Australia » Politics

The Commonwealth of Australia is a constitutional democracy based on a federal division of powers. The form of government used in Australia is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government. Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of Australia, a role that is different from her status as monarch of the other Commonwealth realms. The Queen is symbolizing by the Governor-General at federal level and by the Governors at state level. Although the Constitution gives extensive executive powers to the Governor-General, these are normally exercised only on the advice of the Prime Minister. The most notable exercise of the Governor-General's reserve powers outside the Prime Minister's direction was the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in the constitutional crisis of 1975.

Three branches of government are The legislature, The executive and The judiciary.

Political parties play an important role in Australia’s politics. The three main parties that have dominated Australian politics over a long period of time are the Australian Labor Party, Liberal Party of Australia and the National Party of Australia. Labor represented the working class, while the Liberals had the support of middle and upper classes and the National Party represented farmers. With time these boundaries between Liberal and Labor supporters have blurred. The voters do not have strong commitments to any particular party. The support depends on public opinion or the party’s stance on issues of concern. The National Party is not very popular but plays an important role in the coalition government. Mostly the Liberal Party unable to secure enough seats to form a government alone turns for the support of the National Party.

ALP the ruling party of Australia is the country’s oldest political party. The party was founded in 1891 by the Australian Labor movement. Liberal and National party are in alliance for quite some time at the national level but not on the state level. As the National party is always a part of a coalition so the political system of Australia can be said to have a two-party system.

Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister of Australia belongs to ALP and is the party’s federal parliamentary leader. Kevin Rudd won the 2007 federal election against the sitting Liberal/National coalition government of John Howard. Rudd and the ALP government are becoming increasingly popular. According to Newspoll survey, Rudd is Australia's most popular prime minister gaining the highest approval rating for a national leader. Voter satisfaction with Mr Rudd's performance was reported to be seventy percent.

The significant move by the Rudd government on 13 February to apologize to Indigenous Australians for the stolen generations was appreciated. It was a move that Howard had resisted but one that 69% voters approved of according to Newspoll survey. Rudd promised to bridge the gap between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous. Rudd does not support the original commitment to the Iraq war. His government backs only the continued deployment of Australian troops in Iraq, and not that of the combat troops. Kevin Rudd’s foreign policy is quite different from that of his predecessor.
The three points of Rudd’s foreign policy are:
US alliance
Engagement with Asia
Commitment to multilateral organizations