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Pros And Cons Of The Australian Constitution

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The Australian constitution is a set of rules by which the country is governed, which came into effect on the 1st of January, 1901. The document describes the structure, roles and powers of the Federal Parliament, defining ways in which the State and Federal Parliaments share law-making powers. The roles of the Executive Government and the High Court are also included in the document, and additionally rights of Australian citizens (Parliamentary Education, 2015). Many believe that through the constitution, an economically stable, culturally diverse and democratic nation has been achieved. However, according to some, there are many aspects of the constitution which should be reformed in order to create a document more in tune with modern society …show more content…

Currently, the Commonwealth constitution does not recognise Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders as custodians of the land, nor honour their unique culture and history prior to English settlement (Korff, 2015). For some Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders, this is said to have had negative impacts on their sense of identity and belonging within a community. This has led to much controversy; some believing Australian constitution reveals unchanged racism and discrimination towards the Indigenous. High Court Justice Michael Kirby is among these, stating “Constitutionally speaking we are still basically White Australia, however much we boast that we have changed” (Korff, 2015). In a recent survey, 90% of responders supported Indigenous recognition. With the acknowledgement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the Commonwealth constitution, Australia may not be perceived as a country racist towards the indigenous in regard to the constitution, and indigenous families and may feel a greater sense of acceptance and belonging within their community and …show more content…

By introducing a Bill of Rights, the principal of Parliamentary Sovereignty may be overlooked, which would reveal lack of confidence in our legislature, and place limitations on law making (Law and Justice Foundation, 2013 ). Additionally, many believe that human rights are adequately covered by statute and case law, which are preferable as they can be attuned to accommodate circumstantial changes within society over time (Bailey, 2006).

The Commonwealth constitution can currently be amended through referendum, a vote by which eligible voters approve or reject a proposal to alter the wording of sections in the Australian constitution. In the consultation stage, the public form proposals for the rewording of the section. Once devised, the referendum bill must pass through both houses of the Commonwealth parliament, or wait for a three month period if one house still denies passage before being automatically passed. Upon enablement of the Bill by the Governor General, members of the public vote to decide whether or not the amendment should take place. However, referendum is generally unsuccessful, with only eight of forty four amendments meeting the required democratic, federal and special criterion. The referendum process provides opportunity for every eligible Australian citizen to decide the types of constitutional

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The Queensland upper house, known as the Queensland Legislative Council, was eradicated in 1922. Arguably, the abolishment of this upper house, and the introduction of a unicameral system in Queensland placed a severe limitation on democratic credentials of the Queensland government (Aroney 2008, 39). With this, the reinstatement of an upper house in Queensland may hold the key to enhancing accountability and stability of the Queensland government whilst preventing dictatorship. Queensland remains the only state in Australia without an upper house and as a result the only state that is operated with a unicameral system, the disadvantages of such a system is copious.

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The Howard government’s policy of “practical reconciliation” has been a failure on two substantial levels which resulted in failing to benefit Indigenous Aboriginals. First the policy ignores the significance of “symbolic reconciliation” which provides justice to Indigenous people. Second, the policy, although set out to improve the socio economic disadvantage experienced by Indigenous Australians, did not actually succeed. The election of John Howard’s government in 1996 marked the beginning of a discursive shift away from the view of social justice which has been a target pursued by the Council of Aboriginal Reconciliation and supported by the previous Labor government. The new Howard government refused to accept the approach of previous

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It outlines a plan of government and provides the structure and functioning of the institutions of governments. Constitutions are expressions of popular sovereignty between the government and the governed. It specifies the powers and limitation of power of the government, as well as the right and privileges of citizens that cannot be affected by the government. Also it specified how citizens are allowed to participate in democratic decision making processes that determines public policies. In some ways, Texas Constitution executes these functions well.

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An Australian Republic is about us — not the Queen, not Prince Charles or the world economy. We should do it now, without delay. As Nelson Mandela once said, “ For to be free is not merely to cast off one 's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” Until we break our last Constitutional links to the mother country, our nationhood is incomplete. Now after just over 115 years of Federation, Australia must finally join the world of nations as a full equal, unshackled to any other nation.

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This article discusses the speech given by an Indigenous journalist, Stan Grant who participated in a debate where he spoke for the motion “Racism is destroying the Australian Dream’’. Hence, the main points of this article are mostly evidence given by Grant in his debate to support his idea that the Australian Dream is indeed rooted in racism. One of the main points is that the indigenous Australians are often excluded and disregarded as non-Australians simply due to their race and skin colour. Grant pointed out the incident where AFL player Adam Goodes was publicly jeered and told that he did not belong to his country as he was not an Australian despite the fact that Australia indeed is the land of his ancestors.

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The current makeup of the British constitution is an uncodified, flexible set of rules that are created by Parliament. The core argument that lies beneath the question of whether Britain’s constitution should be codified is whether flexibility is preferred over security. With current contemporary challenges such as Britain’s impending ‘Brexit’ from the European Union and the devolution that follows, the principle of codifying the British constitution would enable it to better meet those challenges. However, the execution of codifying the British constitution could potentially create greater challenges for Britain in an increasingly unpredictable time.

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Australia’s Government as a Constitutional Monarchy Australia has been a constitutional monarchy since January 1901. Australia’s first Monarch was Queen Victoria. The current Monarch is Queen Elizabeth ii. A Constitutional Monarchy is a form of government where a king or queen is head of state and the head of the Commonwealth of Australia is the queen. Even though Australia is an independent nation, it still shares a monarchy with the United Kingdom and other countries including Canada and New Zealand.

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Introduction Since its independence in 1836, Texas has had several constitutions all of which were formulated from time to time based on Texas political situation throughout its history (Maxwell et al., 2014). The Texas constitution is merely a document that provides a scope for good governance by separating and limiting the powers of each arm of the government. It does so by elaborating the function and structure of the Texan government. More importantly, the current constitution is the most notable one; first of all because it’s considered as one of the oldest constitutions in the U.S. Additionally, it’s also considered to be one of the longest documents as it has 17 articles (Coleman, 2018).

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The UK’s constitution, once revered as the matchless constitution , has come under scrutiny in regards to whether the recent constitutional system that it holds is the best way to govern a country. The definition of a constitution can be stated as a “whole system of government of a country, the collection of rules which establish and regulate or govern the government” . The UK’s constitution is identified as an unwritten constitution, though not to be taken literally as the constitutional laws of UK can be found actually written but not necessarily all in the same place therefore a better description is stated as being “partly written and wholly uncodified” . It is said that the UK lacks codification compared to fellow countries like USA which do have a written constitution where the most important rules of their state can be found codified within a single document . What differentiates the UK constitution is that countries with written constitutions created them after conflicts

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But what about every other Australian? What about the Indigenous population and the multicultural population? Both of these groups which make up and help define who we are as Australians, so I ask you all this morning to consider why is it that we find these groups constantly being marginalised, discriminated against and not being offered equal opportunity? Ladies, gentlemen and prestigious guests, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak here

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The Seventh Amendment What is the United States Constitution? The U.S. Constitution is a document that is composed of seven articles. It states that U.S Constitution is the “supreme law of the land.” There were people who supported the new Constitution, the Federalists, and people who did not support it, the Antifederalists.

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Critically analyze the impact of the “Human Rights Act of 1998” All humans are entitled to their fundamental rights and freedoms that cannot be violated under any conditions. Across globe wide attention is being given to identifying and protecting human rights in constitutional systems. Human Rights Act of 1998 (HRA 1998) is a UK Law came into force to safeguard such rights in the UK. As a result all UK Citizens now enjoy a number of fundamental rights and freedoms protected by this Act such as Right to life, Right to freedom of expression, Right to liberty and security, and so on. The HRA 1998 has derived under the influence of European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in particular.

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The constitution of United Kingdomis reflected to be one of the vibrant constitutions in the present-day. Its flawless structure based on the fact that it’s un-codified is the key for parliamentary sovereignty to be superlative. This deemed the parliament to be the supreme law maker. Contemporary criticisms have been made whether Parliamentary sovereignty is still active and whether it could be applicable to the UK constitution. Many linger with the vision that the effects of the EU, the Human Rights Act 1998 and further, have resulted in curtailing the powers of the parliament.

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The UK is currently one of the few democracies in the world with an uncodified constitution and there has been debate on whether it should become codified. This essay argues that although having a codified constitution increases clarity for the population and limits government power, it is too rigid and unnecessary, and also contradicts the fundamental principles and values of the current constitution. One of the most important reasons for the codification of the constitution is clarity for the citizens of the UK. It is argued that the current uncodified constitution is far too complex and therefore, the public have little insight and awareness of how the state is government and how it operates.

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Differences between Parliamentary sovereignty and Constitutional supremacy The doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty of the United Kingdom parliament is often presented as a unique legal arrangement without parallels in comparative constitutional law. By giving unconditional power to the Westminster Parliament, it appears to rule out any comparison between the Westminster Parliament and the United States Congress or the Malaysian Constitution, whose powers are carefully limited by their respective constitutions. Parliamentary sovereignty is thus seen as a unique feature and a result of the unwritten constitution. If parliamentary sovereignty is to be a legal doctrine, it must rely on a list of powers that belong to parliament as an institution. These legal powers are organised in powers and disabilities and are thus both empowering and limiting.

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