"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Lord Acton
Australian Parliament:
Pre - federation Prior to 1901, Australia existed as colonies belonging to the United Kingdom. Within this land, each colony had their way of governing the people, their own parliament and laws would differ. During the 1890s, the leaders of the colonies came together to draft the Constitution in order to govern a new independent nation. On 1st January, 1901 these colonies federated to become a nation known as Australia. Federation: The birth of the nation occurred on 1st January, 1901 to unite the colonies as one. At this time, the Australia Constitution, also known as the Australian Constitution Act 1900 came into effect outlining various aspects such as:
The structure of federal parliament consists of the Crown. Australia is a constitutional monarchy which means that our head of state is a monarch (The Queen). Under this system, the Queen has the right to appoint a representative and their powers are regulated by the Constitution. Here, the Queen's representative is the Governor General. Our structure is also bicameral consisting of an Upper House (Senate) with 76 members elected for 6 years to equally represent 6 states and 2 territories regardless of their population. The Lower House (House of Represenatives) consists of 150 members representing each electorate of equal population within Australia (roughly 94,000 people). The political party that wins the majority of seats in the Lower House (76 or more) forms government with the leader of that party become Prime Minister. Representative Government: Representative government is the idea that governments should reflect and uphold the views of the people that elected them into power. Since their main function is to be the voice of a collective of people from their electorate, the wants and needs of the people should be heard in parliament. If parliament fails to represent the people in their electorate or state, they may face not being re-elected. A recent example of this the Victorian government considering changing the sanctions given to offenders of the Coward Punch due to the rising number of victims in the last few years. This is a response to the collective want of the people wanting these offenders being handed harsher penalties. Responsible Government: Responsible government is the notion that governments should be accountable for their actions towards the people. That is, governments should take responsibility for the actions of their members and behave in a manner that is transparent for the people to witness. Governments can be seen to be accountable during parliamentary debates whereby they must answer questions from the opposition; this is then broadcasted to the people. Ministers are also held responsible for their portfolios and must be able to explain and justify their actions. An example of this is the pressure Peter Garret faced in 2010 due to the pink batts debacle scheme. Separation of Powers: Separation of powers is the principal of ensuring that there is not a concentration of law making powers within our legal system. Here there are three divisions including the legislative which is given the function to make laws and rests with parliament, the executive which consists of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet with the responsibility to implement the laws and lastly the judiciary. The judiciary refers to the whole court system and the judges. They are given the responsibility to resolve disputes and apply the law. This ensures that those that make the laws are then not wholly given the power to implement and apply the law. As such, the separation of powers ensures a system of checks and balances. Delegated legislation: Delegated legislation is when parliament chooses to pass on some of their law making powers to subordinate authorities. These subordinate authorities can include groups such as government departments, statutory authorities and local laws. By delegating their law making powers, parliament has given the authority for these organisation to make laws regarding a specific area as it is believed that these bodies will have more specific knowledge of their area and as such make laws that are more relevant and acceptable. Examples of these subordinate authorities can include local councils (such as that of Towong Shire) that are responsible for regulating rates, parks and library fines. Difficulty in passing legislation : One difficulty faced by parliament when passing legislation is timing constraints. Due to the passing of the bill process being extensive; requiring many processes, not all legislation will be effectively passed. This is further compounded by the fact that parliament only sits for approximately 70 days per year, this further hinders the law making process. Another difficulty in passing legislation is legal wording of the bill. When bills are being drafted, especially when they're done so in a rush, words used may be too broad and ambiguous. An example of this is the word 'association' under the Vicious Lawless Association Act, whereby it was too broad to determine who could be arrested for associating with bikie gangs. When wording of bills that then become laws are too broad or ambigous, there are problems faced by people in trying to obey them and from the police when enforcing the law. Delegated Legislation: Delegated legislation is where parliament assigns areas of law making to subordinate authorities giving them the power to legislate in these areas. This therefore allows parliament the ability to focus on more fundamental and important matters and allows subordinate authorities to develop expertise in a particular area. An example of this is the Australian Taxation Office who has been awarded power by parliament o make laws on tax claims and the filing of taxes. A strength of delegated legislation is that it allows certain areas to develop expertise and provide more knowledge in a particular. As such, these areas will have a more concentrated focus and have laws made that are more relevant to the area. On the other hand, a weakness of delegated legislation is that members of subordinate authorities are not democratically elected and may not always create legislation that are in the best interest of the people. Also, laws made by delegated bodies can confuse people as parliament has also retained the ability to create laws in these areas as well. Parliament's bicameral structure: Parliament's bicameral is important because it provides a system that can scrutinise and analyse bills as they are passed through. Most bills will tend to originate from the Lower House, generally initiated by government. As government dominates the Lower House, if the bill is reasonable, it will likely be passed. Having an Upper House is essential in this aspect as it means that the Senate (who's main responsibility is to represent the States) will gain the opportunity to scrutinise the bill and determine whether it fairly upholds the interests of the States. A bicameral structure is essential as it provides a level of double checking to ensure that laws made are fair and just. |
Key Terms:
Bicameral: meaning it consists of two houses Government: the political party that has won the majority of seats in the lower house after a federal election The Constitution: is an Act and is a set of rules for governing a country. The Constitution describes what laws federal parliament can make, those that are shared or left with the states and outlines the structure of our legal system. |