Commonwealth de l'Australier (document en anglais)

Commonwealth of Australia », also called « Oz » and inhabitants : « Aussies »

2nd highest Human Development Indic per capita in the world

Very urbanized, a major part of the population live in huge cities

Monarchy with federal division of power: parliamentary system. Head = Queen

Population: 23 million of people who live mostly in large cities and in the coastal areas.

Australia is the 5th highest income per capita in the world and the 2nd human development index.

It's a constitutional and parliamentary monarchy with federal division of powers. It uses a parliamentary system and has the Queen as its head of state

Organization

Commonwealth of Australia, a federation

Capital: Canberra

Composed of 6 States:

New South Wales

Queensland

South Australia

Tasmania

Victoria

Western Australia

+ 2 mainland territories:

Australian Capital Territory

The Northern Territory

Both are almost the same thing.

State level government

Each state and major mainland territory has its own parliament which could have 2 Chambers. The Premier is the head of state in each state. Each territory has a Chief Minister as its head. And the Queen is represented by a Governor in the states.

The federal state is represented by a Governor General who is the viceroy of the Queen.

Each State has its own parliament

The Premier > State

The Chief Minister > Territory

The Queen’s viceroy: The Queen is represented by a governor in each State

State jurisdiction: Education, police, judiciary and transport, these matters are under State jurisdiction

The federal government

The Constitution of Australia places authority in the Queen but the power remains in the hand of the Governor General.

3 branches:

LEGISLATURE

Bicameral Parliament

3 parts:

Prime minister = leader of the party which won the elections (the same as GB)

The Queen

The Senate (upper chamber) : 76 senators elected for a six-year term. 12 senators for each state and 2 each mainland territory.

House of Representatives (lower chamber) 150 members elected for a three-year term. There is a minimum of 5 seats for state. Elected every 3 years, and voting is compulsory

In Australia, voting is compulsory (obligatory)

EXECUTIVE

The Governor General follows the instruction of the Prime Minister and his government (= and his federal executive Council)

JUDICIARY

High Court of Australia and other courts

Political parties

There are 2 political groups at the state and the federal level :

Australian Labor Party (center-left)

Coalition: (center-right, Liberal party + National party)

A regional and international power

COMMERCIAL COOPERATION:

Member of the OCDE

Member of the World Trade Organization

Member of the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation

Enjoy many free trade agreements (with the US, New Zealand, China and Japan)

MILITARY COOPERATION:

The Australian Defense Force

Australia New Zealand United States Treaty (ANZUS): 1951: military agreement

The East Asia Summit

Important role in regional peace-keeping (East Timor, Solomon Islands, Afghanistan)

Challenges today

IMMIGRATION

Asylum seekers are put in detention centers in Nauru, Papua New Guinea, waiting for an authorization to come in.

ENVIRONNMENT

Highest CO2 emission per capita are one of the highest.

Droughts (sècheresse) > bushfires

Floods (innondations)

A FUTURE REPUBLIC?

In 1998, referendum: in 1998 there was a referendum to know if Australians wanted to become a republic. 55% wanted to stay with the Queen.

Looking toward Asia.

II- Australia’s past

Colonization

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