The Australian Government Structure

Good afternoon everyone. Probably the first things that pops into your heads when you hear the word Australia are kangoroos, crocodiles, Steve Irwin and so on. Yes, these point are very interserting to talk about, but today I will look at Australia from a different angle. My objective today is to present you the Australian Government structure. This talk is divided into six main parts: firstly, I‘ll introduce you what form of government is used in Australia. Secondly, I‘ll explain you what is federation and how does it works in Australia. Then, I‘ll be talking about the Federal and State governments‘s structure. My fifth point will be about the Local government and finally, I‘ll be shortly looking at the main points again. I‘ll be very happy to answer any questions you have at the end of my presentation.

Australia's formal name is the Commonwealth of Australia. The form of government used in Australia is a Constitutional Monarchy – ‘Constitutional' because the powers and procedures are defined by a written constitution, and ‘Monarchy' because Australia's Head of State is Queen Elizabeth II. But here comes a problem. Probably everyone of you know that The Queen lives in England, not Australia. For that reason, there is The Governor General, usually an Australian,who represents the Queen in Australia. Currently the Governon General is Ms Quentin Bryce AC. Governon General is Ms Quentin Bryce AC.

Now I would like to talk how The Commonwealth of Australia was formed. So Australia was formend in 1901 when six independent British colonies agreed to join together and become states of a new nation.Those six colonies you can see there: New south Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia. The birth of Australia is often referred to as 'federation'. This is because the Constitution created a 'federal' system of government. Federal system means that powers are divided between a central government and individual states. In Australia, power was divided between the Commonwealth Government and the six state governments.

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