Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce, the 25th Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia

Executive (исполнительная власть)

The constitution defines the form and duties of the federal government. The most important of these are defense, foreign policy, immigration, customs and excise, and the post office. Those powers not given to the federal government in the constitution are left to the states.

The prime minister, Australia's head of government, is responsible only to the majority party (or coalition). If the party chooses a new leader, that person becomes prime minister. The prime minister appoints members of Parliament to head the government departments (министерства). The department heads, called ministers, and the prime minister make up the Cabinet. Unlike the heads of American government agencies, they must also be elected as members of Parliament. They are thus answerable to both Parliament and the public.

State and local government

Each Australian state has its own parliament, court system, head of government, and governor. A bicameral (двухпалатный) system of government exists in each state (except Queensland where the upper house was abolished in 1922). The heads of state governments are called premiers. The governor of each state represents the queen.

Local governments in Australia are responsible for such services as building local roads, maintaining public libraries, and collecting the residents' garbage.

Legislative (законодательная власть)

The federal Parliament has an upper and a lower house. The upper house is called the Senate and the lower house is called the House of Representatives. Most bills are introduced in the House. The Senate reviews bills passed by the House and can reject them.

The Australian Senate has 76 members. Each state elects 12 senators, and each mainland territory elects 2. Membership in the 148-member House of Representatives is divided among the states and mainland territories according to population. According to the Australian constitution, the House should have about twice as many members as the Senate. Senators are elected to six-year terms, and representatives to three-year terms. Elections for the House must be held at least every three years.

Parliament House on Capital Hill in Canberra

Voting

The Australian colonies inherited an electoral tradition from Britain that included limited franchise (ограниченное избирательное право) and public (открытое) and plural voting (множественное голосование - голосование одного избирателя в нескольких избирательных округах). Abuses such as bribery and intimidation (запугивание) of voters stimulated electoral reform. Australia pioneered reforms that underpin (поддерживать) the electoral practices of modern democracies.

In 1856, South Australia eliminated professional and property qualifications (имущественный ценз). In 1855 Victoria introduced the secret (тайное) ballot, which became known throughout the world as 'the Australian ballot'. The South Australian government was the first in the world to adopt adult male suffrage (всеобщее избирательное право) (1856), and the second--after New Zealand--to enfranchise (предоставлять избирательные права) women (1902). In the 1890s the colonies adopted the principle of one vote per person, stopping the practice of plural voting.

All Australians 18 years of age or older must vote in parliamentary and state elections (universal and compulsory suffrage). Since 1915, voting has been compulsory. Those who fail to vote in an election may be fined up to 50 dollars. Voter turnout exceeds 90%. The government adopted a preferential voting system in 1919: voters number the candidates in order of preference on the ballot.

Voting rights were granted to aborigines only in 1967.