The Constitution Of Australia: Notes for UPSC Polity

The Constitution of Australia, is the supreme law under which the government of the Commonwealth of Australia operates, including its relationship to the States of Australia. The Royal Assent to the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900  was given on July 9th 1900, and came into force on January 1st 1901.

The Constitution of Australia is an important topic in the Polity section of the UPSC Exam, as certain elements had been borrowed from it when the Indian Constitution was being drafted.

Background of the Constitution of Australia

British settlers began to arrive in Australia in the years following Captain James Cook claiming the land for Britain in 1770. The colonies that came up were governed by the British crown but were largely independent of each other with their own parliaments and judiciary.

In the mid-19th century, there were growing calls for co-operation on mutual interests, especially those pertaining to inter-colonial affairs and trade. Thus, a proposal was made to unite the separate British colonies of Australia under a single federation. However, the calls were mostly from the British Isles, while those living in the colonies only gave lackluster support. In addition, smaller colonies feared economic domination from the larger ones. The support for federalism in the Australian colonies were further hampered by the breakout of the American Civil war in 1860s which was seen as a failure of federalism.

Know more about other important events from 3000 B.C to 1950 A.D, by clicking on the linked article.

A series of conferences were held in the 1890s to discuss aspects of federalism. They were the work of Henry Parkes, the Premier of New South Wales. In attendance were also colonial leaders.  Through these conferences, significant progress had been made regarding the federalist cause, while discussion turned towards proper system of government for a federal state. A draft constitution was drawn up under the supervision of Samuel Griffith. But little popular support was forthcoming from the masses regarding these conferences. Moreover, the drat did not include measures about crucial issues such as tariff policy, leading to further discontent.

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A new Convention was established in 1895, following an agreement between the six primers of the Australian colonies. The Convention met over the course of a year from 897 to 1898. A new constitutions draft was made based on the principles of the 1891 draft. It was presented to elected representatives from every colony in order to garner mass support. This had the additional benefit of reducing any misinformation about the new constitution.

Before the Bill was passed, one final change was made by the imperial government, upon lobbying by the Chief Justices of the colonies, so that the right to appeal from the High Court to the Privy Council on constitutional matters concerning the limits of the powers of the Commonwealth or States could not be curtailed by parliament. Finally, the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act was passed by the British Parliament in 1900. Western Australia finally agreed to join the Commonwealth in time for it to be an original member of the Commonwealth of Australia, which was officially established on 1 January 1901.

Chapters of the Constitution of Australia

The Constitution of Australia is divided into eight chapters, containing 128 sections. Their functions are highlighted briefly in the table given below:

Chapters of the Australian Constitution

The Constitution of India drew, as did the Australian Constitution, upon lessons and examples learnt from the Constitution of the United States of America. The Indian Constitution, like that of Australia, adopted the federal arrangement and the creation of a judicial branch wholly independent of the other branches of government. Comparison of the Australian Constitution with the Indian Constitution

The process of judicial review, to keep all recipients of public power within the Constitution and other applicable laws was faithfully imitated. But the Indian Constitution went further. It incorporated a Bill of Rights which, until very lately, has been regarded as a notion alien to the sovereignty of Parliament so central to the constitutional ideas of the United Kingdom. Yet, despite these important features which distinguish the Indian Constitution from that of Australia, overwhelmingly their governmental and legal systems are similar.

You can find out how much the comparison of Indian Constitution with that of other constitutions of the world, visit the linked article.

For more polity related articles and UPSC 2023 related preparation materials visit the linked article.

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