Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

In discussing the issue of power in a representative democracy, this essay will focus specifically on the Australian Federal system. By which, the six separate colonies of Australia united as one nation under one constitution and officially became known as the Commonwealth of Australia on January 1, 1901. This system was set up by combining, elements of two other existing systems of government, that of the British ‘Westminster’ system and that of the American ‘Washington’ system, which created a unique system of government often referred to as ‘The Washminster Mutation’ . Those who were involved in the establishment of Australia’s centralised system of government needed to take into account both the need of this form of government as well as the desires of many colonists to retain substantial power in the existing colonies or what would become state governments. From the beginning, there was a desire to limit the power of the newly created Federal government. As well as this, the two existing forms of government which were the models used by the ‘Founding Fathers’ in establishing Australia’s federal system, already had in place a number of mechanisms which were designed to restrict power and ensure that no