Australia, a country comprised of a mainland and several smaller islands located in the continent of Oceania (part of the Pacific Ocean) is a member nation of the British Commonwealth, a political alliance that groups dozens of former colonies and territories of the British Empire together. Australia is the world’s sixth largest country on the globe and is currently considered to be the oldest continent. This article will examine how Australia’s political system is set up in the modern day.
Historical Information
Australia was first settled by humans traveling from south-eastern Asia in the last ice age, some 50,000 – 65,000 years ago. These inhabitants would later be called Aboriginal Australians and are considered by many in Australia to be the natives of the country. In the 17th century, the British Empire built a penal colony in current day New South Wales, bringing many prisoners from the British mainland and their overseas territories to Australia. The mainland was scouted for two centuries after, with five colonies being created with governmental autonomy. These five colonies joined together in 1901, creating the first iteration of the Commonwealth of Australia. The United Kingdom began to grant the Australian Commonwealth more governmental and political independence over time, resulting in the passage and enactment of the Westminster Adoption Act of 1942 and the Australia Acts of 1986.
Since the granting of formal independence, Australia has become a nation that is home to various demographics: Australia has one of the largest foreign-born populations on the entire planet. The current population of Australia is 27,385,700 as of the latest 2024 population estimates. The nation is also a major key player in international alliances, being a part of ANZUS, AUKUS, and the Five Eyes, as well as remaining a major ally to NATO, even though it is not legally part of that defense organization.
Explanation of States or Provinces
There are six Australian states and ten Australian territories: the states of New South Wales (which is the largest state by population), Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia (which is the largest state by land area) with the territories of the Australian Capital, Jervis Bay, and the Northern Territory being the formal ones. The external territories are made up of the Australian Antarctic Territory and the islands of Christmas, Cocos (Keeling), Coral Sea, Heard, McDonald, and Norfolk.
Political Institutions and Officers
Executive Branch
Australia, as part of the Commonwealth, is represented by the British Monarchy, with the King or Queen of the United Kingdom filling in the ceremonial role of the Head of State. The King or Queen of the United Kingdom appoints a Governor-General to manage the legal affairs of the British Commonwealth nations; in the case of present-day Australia, King Charles represents the Monarchy, III and the Governor-General appointed by the Monarch is Sam Mostyn.
In the formal structure of the Executive Branch, the leader of the Australian House of Representatives is typically chosen as the Prime Minister of Australia, who recommends members of parliament to be chosen as filling in positions in the Australian Cabinet, which the Governor General then appoints with binding legal force. The Cabinet and the Deputy Prime Minister oversee the execution of the departments of the Executive Branch, with sixteen formal departments managing the Executive affairs of the Australian Commonwealth.
Legislative Branch
The Legislative Branch of Australia is represented by a bicameral chamber, divided between an upper and lower chamber: the Australian Senate and House of Representatives. The Australian Senate is comprised of seventy-six members with each state receiving twelve senators and the Australian Capital Territory plus the Northern Territory receiving two each. The Senate is responsible for enacting legislation and supervising the executive responsibilities of the Australian Government.
The Australian House of Representatives is comprised of 151 members who are elected in single-member constituencies apportioned among the states by state population. The Australian House of Representatives has the same powers as the Australian Senate, except for the fact that similar to the United State Senate, all matters of revenue or funding has to originate in the House of Representatives (however, the Senate can block revenue or funding bills, but this has occurred just once to date in the 1975 Australian Constitutional dilemma).
Judicial Branch
The Judicial Branch of Australia is comprised of the High Court of Australia, which is itself made up of seven justices (these justices have mandatory retirement by the age of 70), and many smaller Court systems throughout the states. The High Court of Australia possesses both original and appellate jurisdiction and holds the power of judicial review. The smaller courts that manage legal cases are comprised of the Australian Superior Courts, which different divisions within have appellate and trial jurisdiction, the Intermediate and Inferior Courts, as well judicial tribunals that hear legal cases related to small claims or administrative review.
In Australia, Common Law is the same in every Australian State, as well as in the Federal System, so there is no state-by-state variation in the structure of the law.
Method of Election
Australia holds elections about every three years that are administrated by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). The AEC manages voter registration in Australia, which is mandatory for Australian citizens over the age of eighteen, as voting is mandatory for citizens of Australia (however, a small percentage of Australians fail to vote every election), punishable by a fine of up to $170.
Australia’s method of election is using several variations of ranked choice voting (the most common being single transferable vote, or STV), which is conducted by having voters’ number the candidates on their ballot in order of the voter’s preference, with the candidate who gets the least number of votes being eliminated. The eliminate candidate’s votes then get transferred to the next candidate with the least number of votes, and then the process repeats. The Australian system uses Instant Runoff Voting, so the initial election is held using first past the post (FPTP) and then reallocated based on Ranked Choice Voting.
In the Australian Senate, each state is a multi-member constituency. As mentioned before, twelve senators are elected from each state, but in staggered terms, meaning one half is up for election every three years, unless there is a case of double dissolution, in which all twelve senators from a state are up for election. The party candidates must receive 14.28% of the vote in a state election to be elected, but in double dissolution elections, this is 7.69%. The allocation process has varied in prior years, but this is the system post 2013.
In the Australian House of Representatives, the candidates compete in a first past-the-post election in which all candidates running in a constituency appear on the ballot. The results are then redistributed according to the voter’s preferences (the voter is required to rank the candidates by a number to indicate their preference) with the first ranked votes being counted first. However, if no candidates receive a majority of the vote, the candidate with the fewest votes is invalidated from the vote counting process and his or her received votes are redistributed to the remaining candidates based on the second choice of that candidate’s voters. This process repeats until a candidate has won a majority, thus winning the election for that constituency.
Regarding the Executive Branch, the Prime Minister is elected by the House of Representatives in a majority vote, while members of the High Court are nominated by the Prime Minister and appointed by the Governor-General.
Political Parties (Major Parties Only)
In Australia, there are multiple federally recognized political parties contesting elections. Australia has two main political factions: the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal/National Coalition (an alliance of the Liberal and National parties), with several smaller contesting political parties.
- Australian Labor Party (ALP): The Australian Labor Party, commonly known as the ALP, is a center-left political party and one of the two factions that are primarily dominant in Australian politics. The party was created federally on May 8th, 1901, and as such, it is the oldest surviving political party in Australian history. The ALP has close ties to various labor union organizations and is split in terms of delegates being represented in a 50/50 split between unions and normal party members at the state and national conferences. The ALP is split between those who favor democratic-socialist and democratic-traditional ideals, with the party being contested between a progressive and a liberal wing. The elected leader of the ALP because of the most recent election is Anthony Albanese, who is the current Prime Minister, but the Labor Party has eight branches in the six states and two electorally recognized territories (Capital Territory and Northern Territory.). The party was the winner of the last federal House elections, and as such, holds a majority in the House of Representatives. The Labor Party’s political base is primarily in urban areas, although it is competitive in rural and suburban areas as well.
- The Liberal/National Coalition: Commonly known as the L/NP or LNP. A grouping of two Australian center-right political parties. The Coalition was born in 1946, and the alliance has survived over the years of election cycles. Peter Dutton helms the Liberal/National coalition.
- Liberal Party: The Liberal Party, known simply as LP or LPA, is the largest party in the Coalition. The LP was founded on October 13th, 1944, and is led by the Coalition leader Peter Dutton. The prior iteration of the party was the United Australia Party. The LP is divided between a moderate, centrist, center-right, and right wing, with the right-wing faction of the party becoming the largest grouping in the 2022 Australian Federal Election and the centrists comprising the smallest faction. The party’s political power is primarily within urban areas.
- National Party: The National Party of Australia, known as the NP or NPA, is the smallest party in the Coalition. The National Party was founded on January 22nd, 1920, as the Australian Country Party and is led by David Little proud. The Country Party’s political base is in the rural and suburban areas of Australia.
- Green Party: The Green Party, known as the AG or GRN, is the third-largest political party in the nation by vote totals . The Australian Green Party was founded in 1992 and is led by Adam Bandt. As with most other Green parties around the world, the party started by advocating for policies favorable to the environmental agenda advocated by environmentalists. The Green Party’s political power base is among younger voters with higher rates of college education, especially in urban areas.
Results of the Last National Election
In the 2022 Australian Federal Election, held on May 21st, the Australian Labor Party won a majority of seats in the Australian House of Representatives for the first time since 2007, with a total number of seventy-seven seats. The incumbent Liberal/National Coalition won more first-preference votes but lost nineteen seats for a total of fifty-eight.
In the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Labor won all three seats up for election, while in the Northern Territory, they also won all two seats. In New South Wales, the Labor Party won twenty-six seats, and the Coalition won sixteen, while Independents took five seats. In Queensland, the Coalition came out on top with twenty-one seats, the Labor Party 5, the Greens 3, and an Independent 1. In South Australia, Labor won six seats, Labor took three, and the Centre Alliance won one. In the state of Victoria, the Labor Party won twenty-four seats, the Coalition won eleven, the Greens 1, and Independents won three seats. In Tasmania, the two dominant groups (Labor and the Coalition), each tied with two seats apiece, while an Independent took one seat. In Western Australia, the Labor Party took nine seats, the Coalition 5, and Independents won one seat.
In the Senate elections, the Coalition won fifteen seats, combining with their seats not up for election for a total of thirty-two. Labor won fifteen seats for a total of twenty-six, while the other parties won ten seats, for a combined total of eighteen. This meant that the Senate stayed under Coalition control.