Government of Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 when the six self-governing British colonies, agreed to join together as one nation. These colonies became the six states of Australia. The written agreement is the Australian Constitution. This was written at a Constitutional Convention and voted for by the people of the colonies.

The way the Australian Government is organized can be looked at in two ways. The first is federalism which organizes the way powers are distributed between the Australian Government and the state governments. The second is separation of powers into legislative, executive and judiciary branches of government. The Constitution supports the separation of powers in the way it sets out the roles of the branches of government.