1.5 – Dividing law-making power between the Commonwealth - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

1.5 – Dividing law-making power between the Commonwealth and state parliaments

KEY CONCEPTThe commonwealth and state parliaments perform similar roles. However, a key difference is that the law-making powers of state parliaments are limited to a particular state whereas Commonwealth Parliament makes laws for everyone in Australia

1Slide2

Role of Australian Parliament

Supreme law-making bodyThe power to govern, administer and pass laws Laws made by parliament are know as LEGISLATIONThey are written and published in documents know as STATUTES or ACTS OF PARLIAMENTSlide3

Federal system of Government

Federation occurred on the 1st of Jan 1901Since federation Australia has been able to pass its own lawsIn the federal system the responsibility and power for making laws is shared between the state and federal parliaments. States govern and administer their own affairs, the federal government governs the country as a whole.

The principle of government and the law-making powers of each parliament are found in the CONSTITUTION.This means there are two types of laws in operation at the same time: State laws and Commonwealth laws.Slide4

Types of powers(Put constitution at top of diagram)

4Slide5

Division of legislative power

Commonwealth has the power to make laws “for the peace, order and good government of the Commonwealth Parliament).Under the Constitution, the federal parliament has specific powers. This means that the federal parliament has the power to make laws only on matters that are specifically mentioned in the Constitution. These matters concern the nation as a whole, including defence, foreign affairs, taxation, immigration, trade and commerce, and postal

communicationsSome

of these specific powers can only be used by federal parliament. Exclusive powers mean that only federal parliament can make laws about, for example, defence, printing money and communication.

Some

specific powers in the Constitution are known as

concurrent powers.

These powers may be shared by the Commonwealth Parliament and the state parliaments. Both parliaments, for example, can make laws about taxation and marriage

.

If laws made by the Commonwealth Parliament and a state parliament clash, the federal law will override state

law (s109 of the

Constituton

).

The

state parliaments have their own law-making powers called

residual powers

and federal parliament is prohibited from making laws in these areas. Areas of law-making such as criminal law and road laws are not specifically mentioned in the Constitution and therefore remain with the states.Slide6

Structure of our system of government and parliament

The structure of both state and federal parliaments is similar. They are bicameral, except for Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory, which means that they have two houses, an upper and a lower house. The

political party with the majority of seats in the lower house forms the government that leads the state or the country and initiates many of the laws.Slide7

Structure of Parliament

7

Parliament is our main law-making body. It

is often referred to as the supreme law-making authority because it can override laws made by the courts, and pass Acts to delegate law-making powers to other bodies. Parliament's

law-making power, however, is limited by the Constitution.Slide8

Your Turn

Write definitions for:ConstitutionSpecific powersExclusive powersConcurrent powersResidual powers

Complete questions 1 – 7 on page 18 of text