Political Conditions Part 1

So far in my research I have looked at the history and the actual systems of government. To better understand these two aspects of Australian politics it is important to look at the political conditions of the country.

I found an amazing article that goes in extreme depths about what politics are like down under. The article is so large that I am going to be splitting up my thoughts and summaries of the article in two blogs, this being the first.

Like other liberal democracies, Australia has a multi-party system. What makes Australia unique is that unlike the U.S. or Britain there are three dominates parties. The first is the Liberal Party (represents urban businesses), the National party (represents rural interests), and the Australia Labor Party (represents trade unions and liberal groups). In general all groups support welfare programs and are committed to international alliances with other states such as the U.S. This type of party system allows for many citizens voices to be heard in the government. Despite this Australia has large political gaps and inequality that many citizens and residents live with everyday. Within the last few decades Australia has had to deal with a few large of political challenges dealing with with aboriginal issues, and asylum seekers.

Australia has some the worst documented treatment of original residents. After having the country to themselves for over 2,000 years, aborigines were forced off their land and denied any access to the economic benefits that now ruled their land. So far this sounds a lot like Native Americans within the U.S., the only difference being that most aboriginal situations have not improved.

As recently as the 20^th century aboriginal people were still denied the right to own land or have rights over their own children and families. Once an aboriginal family had a child, the child was taken from their parents and was placed in government run institutions. The Australian goal was to create a “white Australia” by removing all traces of the aboriginal culture from the country.

This policy lasted all the way until the 1970’s. Today aboriginal families are still trying to seek compensation for their abuse and inhumane treatment, but so far the courts have rejected the cases. In 2000 many aboriginals used the Summer Olympics to bring international attention to their situation.

In 2001 after the terrorist attacks on the United States, Australia took a hard stance supporting the war on terrorism. One of the methods they used was rejecting all asylum seekers (or refugees). They then went on to pay Pacific nations to take in the unwanted people costing Australia $77 million. This practice became too costly and forced Australia to take a new role with illegal immigrants and refugees. That is when Australia enacted the detention of illegal immigrants. These detention camps contained a wide variety of people and ages, often time detaining whole families with small children. This practice became very controversial because many small children had to experience riots, suicides, and hunger strikes. Many of these inhumane treatments were made public in 2005 when an Iranian, who spent his childhood in the camps, took court action against the Australian government for his treatment and psychological troubles.

After reading this information I couldn’t believe how a country that has such little corruption, viewed as a Liberal Democracy, could get away with this treatment for so many years. I feel like its seclusion has allowed some of these inhuman treatments to occur without any intervention. Even today we don’t heard that much about Australia’s dark past. It is a strong reminder that every country didn’t start strong or just, and maybe countries that are struggling today will someday reach a level of stability and equality, despite their past.

Australian Government

Understanding Australian Government

Australia contains a unique combination of both American and British government systems, which they uniquely make their own.

Australia is considered to be a Liberal Democracy which holds elections, contains representation, values civil liberties, and contains rule of law. Australia is considered to be one of the oldest democracies in the world which was built on the Commonwealth of Australia, created in 1901 when the six states (former British colonies) decided to federate.

Areas of Australian Government:

Constitution:

• ·      Australia’s constitution is very much the United States in the sense that they too have a written constitution which outlines the responsibilities of each area of government including the legislature, executive, and the judiciary. The constitution can be amended but it is a difficult process with only 8 amendments being approved since 1901.
• ·      Although Australia is an independent nation the monarchy of Great Britain, Queen Elizabeth II, is also Queen of Australia and serves as the symbolic head of state. Because of the distance the queen has appointed Governor- Generals who represent her in Australian government. Governor- Generals have wide powers but only act with the advice of the prime minister.

Federal government and state government:

• ·      Federal government is responsible for foreign relations, trade, defense, taxation, and immigration
• ·      Each state government must establish a state constitution while also abiding by the national constitution. Like the United States, federal law always overrides any state law or constitution.  States are responsible for education, transportation, health care, and law enforcement
• ·      Local government is created by state legislation
• ·      To ensure that all three levels of government cooperate the Council of Australian Governments was created. This council deals with structural reforms, integration, national economy, and the national market. This group consists of the prime minister, state premiers, chief ministers of territories, and the presidents of the Australian Local Government Association.

Judiciary: High Court of Australia:

• ·      The High Court of Australia settles disputes between the Commonwealth and the states. Many of these court rulings have increased the power and abilities of the federal government. This growth in federal power demonstrates that Australians favor federal government power over state power.

Legislature: Parliament:

• ·      The Australian parliamentary system is closely based on British models. Like Britain, Australia has two chambers with in parliament, the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House the Representatives determines which party will form government. Once a party gains majority in the House a prime minister from that party comes to power. If the majority is moved to an opposition party then they will form government.
• ·      The Senate has less power than the House but contains many minority parties which helps give better representation.
• ·      Also like Britain, Australian Legislature holds question times where prime ministers meets with parliament and are subjected to questions. This question time helps keep the prime minister accountable for their decisions while in office.

Executive: Prime Minister:

• ·      Prime ministers are members of parliament and come to power when their party has the majority in Parliament. The prime minister has more power over elections than U.S. presidents. Like British prime ministers, Australian prime ministers have the ability to call elections and also have the power to select the date when the election takes place. But before elections can be confirmed, the Governor-General (queen’s representation) must agree to the request.

Voting:

• ·      Voting in Australia is a highly valued and its importance can be seen in Australian history and current voting protocol. By 1892 Australia gave the right to vote to all adult men and women, decades before the U.S. even considered giving all citizens voting rights.
• ·      Today the responsibility to vote is bound by law. All citizens over the age of eighteen must vote in all federal, state, and local elections. A failure to vote can result in fines or prosecution.
• ·      Because voting is a legal obligation the government protects citizens from being penalized by employers.

Parties:

• ·      Australia has four prominent political parties, the Australian Labor Party (founded by the Australian labor movement), the Liberal Party, the National Party of Australia (conservative party that represents rural interests), and the Australian Green (environmentalist party). Having this many political parties playing a major role in politics is very unique to Australia. Many nations have only a few main political parties, allowing a large amount of power to be centralized. This concentration of power makes it hard for small parties to be heard. Because of multiple parties there is more representation of politics and views in parliament.
• ·      Like the U.S. there are a lot of questionable practices when it comes to funding elections. To avoid corruption or bribery the Australian Electoral Commission was established to monitor money coming into campaigns. Currently all parties and candidates must disclose all sources of donations if the donation is above a certain threshold. This practice hopes that representatives will focus on expressing their constituent’s policies verse those who donated them the most money.

Colonization of Australia

Early Australian history

To begin my research on Australia I found it easy to start at the very beginning. I mainly focused on the colonization of Australia in order to obtain a general knowledge of the roots for today’s culture and government.

In order to understand the colonization of Australia, we must first look at England. During the 1700’s England was going through a major crisis. Many small farmers were losing their land and jobs, forcing many to turn to a life of crime in order to survive. This in turn caused England’s prison systems to become overcrowded, often times mixing hard criminals with petty criminals. And just when it seemed like things couldn’t get worse for England’s criminal system, the American colonies went to war, won, and refused to take any more of England’s prisoners. This forced English government to establish a new colony in which they could send their prisoners.

The English explorer James Cook had early sightings of Australia, and due to its remoteness and vast amount of land, England decided to settle it.

And so Australia started out as a colony of necessity. It seems like a very strange way for a country to have started, especially when looking at Australia today.

Many of the convicts that were sent to Australia were Irish, but soon the diversity greatly increased as many prisoners of war were also sent to Australia. Ethnic backgrounds ranged from Americans to Indians to Africans. Although Australia was created to house prisoners, the prisons in the new colony were also becoming crowded and required a vast amount of money to keep them up. This led to the “ticket of leave system” which allowed convicts of good behavior to begin a work program. This allowed convicts to integrate into society, and also gave English settlers free labor system that essentially helped build the colonies. This system is the very roots of today’s probationary and work release system that is used in prisons systems all over the world.

But, Australia was not just an island filled with criminals; eventually the English government realized its potential as a producer for goods. John Macarthur was a powerful officer in the Corps, in addition to his high ranking military position, Macarthur also aided in making Australia a settlement. As he transitioned to Australia, he brought with him a herd of sheep. The conditions of Australia were so perfect for sheep herding that he created fine wool that would become a huge export and money maker.

As other English citizens realized there was money to be made in Australia, they too made the journey and settled. But by the end of the 1830’s Australians wanted transportation to end. By now Australia had a good population of people, many of who had been born in Australia. The reasons they wanted transportation to end was because they wanted to be independent, and as long as prisoners were being sent, it wasn’t a possibility. Secondly, Australian laborers were having a hard time finding work because many employers used the free labor of convicts on work release. This was the very start of Australian politics.

I was very surprised by the fact that Australia was first colonized in order to hold prisoners. But due to these prisoners, and their work release programs they eventually became a part of the Australian population. Many of the buildings and towns that were created were based on the labor of many prisoners. Although it seems like an odd way to start a country, the prisoners were the ones to help create the society and culture that is there today.