AustraliaMost Australians are governed by three levels of government – local, state andfederal. For instance, a family living in Sydney would have the Sydney CityCouncil (local) looking after such things as garbage collection, parkmaintenance and dog controls. Australians pay their local government by paying”rates” – paid according to the area and position of any land that you own. Theywould then be governed by the New South Wales Government, which would look aftersuch things as roads, and the police force. Finally, they are governed by theAustralian (Federal) Government, which is involved with trade, foreign affairsand the national treasury.
Both the State and Federal Governments are paidthrough income tax. Australian governments at a State and Federal level are run according to theWestminster System, used in England. This means that there are two houses ofParliament, a lower house (The House Of Representatives) and an upper house (TheSenate). Decisions put forward and approved in the House of Representatives mustthen be approved a second time by the Senate. The only exception to this is theQueensland Government, which has only a House of Representatives. Local governments are stationed in centre of the town or city that they provideto.
State governments are run from the state capitals, while the FederalGovernment sits in Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory. There are six states, and two major territories in Australia. The states are:Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and WesternAustralia. The two territories are the Northern Territory and the AustralianCapital Territory. Australia also has a number of areas run by the FederalGovernment (dependent areas).
These include the Ashmore and Cartier Islands,Christmas Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, the Coral Sea Islands, HeardIsland, the McDonald Islands and Norfolk Island. Britain originally ruled Australia as a penal colony after it was discovery in1788. However, on January 1st, 1901, Australia’s six states were unified(“federated”) into one nation, formally known (and still known) as theCommonwealth Of Australia. Australia was originally governed from Melbourne,however in 1907 the Federal Parliament moved to Canberra, where it has been eversince. The biggest political debate at the moment in Australia is whether or notAustralia should become a republic.
This means that Australia would be (inofficial terms) completely separated from its mother country, England, and wouldhave an Australian Head Of State. This change to a republic could occur as earlyas the year 2001, exactly one hundred years after Federation.History
