When the founding fathers of our nation came together at the turn of the nineteenth century to establish the law-making capacities of both the federal and state governments, they had a definite vision that the majority of political activity should continue to be performed at state level. However, it is a usual feature of a federal system of government that the balance of law making powers will shift with time and this has definitely been the case with Australia. Over the past one hundred years, the Commonwealth has become more politically powerful by a variety of means, including successful referenda, the states' referral of powers to the federal parliament, as well as High Court interpretations of the Constitution.
The only means by which to change to written word of the Constitution is by referendum. Writers of the Australian Constitution considered the words to be so important, they made changing them a very difficult task.
The Commonwealth of Nations flag flies at the Parl...
Coat of arms of the Commonwealth of Australia on t...
English: Prime Minister of Australia John Howard a...In order for a referendum to result in change, it must be introduced to either the House of Representatives or the Senate in the form of a bill. It needs to be approved by parliament before it is proposed to the public; both houses of parliament must pass this proposal. However, special provisions involving the Governor-General do exist when one house rejects a referendum proposal twice. After the bill is passed in both houses, the amendment is imposed to the people as a 'yes' or 'no' vote. In order for alteration of the Constitution to occur, the referendum must receive a 'yes' vote from a majority of electors and a majority of states (four out of six). This system of changing the constitution was adapted from the Swiss Federation's method.
It can be seen that Australians are not great advocates of change. Out of forty-four proposed...