Separation Of Powers In Australia Essay

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Australia’s Federal system is significant in ensuring the operation of parliaments, legislations and laws, and governments to maintain peace and justice in society. The federal system can be defined as a constitutional system that separates power among a dominant commonwealth government and inferior regional governments. It was inherited from Indigenous custodians but invasion emerged by the colonisation of British-European settlers since the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, leading to a ‘new federal system’. For this Federal system in Australia to operate effectively it requires the: separation of powers that separates equal power between the Commonwealth and the states, division of powers which divides legislative power between federal …show more content…
It involves dividing Commonwealth powers between three bodies: parliament (legislative), executive and judiciary. Parliament plays a critical role as it changes and passes laws through the lower house, the House of Representatives and the upper house, the Senate, discusses matters relating to various legislations and debates on national concerns. The executive simply enforces and obtains laws by controlling the legislature such as a government minister. Executive members are responsible for delegated legislation as legislations can be made by non-parliamentary groups including local councils. Its members involve the Governor-General, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. The judiciary interprets and makes judgements about laws, controlling justice by maintaining peace, order and applying it to a certain situation with statue law. They determine when laws have been disobeyed and the penalty for the breach of the law from evidence presented in court proceedings and cases. The aim of the separation of powers is to ensure sovereignty is evenly distributed between these three groups. Despite this, the three branches have equal power for the absence of conflict and disputes over particular roles and rights, preventing abuses of authority and ensuring constitutional power is not exceeded. From these equalities it