1.5 – Dividing law-making power between the Commonwealth and state parliaments KEY CONCEPT The 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 1

Role of Australian Parliament  Supreme law-making body  The power to govern, administer and pass laws  Laws made by parliament are know as LEGISLATION  They are written and published in documents know as STATUTES or ACTS OF PARLIAMENT

Federal system of Government  Federation occurred on the 1 st of Jan 1901  Since federation Australia has been able to pass its own laws  In 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.

Types of powers (Put constitution at top of diagram) 4

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 communications  Some 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.

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.

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.

Your Turn  Write definitions for:  Constitution  Specific powers  Exclusive powers  Concurrent powers  Residual powers  Complete questions 1 – 7 on page 18 of text