Politics of Australia

overview of the political system of Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a liberal democratic political system. The Constitution of Australia is the world's tenth-oldest, having been in place since Federation in 1901. Australia is a federation of the six states and the two territories.

Politics of Australia
Polity typeFederal parliamentary constitutional monarchy
ConstitutionConstitution of Australia
Formation1 January 1901
Legislative branch
NameParliament
TypeBicameral
Meeting placeParliament House
Upper house
NameSenate
Presiding officerSue Lines, President
Lower house
NameHouse of Representatives
Presiding officerMilton Dick, Speaker
Executive branch
Head of State
TitleMonarch represented by Governor-General
CurrentlyCharles III represented by David Hurley
Head of Government
TitlePrime Minister
CurrentlyAnthony Albanese
Cabinet
NameCabinet of the Federal Executive Council
Current cabinetAlbanese Ministry
LeaderPrime Minister
Deputy leaderDeputy Prime Minister
Ministries30
Judicial branch
NameJudiciary
CourtsCourts of Australia
High Court

Australia's system of government has been influenced by many other systems, mostly the British Westminster system and the American federalist system, so it has sometimes been described as the "Washminster system" (a blend of "Washington" and "Westminster").

There are three tiers of government in Australia: the federal government, the state/territory government and local government.

The Australian head of government is called the Prime Minister. The Australian head of state is the Monarch (King or Queen), who is also the head of state of the United Kingdom and many other countries (like Canada and New Zealand, as well as many others). The monarch is represented by the Governor General. The current Prime Minister is Anthony Albanese (who was elected in 2022) and the current Governor General is David Hurley, who represents King Charles III.

Federal government

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The federal government has three branches:

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