Division of Powers in Australia

Under the Australian Constitution, legislative power is divided between the Commonwealth and State parliaments.

Compare and contrast their legislative power and analyse the effectiveness of this division.

The Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (UK) was implemented on January 1st 1901, at which time Australia united its six independent colonies. The Founding Fathers who wrote the Constitution created their government in the manner of a federal system of government meaning that the legislative powers are divided between the Commonwealth and state governments. They did this so the colonies would retain much of their original power with a Commonwealth Government only ruling over national issues. While this was the Founding Fathers’ intention, over the past 100 years this division of powers has not always been effective. Problems created by this division include the shifting of power to the Commonwealth, which increases their hold over areas that are meant to be state powers and the requirement for co-operation between governments. However, recently initiatives have been developed aiming to preserve the division of powers and therefore increase effectiveness.

Federation occurred on January 1st 1901 at which time the Constitution was implemented. As outlined in the Constitution the states have the majority of the legislative power while the Commonwealth has limited legislative powers over national issues only. This was the Founding Fathers’ intention when writing the Constitution; they were primarily concerned with making sure that despite the fact a national authority was being created, the colonies still retained much of their original legislative powers. The Founding Fathers also created the High Court, the highest court in Australia. It derives its power from section 71 of the Constitution and is crucial in interpreting the divide between the Commonwealth Government and the state governments. When ruling on cases between states and the...