Lecture XIV. Australia. General information

4. Government
The commonwealth of Australia is a fully independent member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The Australian constitution (1901) resembles that of the United States in that it establishes a federal from of government; the powers of the Commonwealth are specified, leaving residual powers to the states.
Supreme executive powers (although more ceremonial than actual) rest in the British monarch, represented in Australia by the governor-general and in each of the six states by a governor. These officials are appointed by the British monarch, but the government in 1993 proposed making Australia a republic, severing its to the British crown by the year 2001.
Legislative power rest with the parliament of Australia, which consists of an upper house, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. The leader of the majority party in the House is named prime minister and appoints a cabinet from members of the Senate and House.
The Senate consists of ten senators from each state and two from each territory, each elected for 6-year terms. The number of representatives is proportional to the populations of the states and territories, and House elections are held at lest once every three years. Members of Parliament are elected by universal adult suffrage, and voting is compulsory.
The principal political parties are the Australian labor, the Liberal party, and the National Country Party.
The organization of the stage governments is similar to that of the Commonwealth. Each state has an appointed governor, an elected premier, and a legislature. State governments are responsible for education, health, public utilities, justice, and transportations. Since 1974 both the Northern territory and the Australian Capital Territory have had elected legislative assemblies.
5. Capital
Canberra, the national capital of Australia, is located in the AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY, an enclave in New South Wales. It is 250 km southwest of Sydney in southeast Australia. Canberra is small compared with most state capitals, but it is Australia’s largest inland city and has a population of 278,900. it has long had a high growth rate, having mushroomed from less than 25,000 in the early 1950s.The people of Canberra are predominantly of British ancestry, but embassy staff members are a conspicuous foreign element. Government is the leading employer, primarily at the white-collar level. The city has little industry.
Canberra is a model of city planning and rigid zoning. Its focal point is the large artificial lake, Burley Griffin. Another distinguishing characteristic is Canberra’s landscaping’; the many trees and shrubs have been carefully selected to provide variety in co lour and texture. For instance, the city gives free plants to owners of new houses. Other visual attractions are the official buildings-especially the embassies-the Australian War Memorial, the National Library, and the new Parliament House.Construction of Canberra began in 1913, based on a design by Walter Burley GRIFFIN a Chicago architect. Although Griffin was discharged in 1920, the city developed in basic accord with his plan. The first Parliament House opened in 1927; a new, largely subterranean Parliament House on Capital Hill opened for Australia’s 1988 bicentennial.
Key words
Proportionately, density, merge, possesses, ash, bauxite, peninsula, consumption, mutton, lamb, deficient, overexploited, unfit, immigration, specified, residual, suffrage, subterranean, bicentennial.