The Australian Government and Australian politics — a travellers guide
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| The Australian Coat of Arms |
The Commonwealth of Australia, as the country is officially known, has a democratically elected government, which rules according to the Australian constitution. Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state, although her role is almost exclusively to appear on coins, RSL Club walls, and the occasional stamp. The Queen is represented in Australia by the Governor-General, Major General Michael Jeffery (a former military officer, and possibly the only man in the world to have the word general twice in his salutation); although most Australians would be hard pressed to describe the role of the Governor General, or even cite his name. In fact many Australians wonder why the Queen is still Australia's head of state at all, considering the country has been completely independent since 1901.
A referendum to get rid of the Queen (not literally) was held in 1999, but despite overwhelming public support for an Australian head of state, the referendum failed; almost certainly because the referendum only offered a choice between either keeping the Queen or having the parliament elect a president on the country's behalf. Rather than trust the politicians, Australia decided it was better to keep the Queen and hold out for the chance to vote for a president themselves. You can read more about the referendum controversy at the corresponding Wikipedia article.
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| John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia |
In reality, the real leader, and the real face of the Australian Government is the Australian Prime Minister, who is elected by the government formed by whichever political party holds the majority of seats in the lower of the two houses of Parliament.
The Australian parliament is modelled on the British Westminster system and comprises of the Senate (the upper house) of 76 senators, and a House of Representatives (the lower house) of 150 members. Members of the lower house are elected from single-member constituencies, commonly known as 'electorates' or 'seats'. Seats in the House of Representatives are allocated to states on the basis of population. In the Senate, each state, regardless of population, is represented by 12 senators, with the ACT and the NT each electing two.
Elections for both chambers are held every three years; although typically only half of the Senate seats are put to each election, because senators have overlapping six-year terms. Voting in general elections is compulsory in Australia for anyone over the age of 18 who is enrolled to vote (although, interestingly, it is not compulsory to enrol).
The Australian Liberal Party (a moderately conservative right-wing organisation) has been in government since 1996, and so, consequently has Prime Minister John Howard. Howard is Australia's second longest serving Prime Minister and has been in power longer than any other incumbent western leader. The fact that the Howard government has been in power for over a decade is testament not so much to its popularity among the majority of the voting population (mostly aspirational young families living in the outer suburbs of Australia's eastern cities), but more to the fact that it has managed the Australian economy particularly well and voters haven't been given a good enough reason to get rid of them and vote for the (moderately conservative left-wing) Labor party.
The Howard government has at times been accused of preying on the racial prejudice against recent Asian and Muslim immigrants among some sectors of the community (see the 'children overboard' scandal - where the government played up reports that groups of illegally immigrating Asian 'boat people' had thrown their children into the water to ensure they were picked up and taken into Australia), but at the same time it has overseen the biggest influx of immigration from Asia and the middle east since the Gold Rushes of the 1800s. Overall, the Howard Government has done a good job of managing the Australian economy (in fact the Australian economy is probably the strongest in the world) but critics attribute this success to the foundations laid by the previous Labor Government and Australia's vast natural resources.
Further testament to Australia's current tendency for incumbency is the fact that although the Liberal party has held power in federal parliament for over 10 years, its opposition Labor party holds power in all eight of the states and territories (New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, The Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory), and each state government has been in power for at least two terms.
Aside from the two major political parties, independent members and several minor parties, including the National Party, Greens, Family First and the Australian Democrats, have all achieved representation in Australian parliaments, mostly in upper houses, although their influence has been mostly restricted to providing an alternate viewpoint, or at best, a deciding vote over controversial issues in the senate.
Aside from the main states and territories, Australia also has several minor territories: the Jervis Bay Territory, (a naval base and sea port for the otherwise landlocked national capital Canberra); Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and several largely uninhabited external territories: Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands and the Australian Antarctic Territory.
The Australian Flag
The flag of Australia was chosen in 1901 from entries in a nationwide design competition held following Federation. It was approved by Australian and British authorities over the next few years. The current specifications were published in 1934, and in 1954 the flag became legally recognised as the "Australian National Flag". Since the inception of the symbol there has been a low-key but persistent debate over whether or not the Australian flag should be changed in order to remove the Union Jack from the top left corner. Former Prime Minister Paul Keating (1991-1996), summed up the argument nicely with the following words: "I do not believe that the symbols and the expression of the full sovereignty of Australian nationhood can ever be complete while we have a flag with the flag of another country on the corner of it."
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