Chapter 1

Australian Politics: The Basics

IN THIS CHAPTER

Exploring the difference between politics and government

Coming to grips with Australia’s voting system

Understanding the three levels of government in Australia

Getting to know the key players in Australian politics

Checking out interest groups

Looking at what makes a politician

Realising you can’t ever be outside politics

Politics is everywhere. Throughout history, humans have grappled with understanding politics. In fact, it’s one of the oldest concepts studied. Politics moulded the most ancient civilisations and plays a crucial role in the running of modern society. The world would be a very different place without it.

In this chapter, you get a quick tour of the basics in Australian politics and tackle the time-honoured question, ‘What is politics?’ You also get to kick around the reputation of those who seek to become politicians. (In fact, you get to see how becoming involved in politics is a very noble pastime, despite the way politicians’ reputations tend to be besmirched by commentators.)

Also in this chapter, you find some of the key features of the Australian system, all of which we cover in greater detail later in the book. Included in this chapter are quick introductions to some of the major organisations through which citizens try to engage with the political system, including political parties, interest groups and protest movements.

What Is Politics?

Elections! Leaders! Policy! Government! To most Australians, politics can be any one or all of these things. But, technically, the study of politics is the study of power. Political scientists tend to assume that the struggle that occurs between people and between associations to win power constitutes politics.

Power is a difficult thing to define, but, in a country such as Australia, the idea that someone has power is often equated with the idea of government. A powerful person may be the prime minister, given that he or she is the person who heads a government. A government minister may be thought of as powerful by having the right to make decisions on policy and having a department of public servants to carry out that policy.

The elusive nature of power is often revealed when ex-ministers and even former prime ministers talk about their time in office, lamenting that they wanted to achieve so much more than they did. Often, the blame for thwarted ambition is laid at the feet of politics.

The ancient Greeks understood politics to be the product of democracy — the idea that citizens should be able to govern themselves. The interaction of ideas and arguments as part of decision-making was seen as being the stuff of politics. The ancient Greeks also had a word for a person not interested in public affairs — idiot.

Compulsory Voting

For most Australian citizens, politics is also equated with democracy. In this case, democracy is actually electoral democracy — that is, the will of the people expressed by way of an election. In this process, voters elect representatives to the legislature, the generic word for parliament, where governments are formed.

The Australian national parliament is made up of two chambers — the House of Representatives (or lower house) and the Senate (or states’ house or, indeed, the upper house).

As a political writer once pointed out, participating in elections is the closest most people come to politics in their lives. This is a bit distinct from government, however, because government affects everyone’s life every day through the provision of services as a result of government policy. In this way, politics does have an impact on everyone’s life every day, whether they think about it or not.

In any modern electoral democracy, voting is seen as an important human right. Australia has an interesting take on voting. In addition to being a right, voting is actually a duty of citizenship. Australia has compulsory voting. You get to explore the intricacies of compulsory voting in Chapter 13.

Compulsory voting means all Australian citizens must take an interest in politics. Opting out isn’t an option — not turning up to an election is against the law!

A Lot of Government

As the saying goes, ‘the more the merrier’, especially if you like elections. Australia has many elections because it has a lot of government. For a nation of just over 25 million people, Australia has an abundance of politicians hard at work in their national and state parliaments, and their local town halls and civic centres.

Australia has three levels of government:

• Federal government (that’s the government going on in the national capital of Canberra)
• State government (based in the capital city of each state but overseeing the whole state)
• Local government (in cities and shires across each state)

Each level of government has its own rules that determine how much time elapses between elections. Some states have fixed four-year terms; others have variable four-year terms. The federal government is elected for a three-year term, but early elections can and do happen. Each state’s local government election system varies, with some states having compulsory local elections.

In short, Australians are constantly involved in elections. The variety of elections is matched by the variety of electoral systems, with permutations and outcomes that could give Pythagoras a headache (more on that in Chapter 13). The reason Australia has this array of government is because it is a federation.

Federations involve dividing the power to govern between national and state governments. Each level of government has the legal authority to make policy and enact laws in particular areas, thanks to the existence of constitutions. Constitutions are legal documents that establish the legal authority of government and the powers that government can exercise.

In Australia, the state governments came first. The national government — often referred to as the federal government — came along later. Indeed, the federal government was created by the states (originally called colonies), which gave the new national system of government specific powers, while retaining some powers themselves. We cover the division of powers between the federal and state governments in Chapter 3.

Governing the nation

National governance is the concern of the federal government, which has its parliament in Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory (the ACT). The Australian Constitution, the document that outlines the way Australia is run, was drawn up by the federating colonies in the 1890s, and ratified by the British parliament in 1900. The first meeting of the federal parliament occurred on 1 January 1901 in the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne.

The federal government can only exercise power in those areas of responsibility outlined in the Constitution. This includes powers over defence, quarantine, immigration, currency, external affairs, marriage, foreign corporations, foreign policy, and importing and exporting (especially of strategic minerals).

The federal government also has substantial power over finances, including the payment of money to the states. During World War II, the federal government legislated to establish a monopoly over the levying of income and company tax. This makes the federal government the dominant level of government in federal–state financial relations. When you pay your income tax, your money goes to the Australian Taxation Office, which acts on behalf of the federal government.

The head of parliamentary government in federal politics is the prime minister. The Queen’s representative is called the governor-general. Chapter 3 covers the roles involved in Australia’s system of constitutional government in detail.

Governing the states

After 1 January 1901 — the date of Federation — the six Australian colonies became six states: Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. These are known as the original states and are guaranteed a minimum of five seats in the federal parliament’s House of Representatives, and an equal number of senators in the Senate (today, 12 senators each).

Each state has its own constitution, parliament, legal system, governor and head of parliamentary...