THE COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENT AND ITS POWER
I. Introductions
Australia possesses a rather distinct political system as compared to the rest of the existing systems in the world. It has acquired a system which could only be described as a combination of the US and the UK. Basically, the country is composed of a federal government implementing a parliamentary form of leadership. (2003) This means that the parliament of Australia holds a copious level of political influence in the continent. The following discussions will provide specific descriptions on the powers and limitations of these parliamentary powers as stated in the legal regime of Australia.
II. Sovereignty of the Commonwealth
The parliament of Australia came into being with the ratification of Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900. Its constitution is composed of three individual sections legislature, the executive and the judiciary. There are nine Parliaments in Australia which are tasked with the law-making in the continent. ( 2000) These are all answerable to the Commonwealth of Australia, the top legislative body in the land. Theoretically, this branch of the government is tasked to make laws and supervise the legality of the individual actions made by the Executive.
In line with the Parliament, the Executive branch also has nine branches scattered all over the federation of Australia. ( 2001) The executive council is normally composed of two kinds: Cabinet and Executive Council. The Judicial branch is manifested in the Commonwealth by the High Court of Australia along with numerous federal courts scattered all though the continent.
In looking at the previous paragraphs, it appears that the constitutional structures and frameworks present in Australia have clearly demarcated the lines separating the powers and responsibilities of each branch of the Commonwealth. To a certain extent, when considering the power of legislation, it has openly rebutted the claim stating that “the Commonwealth Parliament has unlimited power to make whatever legislation it chooses.”
The ascendancy of the Commonwealth in Australia is rather apparent considering most of its responsibilities and powers are ingrained in the Constitution. (2006) For instance, s51 of the Constitution provides a detailed description of the areas on which the Parliament has power over to create laws. These are basically pointed out in the headings of the subsequent contents of the section. Those which are not mentioned in s51 are considered residual powers. These powers remain in the administration of the individual federal states.
Seeing the claim of the above paragraph, it shows that individual states do have independence and a level of legislative power to govern their domain. However, the Australian Constitution also ensured the ascendancy of the legal framework made by the Commonwealth. This is manifested in s109 of the Constitution indicating that any inconsistency of the laws ratified and implemented in individual states with any laws ratified and implemented by the Commonwealth, the latter supersedes the former.
Other details on the power of the Commonwealth are also provided by judicial interpretations forwarded by the High Courts. For instance, the decision in The Commonwealth v. Tasmania (the Tasmanian Dams Case) (1983) 158 CLR 1 extended the definition the external affairs powers of the Commonwealth. This case is basically an offshoot of the Koowarta v Bjelke-Petersen & Ors; Queensland v Commonwealth [1982] HCA 27 where the Commonwealth wielded its power to supersede the State Governments of Australia.
III. Conclusion
The discussions above have provided a description of the capabilities of the Commonwealth in the context of legislation. Basically, the analyses of the provisions of the Constitution and some legal interpretations on the issue, the paper found out that the statement claiming that “the Commonwealth Parliament has unlimited power to make whatever legislation it chooses” is not entirely true. The power of the Commonwealth could only go as far as those pointed out in the Constitution. In the same regard, checks from both the executive and the judicature are always present to monitor the actions of the Commonwealth. Thus, this shows that though the Commonwealth does wield worldly political influence in Australia, its actions are still limited to those prescribed by the rule of law.
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