LLB107 Week 3 Tutorial Australian Political Institutions Question 1 Go to the Federal Register of Legislation homepage (https://www.legislation.gov.au/Home) > Constitution > Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act > s 9 Constitution. Read ss 1, 51 and 52 of the Australian Constitution and answer the following questions: (a) Which body is granted legislative power? The Parliament > which consists of the Queen, a Senate, and a House of Representative (b) What bodies comprise the Commonwealth Parliament? The Queen/ Governor General, a Senate, and the House of Representatives (c) What are concurrent powers? Where in the Australian Constitution are they located? How do we know that they are concurrent powers? Concurrent powers are matter which both the federal and state parliament may make laws. Section 51 of the Australian Constitution sets out the 40 concurrent heads of power. (d) Which provision gives the Commonwealth Parliament exclusive power to make laws in respect of certain matters? Section 52 of the Constitution gives the Commonwealth Parliament the Exclusive power to make laws for the peace order and good government of the Commonwealth. This includes the seat of government of the Commonwealth, matters relating to any department of the public service and other matters including coining money, maintaining military forces, imposition of customs and government territories. Section 122 Question 2 (a) What is a bicameral system of Parliament? How is this different from a unicameral system? Which system do you prefer, and why? The bicameral system of parliament is there are two houses of debate the lower house - house of Representatives - and the upper house - the senate.
QLD has a unicameral system which means there is only house called the legislative assembly. The bicameral system of government is better because it allows for more debate and greater inclusion of responsible government. (b) How many seats are there in the House of Representatives? How many seats are in the Senate? There are 151 seats in the house of representatives > 151 members There are 76 seat in the senate > 76 senators Question 3 (a) In Australia we have a system of responsible government. To whom is the government responsible? How is this system different from the presidential system of government in the USA? Responsible government is designed so that the executive branch is accountable to the legislature rather than the monarch. Ministers from the executive councils are elected to represent the citizens who elected them. (b) What actors comprise the Executive branch of government? The queen, the queens representative > Governor General or state Governor, ministers of government, cabinet, the public service and the Australian Defence Force and state police. (c) What is the role of the Federal Executive Council? Who is the Federal Executive Council comprised of? They are a body which formally advises the Governor General on the administration of the government, this can be found in section 62 and 63 of the Constitution. The FEC is comprised of all Commonwealth Ministers, state in section 64 of the Constitution. (d) What