Australian Constitution Essay

INTRODUCTION

Generally speaking, most Western societies can be considered liberal democracies, and Australia is no exception. Australia's political system is a parliamentary democracy, and our government adheres to federalism, whereby power is divided between the national government (also known as the commonwealth) and the states. As a nation, our policy was shaped by longer established western societies, such as the US and Britain.

In contrast, Arabic political systems are commonly rooted in monarchic or absolute government systems. Qatar is one of the few remaining absolute monarchies in the world, in which one person has an ultimate and unrestricted power over a state. Qatar is headed by the Emir, who controls the state as well as the

The constitution of Qatar is the supreme law of the State of Qatar. It was approved via public referendum in April 2003, and came into effect in June 2005. The Qatari constitution itself does not provide citizens the right to peacefully change their government through election, unlike Australia, where changes to the constitution are viable by a majority vote in a national referendum. Australia's constitution was approved on July 9, 1900, and went into effect on January 1, 1901. It is partly modelled after the U.S. constitution, but it does not include a "bill of rights." The Australian Constitution provides specific limits to what the Commonwealth Government is empowered to do and establishes a federal system, whereby the national government, or commonwealth, and the state’s share power. Qatar is not divided into separate and independent states, but into 8 municipalities. This division serves no diplomatic purpose, and one universal government entirely controls each municipal the rather than numerous state and local parliaments.

Both constitutions state explicitly that governance is based on the system of the separation of powers, to limit the power of each branch in order to prevent the abuse of power. [Australia and Qatar Constitutions, Chapter 1 and Article 60 respectively]. Australia shares power between Federal, State and local governments, and each division is responsible for regulation and meeting the needs of the people on their relevant scale. The Australian constitution clearly defines the powers of the commonwealth, and residual powers reside with the states. Australia vests legislative power in a bicameral parliament, consisting of the 76-member Senate and the 150-member House of Representatives. The majority party (or party coalition) in the House of Representatives forms the government and appoints its leader as prime minister, whereupon he or she selects cabinet ministers from both chambers of parliament. The nominal head of each state is the governor general, who is appointed by the prime minister in consultation with the British monarch and holds the primary executive power. Qatar’s legislative branch is unicameral rather than bicameral, and is composed of 30 elected members and 15 appointed members forming the