisioned PM in 1968
- government and ministry and prime minister must maintain the support of the lower house
- ministes are responsible to parliament
- “make or break government”
exclusive powers
division of powers
powers that can only be exercised in the commonwealth
e.g. immigration, currency, raising an army
concurrent powers
division of powers
powers which both the cth and states can exercise
e.g. taxation –> S51
residual powers
division of powers
everything else which is to be exercised by the states. not mentioned in the constitution
e.g. police, education, health, crime
narrow interpretation
allows Cth to make laws to do with AU and other countries
- limitng relationship with other countries
broad interpretation
wide enough to give Cth power to make laws which relates to implementing any of the contents of a treaty
federal institution
a federal system of government needs ‘intergovernmental’ or federal institutions to promote collaboration and discussion between different levels of gov
national cabinet
PM and premiers get together and hold a meeting, collaboration, focuses on key topics occuring in society
inherited features from canada
- looked for inspiration
- inspired AUS as a workable model, blending the UK and USA
