Which parliament enacted the australian constitution

Chapter III provides for the creation of federal courts, including the High Court of Australia, which is the final court of appeal.

The High Court can interpret the law and settle disputes about the Constitution. Chapter IV deals with financial and trade matters. Chapters V and VI outline the relationship between the Australian Parliament, and the states and territories. Importantly, chapter 5 states that if the Australian Parliament and a state parliament both pass laws on the same subject and these laws conflict, then the national law overrides the state law. Section in Chapter 6 gives the Australian Parliament the power to override a territory law at any time.

It also allows the Australian Parliament to make laws for the representation of the territories. Chapter VII describes where the capital of Australia should be and the power of the Governor-General to appoint deputies. The Australian Constitution does not include a bill of rights. However, some human rights are mentioned, including the right to compensation if the government acquires your property section 51 xxxi , guaranteed trial by jury for federal offences section 80 and freedom of religion section The sections of the Australian Constitution.

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People are allowed to test the meaning and application of the Australian Constitution. The High Court of Australia interprets the Constitution and settles disputes about its meaning.

It has the power to consider national and state laws and determine if such laws are within the powers granted in the Constitution to the relevant level of government. The High Court can invalidate any law or parts of a law it finds to be unconstitutional. Sometimes the High Court is asked to decide whether it is the Australian Government or a state government which has the authority and responsibility to deal with a matter.

At other times, because the Constitution provides specific limits to what the Australian Government has the power to do, the High Court may be asked to decide whether a law made by the Australian Government is within that power.

Changing the Australian Constitution — double majority. This image shows how the Australian Constitution can only be changed with the support of the majority of Australian voters and the majority of voters in at least 4 states. The following scenarios are shown as examples. Scenario ONE: change the Constitution: the majority of Australian voters have said yes; the majority voters in at least 4 states have said yes.

Scenario TWO: don't change the Constitution: the majority of Australian voters have said no; the majority voters in at least 4 states have said yes. Scenario THREE: don't change the Constitution: the majority of Australian voters have said yes, the majority voters in at least 4 states have said no.

The Constitution does not cover all aspects of the governing of Australia. For example, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet are not mentioned in the Constitution. The Prime Minister and Cabinet operate by custom and tradition, similar to the British system from which they came. The Constitution does not detail many of the rights of the Australian people.

Unlike the Constitution of the United States, Australia's does not include a bill of rights. In Australia these rights are protected by common law made by the courts and statute law written law made by Parliament. The Constitution can only be changed with the approval of the Australian people. A proposed change must be approved by the Parliament and then be voted on by Australians in a referendum.

A referendum is only passed if it is approved by a majority of voters in a majority of states, and by a majority of voters across the nation. This is known as a double majority. This image shows the front page of the original public record copy of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act Unlike most similar liberal democracies, Australia does not have a Bill of Rights. Instead, protections for human rights may be found in the Constitution and in legislation passed by the Commonwealth Parliament or State or Territory Parliaments.

There are five explicit individual rights in the Constitution. The Western Australian referendum was not held until three weeks after the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act became law — hence the wording of the Preamble to the Act and Clause 3 , which provides for the Queen to issue a proclamation of the date of inauguration of the Commonwealth.

In the referendums on the Constitution, women were able to vote in only two of the colonies, South Australia and Western Australia, and few Indigenous people seem to have had the opportunity to be counted. Federation had been in the air for 50 years, and had been formally recognised in the formation of the Australasian Federal Council in , although not all colonies participated.

Among the strongest arguments advanced for Federation were the need for a united approach to defence and for a common policy to restrict the numbers of Chinese people entering the colonies.

Unlike the other colonies, South Australia had not legislated to limit the entry of Chinese people at the Colony's ports, and large numbers of Chinese passengers made overland routes to the Victorian goldfields from South Australia, and to Queensland's Palmer River goldfields via landings on the Northern Territory coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria.

As the labour movement gathered strength in the s, so did the opposition to Chinese immigrants, seen as a threat to achieving a fair standard of wages and conditions. The first constitutional convention, the National Australasian Convention, was held from March to April , when seven delegates from each of the Australian colonies, and three New Zealand delegates, drafted a constitution and agreed to adopt the name 'Commonwealth of Australia'.

Organisations such as the Australasian Federation League and the Australian Natives Association all white and all male and all fervent federalists pressed vigorous campaigns. Other organisations were bitterly opposed and some, like the Women's Suffrage societies reserved their judgment, carefully considering whether the case for Federation was of benefit to women in their fight for equal status before the law.