LAWS104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Telstra, Summary Jurisdiction, Law Report
LAWS 104 - LEGAL READING, WRITING & READING
Wk. 2 – The Australian Court System and Parliament
Each state and both territories have a parliament.
The commonwealth of Australia was established by the imperial parliament in 1901
Many within Aus. felt threatened by Germany and France without their federation
Commonwealth parliament
The commonwealth parliament was established under the constitution chapter
1
Constitutions provides for the appointment of the queens representative:
The governor general,
House of Representatives
Senate
Parliament makes law, authorises the government to spend public money, and
scrutinises government activites
Parliament is a forum for debate on national issues
The legislative powers of the commonwealth parliament are set out in chapter 51 of
the constitution
The House of Representatives is sometimes called ‘The Peoples House’. The party, or
parties, that hold a majority of seats in the house of representative, or the lower house,
forms the government.
There are currently 150 members of the House of Representatives.
Each elected member represents a particular electorate.
The Senate
The senate is often referred to as the States House; each state has the same number of
senators in the parliament.
The senate consists of 76 senators, 12 from each of the six states and two from each of
the mainland territories.
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It shares the power to make laws with the House of Representatives
Prime Minister and Government
The government is formed from the political party that wins the election, so the party
that achieves the greatest number of seats in the House of Reps.
The PM is selected from the elected representatives of the political aprty with the
greatest number of seats.
This party and/or its leader (the PM) select fellow parliamentarians to be the ministers
who run departments such as Agriculture
Although the government is formed in the house of Reps, some ministers are senators.
Governor General
Each new parliament begins with the opening by the governor general are the general
election.
The governor general is the Queen’s representative in Australia. Australia is a
constitutional monarchy.
The current parliament is the 45th since federation in 1901.
The parliamentary term continues for three years, unless it is ended earlier or by
double dissolution of both houses to resolve a deadlock or disagreement between
them.
The Governor-General, on the advice of the Prime Minister carries out the dissolution
of Parliament.
The State Parliaments
Each state has a parliament, established under their own constitution.
A majority of the states have a two-tiered system, similar to the commonwealth
parliament, so upper and lower house.
QLD only has a single house of Parliament.
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The Premier of each state is selected from the political party holding the majority of
seats in the House.
States have wide legislative power.
The power exercised by the states is usually expressed to be to make law for the good
government of the state.
Legislation
Legislation passed by both the commonwealth and the states provides for the
governance of the Commonwealth or state.
Legislation is now the dominant source of law in Australia.
Separation of Powers
There are three arms of government
Legislature – parliament makes the laws
Executive – administers the laws
Judiciary – interprets and enforces the laws.
The doctrine of separation of powers is that each arm of government is independent.
In reality the parliament and the executive are not clearly separated.
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Document Summary
Laws 104 - legal reading, writing & reading. 2 the australian court system and parliament. Each state and both territories have a parliament. The commonwealth of australia was established by the imperial parliament in 1901. Many within aus. felt threatened by germany and france without their federation. The commonwealth parliament was established under the constitution chapter. Constitutions provides for the appointment of the queens representative: Parliament makes law, authorises the government to spend public money, and scrutinises government activites. Parliament is a forum for debate on national issues. The legislative powers of the commonwealth parliament are set out in chapter 51 of the constitution. The house of representatives is sometimes called the peoples house". The party, or parties, that hold a majority of seats in the house of representative, or the lower house, forms the government. There are currently 150 members of the house of representatives.
