Constitution

Question 1

Who were the three main framers of the Constitution?

Answer 1

Sir Henry Parkes
Sir Samuel Griffin
Inglis Clark

Question 2

How many chapters are there to the Constitution?

Answer 2

8
1 Parliament 
2 The Executive Government
3 The judicature
4 Finance and Trade
5 The States
6 New States
7 Misc. 
8 Alteration of the Constitution

Question 3

What section dictates that the House of Reps will be chosen by the people?

Answer 3

S 24

Question 4

S 61 refers to?

Answer 4

The Executive’s powers

Question 5

How is the constitution changed?

Answer 5

S128

Referendum with a double majority of the people and a majority of the states

Question 6

What section outlines the powers of the judiciary?

Answer 6

S71

Question 7

What are the main purposes of the constitution?

Answer 7

Recognise the six Australian colonies and the continuation of their constitutions
Create new central government authorities and outlines their functions and powers
Regulate relations between the Federal authorities and those of the State
Establish free trade between the States
Guarantee some rights

Question 8

What were three reasons for Federation?

Answer 8

Defence
Trade/ Free internal market
Immigration

Question 9

What does ultra vires mean?

Answer 9

If a law is made out side of the Government’s jurisdiction, it will be void from the beginning. Also, void ab inito

Question 10

What right does the Adelaide Company Jehovah’s Witness case involve?

Answer 10

The right to freedom of religion, s116 of the constitution

Question 11

What was the result of the Adelaide Company Jehovah’s Witness case?

Answer 11

It was held (All) that the act in question preventing wartime activities did not infringe upon s116 and the freedom of religion

Question 12

What is the common law principle of legality?

Answer 12

which requires courts to favour an interpretation of a statute, if one be available, that is compatible with common law rights and freedoms rather than an interpretation which would override them.

Question 13

What is the rule of law?

Answer 13

All persons and organisations including the government are subject to and accountable to the law
The law is clear, known, and enforced
The Court system is independent and resolves disputes in a fair and public manner
All persons are presumed innocent until proven otherwise by a Court
No person shall be arbitrarily arrested, imprisoned, or deprived of their property
Punishment must be determined by a Court and be proportionate to the offence

Question 14

Define the Rule of Law

Answer 14

(1) that the people (including, one should add, the government) should be ruled by the law and obey it and
(2) that the law should be such that people will be able (and, one should add, willing) to be guided by it.”

Question 15

Who said “The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia entrenches the rule of law in the thin but vital sense that there is no Commonwealth power, legislative, executive or judicial that can be exercised other than with the authority of the Constitution or laws made under it.”?

Answer 15

CJ Robert French AC

Question 16

What is the relationship between Parliament, the Executive and the Judiciary?

Answer 16

Parliament creates the legislation, the executive administers them and the judiciary interprets their application and both arms’ actions

Question 17

What is s24 of the Constitution related to?

Answer 17

The composition and style of the house of representatives

Question 18

What does s 25 of the Constitution relate to?

Answer 18

Disqualification from voting

Question 19

What does s 51 of the Constitution relate to?

Answer 19

Legislative powers of the commonwealth

Question 20

What powers does s51 hold?

Answer 20

(i) trade and commerce with other countries, and among the States;
(ii) taxation; but so as not to discriminate between States or parts of States;
(iii) bounties on the production or export of goods, but so that such bounties shall be uniform throughout the
Commonwealth;
(iv) borrowing money on the public credit of the Commonwealth;
(v) postal, telegraphic, telephonic, and other like services;
(vi) the naval and military defence of the Commonwealth and of the several States, and the control of the forces
to execute and maintain the laws of the Commonwealth;
(vii) lighthouses, lightships, beacons and buoys;
(viii) astronomical and meteorological observations;
(ix) quarantine;
(x) fisheries in Australian waters beyond territorial limits;
(xi) census and statistics;
(xii) currency, coinage, and legal tender;
(xiii) banking, other than State banking; also State banking extending beyond the limits of the State concerned, the
incorporation of banks, and the issue of paper money;
(xiv) insurance, other than State insurance; also State insurance extending beyond the limits of the State concerned;
(xv) weights and measures;
(xvi) bills of exchange and promissory notes;
(xvii) bankruptcy and insolvency;
(xviii) copyrights, patents of inventions and designs, and trade marks;
(xix) naturalization and aliens;
(xx) foreign corporations, and trading or financial corporations formed within the limits of the Commonwealth;
(xxi) marriage;
(xxii) divorce and matrimonial causes; and in relation thereto, parental rights, and the custody and guardianship of
infants;
(xxiii) invalid and old-age pensions;
(xxiiiA)13 the provision of maternity allowances, widows’ pensions, child endowment, unemployment, pharmaceutical,
sickness and hospital benefits, medical and dental services (but not so as to authorize any form of civil
conscription), benefits to students and family allowances;
(xxiv) the service and execution throughout the Commonwealth of the civil and criminal process and the judgments
of the courts of the States;
(xxv) the recognition throughout the Commonwealth of the laws, the public Acts and records, and the judicial
proceedings of the States;
(xxvi)14 the people of any race for whom it is deemed necessary to make special laws;
(xxvii) immigration and emigration;
(xxviii) the influx of criminals;
(xxix) external affairs;
(xxx) the relations of the Commonwealth with the islands of the Pacific;
(xxxi) the acquisition of property on just terms from any State or person for any purpose in respect of which the
Parliament has power to make laws;
(xxxii) the control of railways with respect to transport for the naval and military purposes of the Commonwealth
(xxxiii) the acquisition, with the consent of a State, of any railways of the State on terms arranged between the
Commonwealth and the State;
(xxxiv) railway construction and extension in any State with the consent of that State;
(xxxv) conciliation and arbitration for the prevention and settlement of industrial disputes extending beyond the
limits of any one State;
(xxxvi) matters in respect of which this Constitution makes provision until the Parliament otherwise provides;
(xxxvii) matters referred to the Parliament of the Commonwealth by the Parliament or Parliaments of any State or
States,15 but so that the law shall extend only to States by whose Parliaments the matter is referred, or which
afterwards adopt the law;
(xxxviii) the exercise within the Commonwealth, at the request or with the concurrence of the Parliaments of all the
States directly concerned, of any power which can at the establishment of this Constitution be exercised only
by the Parliament of the United Kingdom or by the Federal Council of Australasia;
(xxxix) matters incidental to the execution of any power vested by this Constitution in the Parliament or in either
House thereof, or in the Government of the Commonwealth, or in the Federal Judicature, or in any department
or officer of the Commonwealth

Question 21

What does s52 relate to?

Answer 21

Exclusive powers of the commonwealth

Question 22

What power is in s61?

Answer 22

The executive power

Question 23

How are powers split between the states and commonwealth?

Answer 23

Commonwealth and State share s51 powers. S52 powers are exclusive to Cth
States have residual powers s107
Commonwealth law shall prevail in the case of inconsistency

Question 24

What is the effect of s109 in terms of the balance of powers

Answer 24

S109 gives the Commonwealth preference over the states tipping the scales to the commonwealth.