Political History of Australia

In order to better understand the current health care problem in Australia it is important to understand the political history of the state. So far I have only looked at the actual colonization, but this blog will give a short history of how the actual government came to be. Australia was first settled by the British in 1788. At this time Britain was going through a transition of its own, moving away from the rule of an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy under the Westminster system. This system was a huge step towards democracy for Britain and it will be because of Britain’s move toward democracy that Australia eventually became the Liberal Democracy it is today. But in 1788 Australia was far from democracy. When the state was first colonized it was merely used for housing convicts. Because it was not initially used for British citizens to settle in, there was no formal government, only a system of governors who kept order over the military a prison guards who lived on the continent. For the most part these governors had absolute power and acted on behalf of British crown. For the most part this system worked, that is until the prisoners started finish their sentences and demanded a more responsible government.

The first step towards creating a more responsible government came in 1823 with the creation of the Legislative Council, which in actuality didn’t limit the powers of the governors but only made governors power and rulings legitimate.  But the people continued to push to be represented and in 1842 they did add elected officials to give the people some say. Soon more and more convicts left the prison system and began to integrate into society, giving new English settlers free labor system that essentially helped build the colonies. But, Australia was not just an island filled with criminals; eventually the English government realized its potential as a producer for goods. Once people heard there were economic opportunities they start to settle into Australian colonies. This influx of people caused a stable economy to rise and with this came a middle class consisting of skilled workers. Once this group was established they wanted to be more active and acknowledged within government. Soon even the members of the Legislative Council wanted the governor to be more responsive to the people.

To accomplish this the Legislative Council and head of governments began discussion possible constitution ideas. Their goal in this was to create more rights for the people, and to have more control over their territory expect in cases of imperial issues, allowing them to handle problems unique to Australia. After several meeting and conferences it was decided that they would have a federal system of government. Once approved by the British Monarchy many territories adopted the constitution. But Australia’s federal government has been described has a “hybrid” with strong ties to Great Britain with the president having dominance within parliament, and American federalism that was created out of colonialism. Today Australia is a strong liberal democracy but its citizens are losing faith in their government and they feel as if the government is run by elites who do not represent them. This is causing Australians to want more state rights that way they will be more closely represented.