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Australian Government Information on the web.
The Australian Government has made good use of the web with an extensive collection of web sites, tying in many departments and making them available online. You can now do most government transactions via the web including investigate departments of government, find out how they can help you, apply and pay for all government products and services online and more using the click-easy links we provide in the right column. |
Click here to create a current report of all Victorian Parliamentary Members
How Government Works.
Australians have three tiers of Government which are Local, State and Federal except in the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. All are regularly elected by secret ballot. People over 18 born in Australia or naturalized must vote in state and Federal elections.
State & Federal Governments
During the nineteenth century (1800's), British rule gave Australian state governments most of the power that the British Government themselves had exercised in their boundaries. The British Government surrendered further powers in 1900 and finally granted complete independence to Australian self-government in the 1930s.
Our federal system of government is one in which powers are divided between a central government and several states. Since 1901 the important powers of government in Australia have been shared between the Commonwealth & the States. |
Since the Constitution was first drawn up, the Australian governments have had to cope with problems never dreamed of by the framers of the constitution. There have been two World Wars and the emergence of new and revolutionary things such as motor cars, trucks, radio, television and aeroplanes.
Governments have done much more to provide hospitals, medicines, schools, universities, transport, scientific assistance for farmers and industrialists, social services for the whole population and so on. In consequence the Federal Government has aquired more power and the States no longer are as important as they were originally intended to be.
Perhaps the most important change has been in taxation. From 1901 up until the Second World War both Federal and State Governments taxed incomes. However, defence is the Commonwealth's responsibility. To enable it to meet its costs in the Second World War the States stopped taxing incomes. The Commonwealth continues to tax them and every year gives the State Governments some of the proceeds. This control of the nation's public finance had greatly extended the Commonwealth's authority.
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Local Government
Local governments of the Shire or Municipal Council type, exist under a number of different names to exercise specified powers given them by state governments. They are not as important as similar subordinate bodies in the United Kingdom and USA. They raise their own taxes in the form of rates levied on the land owned in the district and usually control such things as road building (except for main roads), local drainage, building regulations, garbage collections, local sporting facilities, parks, libraries and so on.
The Division Of Powers
The way in which the various powers of government are divided and shared between the six States and the Commonwealth is quite complicated. When the Constitution was drawn up, the intention was to allow the Commonwealth Government to control only a few powers like defence, customs, coinage and post and telegraph services. These are called the Exclusive Powers. Other matters, the Concurrent Powers, were to be controlled by both the Commonwealth and the States with Federal law over-ruling State law in cases of disagreement. Finally powers -- the Residual Powers -- not in these two groups were to be left under state control. Although there have been few changes to the Constitution itself since 1901 there have been considerable changes in the way the various powers are divided and shared. The States have given up their powers in some fields to the Commonwealth, although they may be able to reclaim them if they wish. In many fields the main responsibility still rests on the States, the Commonwealth's powers to borrow and tax are leading it to play an increasing important part. One of the main sources of political debate in Australia is this confusion between Federal and State powers: both sides argue about their responsibilities and often blame the other when things go wrong or do not get done.
Divided Responsibility
Education is a good example of this division, Education is a State responsibility but all States pay for schools, teachers and equipment out of money distributed by the Federal Government from taxes and loans. The Commonwealth also contributes directly to University education with scholarships as well as money. It has also decided to make grants to schools for science teaching. The States are anxious for the Commonwealth to contribute more to the rapidly increasing cost of education.
Today the States share most of their powers with the Commonwealth. The police forces of Australia are mostly State controlled although there is a Commonwealth Police Force which has some authority in all States. There are State as well as Commonwealth Arbitration Acts and Courts of Concilliation and Arbitration. The control of Main Roads is again primarily a State matter but they all spend Federal money on it and co-operate with each other in many ways. The Snowy River Scheme is an example of co-operation between the Commonwealth Government and the interested States of Victoria and New South Wales.
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