Show There are three levels of government in Australia:
These three levels developed at different times. Colonial governments, which later became state governments, were the first level of government to be established after the British began settling on the continent in 1788. Throughout the 1800s, local governments were progressively created by the six self-governing colonies. Later, following a series of referendums held in the 1890s, a federation was created under the Australian Constitution—in 1901, the six colonies became states to form the new nation of Australia with a national, or federal, government. The two territory governments (the Australian Capital Territory [ACT] and the Northern Territory [NT]), were created by legislation of the Federal Parliament—the NT in 1978 and the ACT in 1988. Under the constitution, the state/territory governments and the Federal Government have different powers and responsibilities. Local governments are not mentioned in the Constitution. FederalThe Federal Parliament has four main functions:
The powers of the Federal Parliament are listed under Section 51 of the Australian Constitution and include responsibility for foreign policy, defence, income taxation, social services, migration, trade and currency. The Federal Parliament is bicameral, which means it has two houses:
In bicameral parliaments (federal and state), legislation has to pass with a majority vote in both the lower and upper houses before it becomes a law. State/TerritoryState/territory government responsibilities include everything not listed as a federal responsibility in the Constitution, including:
State governments raise revenue through indirect taxes such as banking and gambling taxes and by charging for services such as public transport. They are not permitted to raise other taxes such as income taxation but they do receive federal funding to help pay for the services they deliver. Just like the Federal Parliament, all the state parliaments except Queensland, are bicameral. The lower houses in these parliaments are called either the Legislative Assembly or House of Assembly, and upper houses are named Legislative Councils. The parliaments of Queensland, Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory are unicameral—they only have one house called the Legislative Assembly. The Legislative Assembly for the ACT is the only parliament with responsibility for both state/territory and local government functions. LocalEvery state/territory, except the ACT, has a separate system of local government. States and territories have local government regions are known as councils, shires, boroughs, or municipalities. Each is administered by a council (or equivalent) which makes decisions on local, town or city matters. In addition to receiving federal and state grants, local government authorities also raise money from their residents, usually through rates and other fees and charges. Local governments do not have the power to raise taxes. In the ACT, the Legislative Assembly is accountable for local government functions (for example: garbage collection; looking after parks and gardens; libraries; and maintaining drains, roads and footpaths), as well as all the normal state responsibilities. Return to the resources page
If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website. If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked.
Federalism is a system of government in which the same territory is controlled by two levels of government. Generally, an overarching national government is responsible for broader governance of larger territorial areas, while the smaller subdivisions, states, and cities govern the issues of local concern. Both the national government and the smaller political subdivisions have the power to make laws and both have a certain level of autonomy from each other. United StatesIn the United States, the Constitution has established a system of “dual sovereignty,” under which the States have surrendered many of their powers to the Federal Government, but also retained some sovereignty. Examples of this dual sovereignty are described in the U.S. Constitution. Supremacy ClauseArticle VI of the U.S. Constitution contains the Supremacy Clause, which reads, "This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding." This effectively means that when the laws of the federal government are in conflict with the laws of a state's government, the federal law will supersede the state law. Article I, Section 8Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution describes specific powers which belong to the federal government. These powers are referred to as enumerated powers. Tenth AmendmentThe Tenth Amendment reserves powers to the states, as long as those powers are not delegated to the federal government. Among other powers, this includes creating school systems, overseeing state courts, creating public safety systems, managing business and trade within the state, and managing local government. These powers are referred to as reserved powers. Concurrent PowersConcurrent powers refers to powers which are shared by both the federal government and state governments. This includes the power to tax, build roads, and create lower courts. Further ReadingFor more on federalism, see this Florida State University Law Review article, this Vanderbilt Law Review article, and this Stanford Law Review article.
What Will I Learn
Australia’s system of government operates from a set of rules and structures based on a written document called the Australian Constitution. It came into existence at Federation in 1901 and created three levels of government. Federal Parliament and the state parliaments are two of the levels and the third level of government are local councils (shires and municipalities). The division of powers in the Australian Constitution is also often referred to as the three levels of government in which no one level of government can control all the laws and activities in the nation.
Generally, there are four different types of legislative power:
The Parliament of Australia in Canberra
As well as being based on Britain’s Westminster system, some features of Australia’s federal system were inspired by the federal system of the United States. These include:
NSW Parliament in Sydney
Each level of government provides services for the people of Australia. Each of them is elected by the people that they provide services for.
|