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Constitutions
Commonly defined as legal framework for containing/organising government.
- ‘Set up of government’
- ‘Map Power’
- A list of who does what’ details of roles and responsibilities.
Functions of a Constitution
What are the sort of things that constitutions do?
Prohibit:
- Arbitrary punishment
- Retrospective measures
Protect:
- Individual rights
- Private Property
- Minorities from majority decisions
Australia
- No treaty or recognition of First Australians; land declared ‘Terra Nullius’
- No recognition of prior ownership until 1990s Mabo & Wik decisions in High Court.
The Mabo Decision
Constitutional Recognition
Political response
“The Turnbull Government has carefully considered the Referendum Council’s call to amend the
Constitution to provide for a national Indigenous representative assembly to constitute a ‘Voice to
Parliament’”.
“The Government does not believe such an addition to our national representative institutions is either
desirable or capable of winning acceptance in a referendum,” the statement read.
The government expressed it believed a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous voice to Parliament that
was only to be elected by Indigenous Australians, would be interpreted as a third chamber of Parliament
and “undermine the universal principles of unity, equality and ‘one person one vote’”.
The statement explained the inclusion of an Indigenous representative assembly would defy the
foundational principles of the Australian democracy, where all Australian citizens have “equal civic
rights” and the ability to “stand for and serve in either of the two chambers of our national Parliament -
the House of Representatives and the Senate”.
“Moreover, the Government does not believe such a radical change to our constitution’s representative
institutions has any realistic prospect of being supported by a majority of Australians in a majority of
States,”
Why Federate?
- History
- Size (Territory, population)
- Diversity (Language, religion, culture,
ethnic)
- Liberty
In Australia, Federal Government has become more important over time. This is not necessarily the
case in other federations. E.g. Belgium.
Summary
- Constitutions map power and organise government
- Federalism is one way of dividing power territorially
- In Australia, power has tended to shift to the central government
- Federalism both costs and benefits business.