A brief history of Australian democracy

Democracy in Australia

Australia has one of the world's best models for democracy. Some of the strengths of Australian democracy include:

• the system of responsible government, where ministers who are in charge of certain areas of government have to be elected members of parliament;
• the federal system which shares governing between the national government and smaller State governments;
• the system of two houses of parliament, which means proposed laws are checked and refined;
• compulsory adult voting which makes sure that all Australian voters take part in electing politicians;
• the requirement that any changes to the Constitution be approved by the population through a referendum;
• universal adult suffrage: adult Australian citizens can vote regardless of their race, class, sex or religion, and
• the separation of powers - laws can be tested through a court system which is separate from the government and government departments employ citizens to put the government's laws into action.

All these checks spread power across different groups, preventing one person or group from dominating the nation. Democracy is about power being accessible to as many of a society's people as possible.

Australia has not always been a democratic society. The law has not always given all people in society the same rights and opportunities. Examples of people who have not enjoyed equal opportunities and rights have been the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and women. Today however, all people in Australia are protected by the Australian Constitution, regardless of their gender, race or background.

Development of democracy

Australia's system of government grew over time from single governors representing the British Parliament to the fully elected representative democracy that functions today. Australia has been a leader in many important democratic steps such as granting women the right to vote and introducing the secret ballot.

European settlement

During the first few decades of European settlement in Australia, power lay in the hands of the governors who ruled on behalf of Britain. The early colony of New South Wales did not have its own government and could not make its own laws.

In the early 1820s a council was created which could advise the governor. Its members were appointed by the British Parliament, which had ultimate power over any decisions the council or the governor made. A proper court system was also set up in New South Wales. Similar changes were made a couple of years later in Tasmania (which at the time was called Van Diemen's Land) and Western Australia.

South Australia had a small government from the mid 1830s but its members were chosen by the British Government. The governor could suggest laws for the colony but they had to be approved by Britain.

The development of representative government

Around 1830, people in New South Wales began to push for a representative government, one with members who were elected to represent the people. Finally, in 1843, the people got their chance to vote but only for some members of the new parliament. The other members were chosen by the British. The governor still had most of the power and the only people who could vote were wealthy landowners.

By the mid 1850s New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania had elected governments but it was still only men who owned a lot of property that could vote. Poorer men felt it was unfair that they had no vote - and therefore no say in government - but they still had to pay taxes. This was one of the complaints that led to the Eureka Stockade in Victoria in 1854, where miners rebelled against government authorities. The authorities responded harshly but most people sympathised with the miners. Not long after this event both Victoria and South Australia extended the vote to all men over 21 regardless of how much property they owned.

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Democratic initiatives

Victoria and South Australia introduced the secret ballot, where people placed their votes in an enclosed box so that no one else knew who they had voted for. This meant that people could not be bullied by others into voting for a particular person. Secret ballots, which were later called Australian ballots in the United States, are now considered to be one of the most important features of true democracy.

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In the mid 1850s South Australia also brought in the one man, one vote principle, which meant that men could only vote in the area in which they lived. Until then a man who owned property in more than one place could vote for local representatives in each of those places. This meant that wealthier people got to cast more votes than others so they had more of a say in who was elected to parliament. The one man, one vote principle meant that all voters had an equal influence on elections.

Another initiative that came from Australia was payment for members of parliament. Victoria introduced this system in 1870. Because of the time demands involved with being a member of parliament, only rich men had the luxury to stand for election. Payment for members meant that poorer men could afford to give up their jobs to become involved with government. This in turn meant that poor sections of the community could have representatives in parliament who understood their needs.

Federation

When Federation took place on 1 January 1901, the young nation of Australia had a new constitution and a new federal government. These institutions had been created through discussions, conferences, conventions and referenda with the input and consent of people in all the Australian colonies.

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The Constitution

When drafting the Constitution, Australians used the United States Constitution as one of their models. Unlike the United States' version, Australians did not include a Bill of Rights which would have guaranteed certain rights for Australians. The only right which is clearly stated in the Australian Constitution is freedom regarding religion. The Australian government is not allowed to force people to take up or abandon a religion.

A democratic feature of the Constitution is that it cannot be changed unless Australian voters agree by voting for the change in a referendum.

The federal government

Because the number of members of parliament each State could elect depended on the size of its population, the smaller colonies were concerned there would be more representatives from the more populated States. The smaller colonies worried that decisions could be made favouring the bigger States over the smaller ones. This was one reason why the Senate was created, which has the same number of representatives from each State. The Senate (the upper house) and the House of Representatives (the lower house) have almost the same amount of power. Through this system, a law has to be approved by the majority of representatives (in the lower house) and a majority of States (in the upper house) in order to be passed.

Another democratic feature of the new system was a responsible government, where ministers who are in charge of certain areas (for example defence or transport) have to be members of parliament. This means ministers can be voted out if the population is unhappy with how they do their job. In America, ministers (who are called secretaries in the United States) are chosen by the President, not the people.

Conclusion

The Australian system of government was not entirely democratic in the early years of Federation. Not all sections of the Australian population had a say in how the system was set up. Some people were locked out of government, particularly through not being able to vote. Britain also still had some authoritarian control over aspects of Australian governance. In many ways however, Australia led the modern world in the development of democracy. The structures and processes put in place by Australian colonies made government fairer and more accessible and slowly spread power across society.