Interpretation of the Australia Constitution Constitutions are written documents that usually contain the countries ideas on government organization, government authorities, and the rights of the citizens. Most countries in the world today have Constitutions that help set forth plans for a countries government. The Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act was written for Australia in July of 1900. This like many other constitutions had the previously mentioned parts, except for a specific set of constitutional rights given to the citizens (discussed later) and a defined preamble.
A preamble, supposed to help seek support and have a declaration of principle (Hague 1998, 154), was lacking from the Australian constitution. This could be due to the fact that it was not written "for the people, by the people"� as most are familiar with, it was written by the Parliament of the United Kingdom at Westminster, for the people of Australia (Constitution, 1). Therefore there are no real principles set forth in the preamble to support or stir up a feeling of nationalism.
Australian Coat of Arms (adopted 1912)
Diagram of US Federal Government and American Unio...
Andrew Inglis Clark, prominent contributor to the ...Despite missing a preamble, the Australia constitution has a large organizational section, which sets forth how the government is going to operate. Chapter One is dedicated to setting up the guidelines for the Parliament, similar to the legislative branch of the government in America. The parliament consists of the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the Queen's representative called the governor-general. Although the governor-general is a representative of the Queen, he is subject to the countries constitution, but is one single person with a considerable amount of power (Constitution, 1&2). The Senate is a body of officials, elected by the people, who have 6 representatives from each of the original states. Each of the Senators serve a six year term, they are separated into two groups so that elections are...