Advantages Of The Australian Constitution

521 Words3 Pages
The Australian Constitution is a ‘higher law’ in which it is documented and detailed what powers are possessed by the arms of government, that is the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. However, the Australian Constitution also acts to limit the overall power of government so as to protect the interests of people governed by Australian law. The most express approach that power is distributed by the Constitution is dictated within the document’s Sections. The powers of the legislature (or parliament) for example, are thoroughly reported within Sections 51-60. Here, the Constitution bestows parliament the authority to create laws guided by a “finite and limited list of powers”. However, as a key feature of the Australian government is federalism,…show more content…
Constitutionally they are representative of the executive arm of government while the notions of a Prime Minister or Cabinet are not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution. However, in everyday politics both these entities seemingly assume the responsibilities of the executive branch of government. Their Constitutional powers are derived from their recognised status as ‘advisers’ to the Governor-General and their membership to the Federal Executive Council. However, much of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet’s role and capacity to exercise “national leadership and make important political decisions” are based on the values of traditional conventions. This requires the acting Prime Minister to demonstrate the support they receive from the House of Representatives through a show of majority votes. Consequently, the overall power of government is limited as these conventions supported by Constitutional requirements means, that should the governing Prime Minister lose the confidence of the Lower House then they will be obliged to resign their position (e.g. John

More about Advantages Of The Australian Constitution

Open Document