federation + legislation

Question 1

when/how did AUS federate?

Answer 1

On the 1st of JAN 1901, Sydney acted as the host to the celebrations of the inauguration of the Commonwealth of AUS as in July of the previous year, Queen Victoria had given her approval to the Constitution Bill that would bring that Constitution into existence, under which Australia’s federation would occur which involved 6 colonies uniting into 1 new political entity called the Commonwealth of Australia. The Constitution created the structure of the Australian federal government and specified which powers would be held by the federal government, the Constitution included some progressive democratic features but its writer had intended to exclude IA from political participation

Question 2

what were the reasons that led for Federation?

Answer 2

1. a sense of military vulnerability as British had removed the last of their garrisons in 1870 and in 1889 British Major-General James Edwards determined in his report that the Australian colonies were incapable of defending themselves in the event of a military attack. 2. some consider Henry Parkes’ famous speech known as the Tenterfield Oration to be the driver of Federation. 3. growing sense of shared national identity (expressed through artworks like Tom Roberts’ Shearing the Rams painting)

Question 3

what were the benefits of Federation?

Answer 3

commercial benefits, particularly through the removal of customs duties between colonies +creating a uniform tariff, the importance of this objective can be found in Section 92 of Australia’s Constitution where trade among states in the new Federation is required to be “absolutely free” + would allow for creation of uniform/ stricter immigration restrictions (the power to create uniformity of immigration of the Federal Government allowed for SECTION 51 in the Constitution which was used to implement + maintain ‘White Australia’ as persisted fears of foreign immigration was mainly aimed at Asian individuals

Question 4

what are some historians views of Federation?

Answer 4

Historian John Hirst argues that the colonies saw Federation as an opportunity for Australia’s “enhanced status”’ as a nation which would mean that its inhabitants wouldn’t be considered inferior colonials and Historian Mark Peel adds that others held federation up as a fitting culmination to the progress since the gaining of self-government in the 1850s.

Question 5

what were the competing perspective on federation?

Answer 5

there were questions about the role of the British Empire and there was a desire to “create an Australian rather than imperial federation” (Evans, Moore, Saunders and Jamison). The most popular vision for Australian federation could possibly be associated with the adoption by the Australian Natives’ Association of the notion which aspired to create an independent nation that celebrated and took pride in its own identity and achievements, but that also maintained links and loyalty to the Empire.

Question 6

what was HENRY PARKES’ FAMOUS 1889 speech?

Answer 6

declared in his Tenterfield Oration that “surely what the Ameriricans had done by war, the Australians could bring about in peace.” and this speech helps catalyse the federation movement in AUS

Question 7

what happened to this momentum surround Federation?

Answer 7

momentum stalled as the depression and inter-colonial strikes of the early 1890s diverted attention and inter-colonial rivalries continued

Question 8

where did the process of drafting the constitution commence and what did it involve?

Answer 8

process of drafting the constitution commenced 4 of the colonies each sent 10 elected representatives but the WA parliament decided to appoint its own 10 representatives and QLD was unrepresented due to being unable to agree on the method of choosing delegates. A draft constitution was agreed to at the 1898 Convention in Melbourne and later that year people in VIC, TAS + SA voted ‘yes’ for federation

Question 9

was women involved in the decision-making process of the constitution?

Answer 9

Catherine Helen Spence, a leading feminist, stood unsuccessfully as a South Australian delegate, meaning no women participated in drafting the constitution

Question 10

what occurred during the 2nd round of referendums on a new constitution?

Answer 10

Following the amendments in 1898, a 2nd round of referendums on a new constitution were held in 1899, succeeding in all colonies except WA, however perhaps influenced by a petition from 30,000 gold miners to Queen Victoria, WA later agreed to join the new federation in 1900. these amendments related to the direct election of the Senate by the people and the right of appeal to the Privy Council of England for cases involving the Empire allowing for Queen Victoria to give her approval for it on the 9th of July 1900

Question 11

was this process of creating a constitution democratic?

Answer 11

there was a provision which allowed for constitutional change through future referendums and it was considered “peaceful and democratic” (Pratt et al.) as the Australian people had elected representatives to design a constitution under which the 6 colonies would federate and the the people then vote upon, and eventually approved this Constitution and thus federation

Question 12

historian views on the making of the Constitution?

Answer 12

Historian John Hirst described the process of federation as a “democratic crusade” and historian Stuart Macintyre adds that these votes “installed the people as the makers of the Commonwealth and popular sovereignty its underlying principle”

Question 13

who were continually excluded from the process of creating the Constitution?

Answer 13

the delegates were men and the voters who elected them were men, except in SA and WA where woman already had the vote, few people of colour were electors and none were elected to be constitution-makers and the Constitution was made by white men and mostly voted in by white men

Question 14

what was the Australian Constitution inspired by?

Answer 14

The Australian Constitution combined elements of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy with the American model of federalism, along with some features that were uniquely Australian. the House of Representatives followed the British principles of parliamentary democracy while the Senate ensured equality for the new states, despite their differential size, as in American federalism

Question 15

what was the structure of Federal Parliament?

Answer 15

Parliament was to consist of 2 house, the House of Representatives (the lower house) which would be based on proportional representation and members would be directly elected by members of the public and the Senate (the upper house). Given so many Australians lived in NSW + VIC there was fear that the representatives of these 2 states would assume too much power in the lower house and therefore in order to preserve the state’s rights and encourage a ‘yes’ vote for the Constitution throughout the colonies the Senate would have an equal number of senators from each state. senators would be elected directly by the public, rather than state parliaments as was suggested in the 1891 draft. House of Representatives did have the greater power in making legislation but every bill had to be also approved by the Senate

Question 16

what were some unique aspects of the Australian Constitution?

Answer 16

members of Parliament were payed, there was an exclusion of plural voting and changes to the Constitution were to be decided by the people through a referendum, requiring a double majority. This caring Government was expected to intervene directly in the economy in order to achieve a greater degree of social fairness and had powers to make laws regarding industrial arbitration

Question 17

was the right to vote of SA + WA women protected?

Answer 17

protected the right to vote that women in SA + WA had won prior to Federation and reflected an understanding that all women would be enfranchised shortly after Federation for uniformity of voting rights

Question 18

how were Indigenous Australian factored into this new Constitution?

Answer 18

they were not as neither the new Constitution or the new Federation offered any rights or advantages for First Nations peoples

Question 19

did AUS remain a loyal part of the British Empire?

Answer 19

yes to an extent as Great Britain retained ultimate authority over the country, the British monarch remained as head of state and could disallow laws after they had been passed by Australia parliaments, monarch would choose their representatives as Governor-General + state governors, AUS couldn’t declare war on its own + the Privy Council in ENGLAND could overrule judicial decisions

Question 20

what was the economic debate about around the time of Federation?

Answer 20

economic issue of whether to protect local industry by applying customs duties on imported goods or to assist the exports or rural industries by free trade was perhaps the most divisive/debated political issue in AUS during the late 19th century. There was the question of overseas protection and whether to apply a tariff (but this was resolved after Federation) although the Commonwealth Government was afforded the power to raise tariff revenue in Section 86 of the Constitution

Question 21

what separated groups in politics around the 1880s?

Answer 21

Historian Manning Clark argues that the “diving line between groups in politics was no between radical and conservative, or even liberal and conservative, until 1880 at the earliest, in fact between 1860 and 1880 the dividing line was on the tariff -> between the supporters of free trade and the supporters of protection.” Clarke believed that this debate contributed to previously fluid political factions in colonial parliament hardening into 2 distinct formations of Protectionists or Free Traders. But other historians have argued that there were strongly defined political parties in VIC in the mid to late 1870s but during the 1890s a 3rd political force, the Labor Party, emerged to challenge the 2 established parties
These 3 major parties dominated the national Parliament following Federation + were forced to work in coalitions with each other as initially none commanded a majority of their own

Question 22

what was the 1st elected government?

Answer 22

Edmund Barton’s Protectionist Party, with the support of Labor, formed the 1st elected government and proceeded to pass the Customs Tariff Act 1902 that introduced uniform rates of customs duties in all states. and in 1904 Labour formed government and CHRIS WATSON became the world’s 1st Labour Prime Minister however the growing popularity of Labour encouraged the Free Traders + Protectionists to combine into an early iteration of the Liberal party. Despite this, the 1910 election returned a majority for Labor in both houses of Parliament, the 1st time that the Labor party formed a majority government in the world

Question 23

how many times were Indigenous people referenced in the original Constitution?

Answer 23

2 times. in section 127 where it was stated that they would not be counted in the census of Australian people and in section 51 where it stated that the Commonwealth Government wouldn’t take any responsibility for policies to do with Indigenous people

Question 24

what was the effect of this exclusion from the Constitution on Indigenous Australians?

Answer 24

First Nations peoples were revoked of citizenship of their own land (further dispossessing them) and treated as un-human through the complete exclusion from the newly federated nation which prevented them from accessing future benefits. Historian Helen Irving argues that Aboriginal Australins were viewed by most “as little more than outsiders, irrelevant to the national-building project of the federationists”

Question 25

what was the importance of Social Darwinism during this period of time?

Answer 25

The popular belief of Social Darwinism allowed many Australians to believe that, having come into contact with a perceived superior civilisation, the Aboriginal peoples were doomed to die out and their duty was at best to comfort this dying race. Australians could combine science with their own self-interest to justify the destruction of First Nations societies

Question 26

textbook fact about the decrease in Indigenous population:

Answer 26

less than 10% of the number in 1788 when perhaps 1 million Aboriginal people lived on the continent

Question 27

what was the later action/mentality held by the government towards Indigenous Australians?

Answer 27

Those who had survived the European intrusion upon their lands often had been forcibly removed to missions and reserves. State governments passed new discriminatory laws or carried over existing laws that created protection boards which dictated where Aboriginal people could live + conditions fo their employment + whether/who they could marry + who had custody over their children. the most oppressive regimes existed where the majority of First Nations people still lived (WA +QLD + NT). removal of mixed-descent children increased during the early years of the new Federation, mainly in NSW after 1909, overthrowing and damaging the lives of First Nations people in the newly-federated nation

Question 28

what was the importance of the Customs Tariff Act 1902?

Answer 28

Edmund Barton’s (1st prime minister) Protectionist Party proceeded to pass this act with the support of the Labor Party + was intended to support both workers + producers as tariffs would increase the cost of imported goods in AUS and encourage Australian consumers to purchase locally produced goods

Question 29

statistic about the effect of employment due to the Customs Tariff Act 1902:

Answer 29

according to historian Stuart Macintyre, the tariff encouraged local production (particularly clothing + textile + metalworking industries) and employment in these rose from 200,000 in 1901 to 330,000 by 1914, representing around 20% of the workforce at the time

Question 30

what was the main aim of the Commonwealth Government?

Answer 30

to protect the jobs of white Australian workers by passing laws aimed at restricting, excluding, deporting or disincentivising foreign labour

Question 31

what was the Immigration Restriction Act 1901?

Answer 31

aimed to limit the arrival of specific areas (Asia) who were perceived to pose a threat to white Australian jobs by working for lower wages

Question 32

what was the Pacific Islands Labourers Act 1901?

Answer 32

aimed to deport South Sea Island labourers despite many of them having been previously kidnapped from their homelands in order to work in AUS, largely in the sugar cane fields of QLD

Question 33

what is the connection between the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 and the Pacific Islands Labourers Act 1901?

Answer 33

both laws were motivated in part by economic interests, they were shaped by a strong race consciousness that permeated AUS society during this period

Question 34

what was the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904?

Answer 34

this is a more radical innovation which aimed at restoring industrial peace after the 1890s between employers + workers. after much debate it it was decided that the court had the capacity to hear cases that involved inter-colonial disputes, most unions supported the creation of this court even though judgement could be imposed upon them as many were disappointed by the past failures of unionism and were optimistic that they could regain lost power. cases that were heard in this court required union representation (so it encouraged union membership). the court was viewed as the pathway towards industrial + social harmony

Question 35

statistic on boost of unionist after FEDERATION:

Answer 35

by 1914 ⅓ of wage earners were represented by unionions hence rates of membership were much higher than in most countries

Question 36

what was opposition to the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904?

Answer 36

some unions thought it involved collaboration with the ruling classes, while some employer groups considered it to be state socialism

Question 37

limitations of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904?

Answer 37

the limits of how successful the court could be in mediating disputes was revealed during a 1909 strike at Broken Hill where the mining company BHP ignored what they considered to be an unfavourable court decision and aided by sympathetic non-Labor governments, quashed/rejected the strike regardless (SO THE COURT HAD NO WAY OF ENSURING THEIR VERDICT WAS FOLLOWED)

Question 38

how did the government experiment with legislation between 1905 and 1907?

Answer 38

this experimentation aimed to to bind policy of protection and the idea was that both imported + locally produced goods would be taxed but the local producers could waive their tax (excise tax) if they could demonstrate that they paid their workers a fair and reasonable wage, this new approach aimed to make higher wages an explicit condition of the policy which the government termed ‘New Protection’

Question 39

how did the idea of ‘New Protection’ influence 2 new laws in 1906?

Answer 39

The Customs Tariff (Agricultural Machinery) Act 1906 placed a £12 tax on imported stripper harvesters + the Excise Tariff (Agricultural Machinery) Act 1906 placed a £6 tax on locally produced stripper harvesters which would be dropped if the local manufacturer was paying his workers a ‘fair and reasonable’ wage

Question 40

who was Henry Higgins?

Answer 40

a High Court Justice + President of the Conciliation and Arbitration court, he chose Hugh McKay’s application as his company was such a large producer + significant employer of workers, this case would help determine what constituted a ‘fair and reasonable wage’ during the period

Question 41

how did Henry Higgins create the ‘basic wage’?

Answer 41

Higgins approached McKay’s case in a radical was as he interviewed workers + their wives to determine how much families needed in order to live in ‘frugal comfort’ so that they could afford both wants + needs. using this, Higgins made a wage determination for what effectively became a minimum/basic wage and this was 42 shillings a week. Higgins used the Harvester Judgement case as a model for future cases and this represented a 27% increase in the wages commonly paid to unskilled workers

Question 42

what was the outcome of Mckay’s case?

Answer 42

Mckay was paying his workers 36 shillings per week hence he was not given an exemption from the excise tax on agricultural machinery. In response, McKay along with the support of the employers’ group (the Chamber of Manufactures) challenges the constitutionality of the law in the High Court and McKay’s legal team successfully argued that the Federal Government didn’t have the power to determine wages in this way

Question 43

what did Henry Higgins do for female workers?

Answer 43

he question of women’s wages was addressed by Justice Higgins in the 1912 Fruit Pickers Case where he determined that if women were working in jobs performing the same work with the same outcome as male workers then they should be given an equal wage
However this was an unusual occurrence at the time and may have been motivated by a desire to encourage the hiring of male labour (promoted by fear of change, job competition). he also believed that since women were not typically breadwinners of a family then equal wage was unnecessary

Question 44

statistic about basic wage difference?

Answer 44

Pratt et al states that the “basic wage for women was 54% of the male wage”

Question 45

what was the Invalid and Old Age Pension Act 1908?

Answer 45

The desire to create a new economic order based on fairness underpinned the 1908 act where an invalid pension for those unable to work based in impairment/blindness expressed an idea for social justice while the old-age pension acknowledged an individual’s contribution to the nation through a life of work and payment of taxes

Question 46

what was the Workmen’s Compensation Act 1912?

Answer 46

In 1912, the Commonwealth Government passed the Workmen’s Compensation Act that provided compensation for industrial accidents and disease for Commonwealth employees. Although the federal government didn’t have the constitutional power to provide such coverage to workers employed by state governments, it set a model that state governments later followed

Question 47

what’s an example of legislation that benefitted women? MATERNITY ALLOWANCE ACT 1912

Answer 47

Feminist campaigning also led to the principle of fairness being extended to women as mothers, through the passing of the Maternity Allowance Act 1912 which paid an allowance directly to the mother on the birth of her child, regardless of her marital status (which was considered radical for the time)

Question 48

What were the changes for workers after Federation?

Answer 48

1.passing of several innovative laws + significant decisions which had more positive impacts for AUS workers, 2.rise in union membership, 3. in 1910 the Labor Party formed the 1st majority national labour government in the world and by 1914 the Labor Party held office in every state, demonstrating the political success of the labour movement, 4. progressive industrial/welfare legislation which seemed to restore industrial peace + improve living standards, 5. the Harvest Judgement had enshrined the principle of a living wage for male breadwinners and this helped boost wages for unskilled worker, 6. introduction of a minimum age and the push towards 7.Federation lost momentum in the early 1890s, 8.the suggestion to democratise the process of Federation renewed enthusiasm

Question 49

What were the continuities for workers after Federation?

Answer 49

1. workplaces remained dangerous as historian Frank Bongiorno indicated that, in mining alone 112 men were killed in 1913, 2.long and bitter strikes continued and some were met forcefully by police, 3.gender economic inequality was enshrined by the Harvester and Fruit Pickers judgments of 1907 and 1912, 4.states continued to exercise a large amount of influence, 5. debates over the policies of free trade and protectionism shaped the early political parties + their policies and 5. First Nations peoples were formally excluded by the Constitution and thus rendered virtually non-persons in the new Commonwealth