Australian Governments

Australian Governments

Australia employs a federal system of government. The national government is the Australian federal government, headed by the Queen, who is represented in Australia by the Governor-General of Australia, though ordinarily actual political power is wielded by the Prime Minister of Australia under the Westminster system.

Australia is further divided into states and territories. These states and territories are mostly self-governed, and largely employ a similar Westminster system of government. Under the Constitution of Australia, the states retain their sovereign powers except where power has been assigned to the federal government in accordance with the Constitution, or referred to the government by the states by legislation. Territories, on the other hand, are given their autonomous powers by the federal government through legislation.

The federal government and most states and territories possess a judiciary which is constitutionally separate from the legislature and executive branches of government. Each of these is a separate jurisdiction, though current jurisprudence in Australia suggests that there is only one common law of Australia, the ultimate authority of which is the High Court of Australia.

The third level of government are local governments. These are creations of the states and territories under each of their laws. The divisions are collectively called Local Government Areas, or LGAs for short. A large variety of titles are used by local governments, including "cities", "shires", "municipalities" and the generic "councils".

Externally, though Australia shares the same monarch as the United Kingdom and a number of other realms, it is constitutionally separate. Since the passing and subsequent adoption of the Statute of Westminster in 1942, the Australian federal government has been legally separate from the (then) Imperial government at Westminster, and Australia as a whole has not been subject to laws passed by the Imperial parliament. Since the passing of the Australia Act 1986, Australia, and its states and territories, have become legally completely separate and no longer subject to the authority of any part of the government of the United Kingdom. However, Australia still retains a symbolic reminder of its former relationship with the United Kingdom and other realms through its membership in the Commonwealth of Nations.