Politics of Australia

The politics of Australia take place within the framework of a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system under its Constitution, the world's tenth oldest, since Federation in 1901. Australia is the world's sixth oldest continuous democracy and largely operates as a two-party system in which voting is compulsory. Australia is also a federation, where power is divided between the federal government and the states and territories. The federal government is separated into three branches: File:Au_gov_chart.svg|thumb|center|640px|Structure of the Government of Australia|alt=A high level diagram of the structure of the Government of Australia, the three branches, legislative, executive, and judicial. rect 575 6 1175 56 [[Constitution of Australia]] rect 575 191 1175 241 [[Governor General of Australia]] rect 125 341 425 391 [[Legislature|Legislative Branch]] rect 725 341 1025 391 [[Executive (government)|Executive Branch]] rect 1325 341 1625 391 [[Judiciary|Judicial Branch]] rect 25 491 525 541 [[Parliament of Australia]] rect 25 542 275 642 [[House of Representatives (Australia)|House of Representatives]] rect 275 542 525 642 [[Australian_Senate|Senate]] rect 625 491 1125 541 [[Federal Executive Council (Australia)|Federal Executive Council]] rect 625 542 875 642 [[List of Australian ministries|Current Ministers]] rect 875 542 1125 642 [[List of Australian ministries|Previous Ministers]] rect 1225 491 1725 541 [[High Court of Australia]] rect 623 743 873 843 [[List of Australian Government entities|Government Departments]] rect 1225 642 1725 692 [[Judiciary_of_Australia#Federal_courts|Other federal courts]] Legislature: the bicameral Parliament, defined in section 1 of the constitution as comprising the monarch (represented by the governor-general), the Senate, and the House of Representatives; Executive: the Federal Executive Council, which in practice gives legal effect to the decisions of the cabinet, comprising the prime minister and ministers of state who advise the governor-general; Judiciary: the High Court of Australia and other federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the governor-general on advice of the Federal Executive Council.

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Related concepts (15)

Climate change in Australia

Climate change in Australia has been a critical issue since the beginning of the 21st century. Australia is becoming hotter and more prone to extreme heat, bushfires, droughts, floods, and longer fire seasons because of climate change. Climate issues include wildfires, heatwaves, cyclones, rising sea-levels, and erosion. Since the beginning of the 20th century, Australia has experienced an increase of over 1.4 °C in average annual temperatures, with warming occurring at twice the rate over the past 50 years compared with the previous 50 years.

Conservatism in Australia

Conservatism in Australia refers to the political philosophy of conservatism as it has developed in Australia. Politics in Australia has, since at least the 1910s, been most predominantly a contest between the Australian labour movement and the combined forces of anti-Labour groups. The anti-Labour groups have at times identified themselves as "free trade", "nationalist", "anti-communist", "liberal", and "right of centre", among other labels; until the 1990s, the label "conservative" had rarely been used in Australia, and when used it tended to be used by pro-Labour forces as a term of disparagement against their opponents.

Communist Party of Australia

The Communist Party of Australia (CPA), known as the Australian Communist Party (ACP) from 1944 to 1951, was an Australian political party founded in 1920. The party existed until roughly 1991, with its membership and influence having been in a steady decline since its peak in 1945. Like most communist parties in the west, the party was heavily involved in the labour movement and the trade unions. Its membership, popularity and influence grew significantly during most of the interwar period before reaching its climax in 1945, where the party achieved a membership of slightly above 22,000 members.