Australia

From Conservapedia

Commonwealth of Australia
Flag
Arms
Capital	Canberra
Government	Constitutional monarchy
Monarch	Queen Elizabeth II
Official Language	English
Governor General	Quentin Bryce
Prime Minister	Kevin Rudd
Area	2,988,888 sq miles
Population (2007 estimate)	21,100,000
GDP (2007 estimate)	US$718.4 billion
GDP per capita (2007 estimate)	US$34,359

The Commonwealth of Australia is an independent nation that occupies the continent of Australia, with its west coast on the Indian Ocean, east coast on the Pacific Ocean facing New Zealand, southern coast on the Southern Ocean facing Antarctica, and northern coast bordering Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Australia is considered geographically as part of Oceania, but has been establishing its place politically and commercially in South East Asia.

Australia is the only country to occupy an entire continent^[1], the smallest of the planet's seven continents.^[2] It is 2,400 miles, (3,860 km) from east to west and 2,000 miles (3,220 km) from north to south. It covers an area of 2,967,877 sq miles (7,686,810 sq km). The Australian coastline is 22,812 miles long (36,735 kilometers). The mainland of Australia is about the same size as the mainland 48 states of the USA.

Australia has six states and two internal territories. The states are New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania. The internal territories are the Northern Territory (responsible government since 1978) and the Australian Capital Territory (responsible government since 1988) which is the location of Australia's capital city, Canberra. External territories include Christmas Island and the Australian Antarctic Territory.

Contents 1 History 2 System of Government 2.1 Voting 2.2 Terms 2.3 Parliamentary political parties 3 Geography 3.1 Tourism 3.2 Low density 3.3 Weather 3.4 Flora and fauna 4 Economy 4.1 Energy 5 Sport 6 Religion 7 Comparing Australian and U.S. Economic and Health statistics 8 See also 9 Bibliography 9.1 References 9.2 Economics and business 9.3 Environment and Geography 9.4 History 9.5 International Relations and Military 9.6 Culture and society 10 Primary sources 11 External links 12 References

History

see History of Australia

System of Government

Australia became a federated country on 1 January 1901 under the Constitution of Australia, and all former British colonies became states. The declaration of federation was made in Sydney. The parliament met in Melbourne, Victoria, until the infrastructure was built for the capital city, Canberra.

Australia has a parliamentary system of government based on the British system with a bicameral system meeting as the Parliament of Australia, consisting of the Australian House of Representatives and the Australian Senate. Each state and territory also has its own parliament.

The two other branches of government under the Constitution are the Executive (Governor-General of Australia taking advice from the Ministers) and the High Court of Australia.

Australia is a democracy which has allowed men of European descent to vote since federation, with non-Aboriginal women gaining the vote in 1902 and Aboriginal men and women gaining suffrage in 1962. Voting is compulsory for all citizens who are 18 years old and over (with a few exceptions.)

Australia's Head of Government is the Prime Minister of Australia. The current Prime Minister is Kevin Rudd, the leader of the parliamentary wing of the Australian Labor Party which won the federal election on 24 November 2007. The Deputy Prime Minister is Julia Gillard, the first woman to hold the position, and the first woman to be Acting Prime Minister (during the temporary absence of Rudd on his first overseas trip.)

The Head of State is Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen of Australia (who is the same person, but a different title, as the Queen of Great Britain.) Under the Constitution, and in practice, the authority of the Head of State is vested in the Governor-General of Australia, currently Quentin Bryce AC, Previously Governor of Queensland, who assents to acts of parliament, is the Commander in Chief of the military forces, and appoints all Ministers of the Government; all these various powers are normally exercised on advice from the Prime Minister.

The Government of Australia is exercised, day-to-day, by the Ministers through their various Departments of State.

Voting

For a more detailed treatment, see Voting in Australia.

Australia has preferential voting, and voting is compulsory for most people. Preferential voting encourages a multiplicity of parties and independent candidates, and counting the votes and allocating preferences can take some time where the results are close.

Terms

There is no limit on the time a person can be a Member of Parliament (MP) (elected, notionally, for 3 years, but the timing of elections is decided by the Prime Minister) or a Senator (elected for two cycles of the House of representatives.) The Prime Minister is normally a member of the House of Representatives, and the tenure is not limited by statute. Ministers may continue to serve for up to three months when not a Member or Senator, but must in that time be elected in order to continue. (John Gorton was a Senator when appointed leader of his party after the death of his predecessor. He immediately resigned from the Senate and stood for election to the House of Representatives, while remaining Prime Minister throughout.)

Parliamentary political parties

Currently, the main political parties in Australia are:

• Australian Greens
• Australian Labor Party
• Family First Party
• Liberal Party of Australia
• National Party of Australia

Despite the US connotation associated with the name, the Liberal Party is conservative in political stance. Robert Menzies helped found the Liberal Party in 1944 and was the Prime Minister from 1939 until 1941 and then again from 1949 until 1966.^[3] The term "liberal" refers to the party's predominantly-free-market approach to economic management.

The party currently in power is the Australian Labor Party. The Labor Party is also in government in all of the states and territories. The Prime Minister is Kevin Rudd.

Though the Labor party is "social democratic" and the Liberals are "liberal conservatives", some of the smaller parties are more left leaning or more conservative than Labor and Liberal respectively.

See also a list of Prime Ministers of Australia.

The Prime Minister of Australia is the most senior elected person in the country. The role is normally filled by the parliamentary leader of the party which forms the government.

Geography

Tourism

Most tourists visit places such as Sydney Harbour, Uluru (Ayers Rock) in Central Australia and the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland. Other favourite destinations are the wine making areas of South Australia and northern Victoria, the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, the natural wonders of Tasmania and the huge outback expanses of Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Some cattle stations in Australia rival Texas in size and the distance between towns in some areas is enormous.

Low density

80% of Australia's population, of just over 20,000,000 people, live on the coast line. It is one of the world's most sparsely populated countries (2.7 people per square kilometre)^[4]. Water is scarce and some cities have some form of water restrictions in place.

Weather

Weather extremes are common in Australia with temperatures sometimes measured into the high 40s Celsius (45 degrees Celsius = 113 degrees Fahrenheit).

The city of Darwin was destroyed by Cyclone Tracy on Dec. 25, 1974, killing 66 people, and destroying 80% of the buildings in the city of 46,000 population. Darwin's utilities were knocked out and 35,000 people were evacuated.

Bush fires often ravage the southern states - one of the worst occurring on Ash Wednesday in 1983 when over 2,000 homes were destroyed and over 70 people lost their lives in Victoria and South Australia. In 2009 severe fires hit much of Victoria, worsened by hot dry winds and a severe draught.

Flora and fauna

Australia is noted for its unique biodiversity. Many animals are found only in Australia, the most well known examples are the group of marsupials (kangaroos, wombats, wallabies and koalas), and the only two monotremes, the platypus and the echidna. Examples of plants that are native to Australia are the banksia, yellow wattle and gum tree.

Studies indicate that Australia's unique wildlife is the result of Australia becoming an island, being cut off from the Asian land bridge between 40,000–250,000 years ago on the uniformitarian timescale.

Economy

Australia has exhibited robust economic growth over the last decade, in spite of a strong Australian dollar that has depressed exports. However, in 2006, severe drought, increasing inflation, and high oil prices all contributed to a deceleration of economic growth. The country achieved a 2.5 % increase in real gross domestic product (GDP) in 2006, down from a 2.7 % GDP growth rate in 2005. The worldwide Recession of 2008 is fairly mild so far. The economy is based on industry, agriculture, mining and and tourism. It has a thriving film industry and very advanced technology. Its many universities have become a higher education attraction for much of East and South Asia.

Energy

Australia is rich in natural resources with significant petroleum, natural gas and coal reserves. Australia’s energy consumption is dominated by coal, which fuels most of the country’s power generation. Petroleum accounts for a large share of energy consumption, but due to declining output, Australia is facing a growing dependence on petroleum imports. Over the past two decades, Australia has steadily consumed increasing amounts of natural gas, which is likely to continue over the medium term.^[5]

Australia is one of the four countries (along with Norway, Canada and Mexico) belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that is a significant net energy exporter. Australia is the world’s largest coal exporter and is the fifth largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Australia’s prospects for expanding energy exports in the future are promising as Asian demand for both coal and LNG rises. However, Australia can expect increasing export competition from China (coal) and Indonesia (coal and LNG).

In July 2005, the Australian government formed the Australian Energy Regulator (AER). The AER is responsible for economic regulation in Australian energy markets. In addition, the AER promotes investment in the energy sector to ensure supply security, while monitoring prices faced by end users. In 2006, Australia’s 13 government bodies transferred energy regulation responsibility to the AER. The AER is seeking $23 billion in infrastructure investments over the next 15 years.

Sport

Australia is known as a sporting nation with success worldwide in swimming, tennis, rugby union, cricket, netball,and basketball. Australians are very keen horse racers with the Melbourne Cup ^[6] attracting up to 120,000 spectators at Flemington Race Course on the first Tuesday in November. There is a public holiday for the cup race in Melbourne, while the remainder of the country virtually pauses during the running.

Unique to Australia is a game known as Australian rules football or Aussie Rules, which is played on a cricket oval in winter. Australian rules football is the sport most attended in the states of Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, and most attended overall in Australia; in 2006 2.5 million people had attended at least one Aussie Rules game in the preceding 12 months.[1] Australian Rules Football was written by persons educated at the Rugby School in England and Cambridge University before the organisation of uniform football codes. It is not as popular in New South Wales and Queensland although premiership teams are based in these two states.

The other national football code is rugby league. Rugby league football is the most attended sport in New South Wales and Queensland with its premier club competition being the National Rugby League.

Religion

Australia is a secular nation, in that it has no established religion associated with the Government.

According to the 2006 census, 64% of citizens consider themselves to be Christian, including 26% Roman Catholic, 19% Anglican, and 19% other Christian. Buddhists constitute 2.1% of the population, Muslims 1.7%, Hindus 0.7%, Jews 0.4%, and all others professing a religion 0.5%. Of Australia's 21 million people, about 1.5 million attend weekly religious services ^[7].

In 1911, during the first census, 96% identified themselves as Christian. In recent decades traditional Christian denominations have seen their total number and proportion of affiliates stagnate or decrease significantly, although from 2001 to 2006, the total number of Pentecostal and charismatic Christians increased by 12.9%. Over the past decade, increased immigration from Southeast Asia and the Middle East considerably expanded the numbers of citizens who identify themselves as Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims, and increased the ethnic diversity of existing Christian denominations. Between 2001 and 2006, the numbers increased for Buddhists by 17% (to 418,000), Muslims by 21% (to 340,393), Jews by 6% (to 89,000), and Hindus by 55% (to 148,131). In 2006 approximately 18.7% of citizens considered themselves to have no religion, up from 17% in 2001, and 11.2% made no statement regarding religious affiliation. According to a 2002 survey, 23% of adults had participated in church or religious activities during the previous 3 months.

The Australian public school system is "free, secular and compulsory" with the secular meaning without favour to any particular religion - most primary schools, however, do offer some form of non-compulsory religious education according to the parents' wishes. The state systems of a number of states offer studies in religion at the senior level.

There is a large Catholic school system in Australia with most parishes having their own primary school and many hundreds of Catholic high schools across the country. There are also a large number of independent schools founded by various religions or denominations of the Christian faith - some hold that religious background to be more important than others. None of the religious schools are funded by the government.

At the time of European settlement, aboriginal inhabitants followed religions that were animistic, involving belief in spirits behind the forces of nature and the influence of ancestral spirit beings. According to the 2006 census, 5,206 persons, or less than 0.03% of respondents, reported practicing aboriginal traditional religions, down from 5,244 in 2001. The 2006 census reported that almost 64% of Aborigines identify themselves as Christian and 20% listed no religion.

Comparing Australian and U.S. Economic and Health statistics

Whilst the Australian society is similar in many aspects to those of the U.S., a comparison of key economic (in $U.S.) and health indicators highlights some interesting fundamental differences:

	Australia	U.S.
GDP Per Capita	$32,900.00	$43,500.00
Budget Deficit/Surplus Per capita	$444.00 surplus. Australia has had budget surpluses every year since 2001	$841.00 deficit
Public Debt	14.1% of GDP	64.7% of GDP
Military Expenditure	2.5 % of GDP	4.06% of GDP
Life Expectancy at Birth (combined male and female)	80.5 years	77.85 years
Infant Mortality Rates deaths/1,000 live births	4.63	6.43
HIV/AIDS Prevalence Rates	0.1% of population	0.6% of population

Australia has a universal health scheme and significant subsidies on most prescription medications.

See also

• Australian dollar
• Currency: Australia

Bibliography

References

• Bambrick, Susan ed. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Australia (1994)
• Davison, Graeme, John Hirst, and Stuart Macintyre, eds. The Oxford Companion to Australian History (2001) online at many academic libraries; also excerpt and text search
• O'Shane, Pat et al. Australia: The Complete Encyclopedia (2001)
• Shaw, John, ed. Collins Australian Encyclopedia (1984)
• Serle. Percival, ed. Dictionary of Australian Biography (1949) online edition
• Vaisutis, Justine et al. Lonely Planet Sydney & New South Wales (2007) excerpt and text search

Economics and business

• Kelly, Paul. The End of Certainty: Power, Politics and Business in Australia, (1994)
• McLean, Ian W. "Consumer Prices and Expenditure Patterns in Australia 1850-1914." Australian Economic History Review(1999) 39(1): 1-28; includes a consumer price index (CPI) for the period 1850 to 1914. Issn: 0004-8992 Fulltext: Ebsco
• Moran, Anthony. Australia: Nation, Belonging, and Globalization Routledge, 2004 online edition
• Robinson GM, Loughran RJ, and Tranter PJ. Australia and New Zealand: economy, society and environment.(2000)

Environment and Geography

• Appleton, Richard, and Barbara Appleton. The Cambridge Dictionary of Australian Places (1993)
• Dovers, Stephen. Australian Environmental History: Essays & Cases (1995) excerpt and text search
• Garden, Don. Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific: An Environmental Hisory. ABC-CLIO, 2005. 398 pp.
• Hutton, Drew, and Libby Connors. History of the Australian Environment Movement (1999) excerpt and text search
• Lines, William. Taming the Great South Land: A History of the Conquest of Nature in Australia (1992)
• Powell JM . An Historical Geography of Modern Australia: The Restive Fringe. (1988)
• Robinson GM, Loughran RJ, and Tranter PJ. Australia and New Zealand: economy, society and environment.(2000)

History

see History of Australia for more detaile guide

• Atkinson, Alan. The Europeans in Australia: A History. Vol. 2: Democracy. (2005). 440 pp.
• Barker, Anthony. What Happened When: A Chronology of Australia from 1788. Allen & Unwin. 2000. online edition
• Basset, Jan. The Oxford Illustrated Dictionary of Australian History (1998)
• Bolton, Geoffrey. The Oxford History of Australia: Volume 5: 1942-1995. The Middle Way (2005)
• Clarke, Frank G. The History of Australia 2002. online edition
• Davison, Graeme, John Hirst, and Stuart Macintyre, eds. The Oxford Companion to Australian History (2001) online at many academic libraries; also excerpt and text search
• Day, David. Claiming a Continent: A New History of Australia (2001);
• Edwards, John. Curtin's Gift: Reinterpreting Australia's Greatest Prime Minister, (2005) online edition
• Hughes, Robert. The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia’s Founding (1988). excerpt and text search
• Kemp, Rod, and Marion Stanton, eds. Speaking for Australia: Parliamentary Speeches That Shaped Our Nation Allen & Unwin, 2004 online edition
• Kingston, Beverley. The Oxford History of Australia: Volume 3: 1860-1900 Glad, Confident Morning (1993)
• Kociumbas, Jan. The Oxford History of Australia: Volume 2: 1770-1860 Possessions (1995)
• Macintyre, Stuart. The Oxford History of Australia: Volume 4: 1901-42, the Succeeding Age (1993)
• Macintyre, Stuart. A Concise History of Australia (2004) excerpt and text search
• Martin, A. W. Robert Menzies: A Life (2 vol 1993-99), online at ACLS e-books
• Megalogenis, George. The Longest Decade (2nd ed. 2009), politics 1990-2008
• Schreuder, Deryck, and Stuart Ward, eds. Australia's Empire (Oxford History of the British Empire Companion Series) (2008) excerpt and text search
• Serle. Percival, ed. Dictionary of Australian Biography (1949)online edition
• Taylor, Peter. The Atlas of Australian History (1991)

International Relations and Military

• Bridge, Carl ed., Munich to Vietnam: Australia's Relations with Britain and the United States since the 1930s, Melbourne University Press 1991
• Dennis, Peter, Jeffrey Grey, Ewan Morris, and Robin Prior. The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History. 1996)
• Firth, Stewart. Australia in International Politics: An Introduction to Australian Foreign Policy (2005) online edition
• Grant, Ian. A Dictionary of Australian Military History - from Colonial Times to the Gulf War (1992)
• Lee, David. Search for Security: The Political Economy of Australia's Postwar Foreign and Defence Policy (1995)
• McLean, David. "From British Colony to American Satellite? Australia and the USA during the Cold War," Australian Journal of Politics & History" (2006) 52 (1), 64–79. Rejects satellite model. online at Blackwell-Synergy
• McLean, David. "Australia in the Cold War: a Historiographical Review." International History Review (2001) 23(2): 299-321. Issn: 0707-5332
• Murphy, John. Harvest of Fear: A History of Australia's Vietnam War (1993)
• Watt, Alan. The Evolution of Australian Foreign Policy 1938–1965, Cambridge University Press, 1967

Culture and society

• Bebbington, Warren. A Dictionary of Australian Music (1999)
• Bennett, Bruce et al. The Oxford Literary History of Australia (1999)
• Bennett, Tony, and David Carter. Culture in Australia: Policies, Publics and Programs (2001) excerpt and text search
• Breward, Ian. A History of the Churches in Australasia. (2002). 474 pp.
• Carey, Hilary. Believing in Australia: A Cultural History of Religions (1996)
• Horton, David. The Encyclopedia of Aboriginal Australia: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander History, Society and Culture (2001)
• Huggan Graham. Postcolonialism, Racism, Transnationalism (Oxford Studies in Postcolonial Literatures) (2007) excerpt and text search
• Jupp, James, ed. The Australian People: An Encyclopedia of the Nation, its People and their Origins (2nd ed. 2002) 960pp excerpt and text search
• Jupp, James. The English in Australia (2004) excerpt and text search
• Kleinert, Sylvia. and Margo Neale. The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture (2001)
• Leitner, Gerhard. Australia's Many Voices: Australian English--the National Language (2004) excerpt and text search
• Love, J.W. ed. Australia and the Pacific Islands (Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 9) (1998) excerpt and text search
• McAllister, Ian, Steve Dowrick, Riaz Hassan; The Cambridge Handbook of the Social Sciences in Australia Cambridge University Press, 2003 online edition
• McCulloch, Alan. Encyclopedia of Australian Art 2 vol (1984)
• McDonald, John. Federation: Australian Art and Society, 1901-2001. Natl. Gallery of Australia, 2002. 264 pp.
• Moran, Albert. Historical Dictionary of Australian Radio and Television (2007)
• Nile, Richard. The Making of the Australian Literary Imagination. (2002). 315 pp.
• Rickard, John, Australia: A Cultural History (1988)
• Webby, Elizabeth. The Cambridge Companion to Australian Literature (2000) excerpt and text search
• Wilde, William H. et al eds. The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature (1995) online at OUP excerpt and text search
• The Oxford Literary History of Australia.
• Samuels, Selina, ed. Australian Writers, 1915-50. (2002). 510 pp.
• Sayers, Andrew. Australian Art (2001) excerpt and text search
• Webby, Elizabeth, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Australian Literature (2006)
• Wannan, Bill. A Dictionary of Australian Folklore: Lore, Legends, Myths and Traditions (1988)

Primary sources

• Australia: Literature and History 136 e-books

External links

• Australian Government portal
• Australian Parliament House (Reps & Senate) portal
• Governor-General of Australia
• Australia and Oceania

References