A country couldn’t be really understand without having knowledge about its institutional set-up. Even if the political system in Australia is inspired by European and North-American democracies, it also has its own characteristics.

Presentation of country’s government

The thing that all of us have to remember about Australia is that it is truly a Monarchy. Elisabeth II, England’s Queen, is therefore also the Australia’s Queen, but more in a symbolic way. In 1999, Australian people had to decide via a referendum their political system, and they choose to keep the Queen as the head of the country. It also means that Australia decide to stay in the Commonwealth, a voluntary organisation of 53 independent and equal sovereign states. The purpose of Australia to stay in the Commonwealth is to preserve common cultural values with England, and promote the human rights and worldwide peace.

The Australian Constitution took place the 1st of January, 1901. There are 6 state governments: The New South Wales, in which we found Sydney, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia. There are also 2 self-government territories which are the Capital Territory, and the Northern Territory. A national government is here to regulate all of these states.

In Australia, there are 2 major political parties: a coalition between the National and Liberal Party of Australia, and the Australian Labor Party as the head of the government.

Regional geopolitical Context

As I am studying in Sydney , which is the most important city of New South Wales, it seems important to understand how the government function here.Here's the flag of the government in New South Wales :   

First of all, New South Wales has a government based on the principles of Westminster system, a kind of parliamentary government which follow the model of United Kingdom. The legislative power belongs to New South Wales Parliament which is represented by the New South Wales’ Governor, David Hurley since 2014.  (photo)

The executive power belongs to the Governor and also the ministers. The Premier minister and the ministers are chosen by the governor. The actual Premier of New South Wales is Mike Baird.

New South Wales celebrates his 150^th birthday of his own responsible government in 2006.

External and internal conflict in Australia

There isn’t actual conflict in Australia. The only major political problem in New South Wales and around was to choose the capital of Australia.

In the 20^th century, there was a really important rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney, the 2 most important cities of Australia. To deal with it, the Australian Government chose to build Canberra, approximately in the middle of the two cities. The name “Canberra” has an aboriginal signification which means “meeting point”. So, even if Sydney is the most important city of Australia, Canberra was chosen to be the capital. This city is really unpopular in Australia, because Australian people think it is only a political city.

Canberra.