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Form of Government
The Commonwealth of Australia inherited from Britain a system of democracy and common law within the Westminster style of representative government. It is a constitutional monarchy with three tiers of government – Federal, State and Local. Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of Australia and nominally its non-elected head of state, which is separate to her role as the Queen of England. She is represented in Australia by the Governor-General at Federal level and by Governors at State level. Each of these appointments is traditionally made on the recommendation by the Government of the day in the appropriate jurisdiction.
Australia is a federation. There are 6 States – New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania – 2 internal Territories – Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory – and a number of external Territories. A written constitution adopted in 1901 and seldom modified sets out the powers of the Federal Parliament, which has control over income tax and thus over the principal source of revenue. The separate States have written constitutions and can make laws on any matters other than those which are reserved to the Commonwealth under Section 51 of the Constitution. Where a law of a State is inconsistent with a law of the Commonwealth, the latter prevails and the former is, to the extent of the inconsistency, invalid. Each of the States has a separate Parliament, as does each internal Territory (although Territory laws can be overridden by the Federal Government).
A third tier of government, Local Government, exists throughout most of Australia. It consists of city, municipal, shire and county councils. These raise revenue through rates on properties and provide residents with a range of services including roads, water, drains, parks, gardens and leisure facilities. These bodies are capable of passing ordinances or regulations relating to their responsibilities, especially in regard to urban planning, nuisances, health and sanitation and the supervision of building construction. There are about 720 such Local Government bodies and, apart from sparsely populated areas and the Australian Capital Territory (where the Territory Government has direct responsibility for local services), practically the whole of Australia into a Local Government jurisdiction.
In setting up business or investing in Australia, a variety of Federal, State and Territory and Local Government laws and regulations may have to be considered.