Separation of powers in Australia
The doctrine of the separation of powers in Australia divides the institutions of government into three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. The legislature makes the laws; the executive put the laws into operation; and the judiciary interprets the laws. The doctrine of the separation of powers is often assumed to be one of the cornerstones of fair government. A strict separation of powers is not always evident in Australia; instead the Australian version of separation of powers tries to combine the basic democratic concepts embedded in the Westminster system, the doctrine of "responsible government" and the United States version of the separation of powers. The issue of separation of powers in Australia has been a contentious one and continues to raise questions about where power lies in the Australian political system. Although it is assumed that all the branches under the Separation of powers do not overlap, there is sometimes a ‘common ground’ between all three levels. In Australia there is little separation between executive and legislative. In Victorian Stevedoring & General Contracting Co Pty Ltd & Meakes v Dignan the high court held that a strict division between these two levels was not practical and re-affirmed the constitution to outline this (German, 2012. The first level that will be looked at with be the Parliament System, respectively the Executive and Judiciary branches will follow along with an explanation of why this doctrine is important to Australia a d supports to constitution. The first three chapters of the Australian Constitution are headed respectively "The Parliament", "The Executive Government", and "The Judicature". Each of these chapters begins with a section by which the relevant "power of the Commonwealth" is "vested" in the appropriate persons or bodies. The historical context in which the Constitution was drafted suggests that these arrangements were intended to be connected with federal ideas along American lines. On the other hand, the Constitution incorporates responsible government, in which the legislature and the executive are effectively united. This incorporation is reflected in sections 44, 62 and 64 of the Constitution. The Westminster system is a democratic parliamentary system of government modelled after the politics of the United Kingdom. This term comes from the Palace of Westminster, the seat of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The system is a series of procedures for operating a legislature. It is used, or was once used, in the national legislatures and subnational legislatures of most Commonwealth and ex-Commonwealth nations upon being granted responsible government, beginning with the first of the Canadian provinces in 1848 and the six Australian colonies between 1855 and 1890. However some former colonies (e.g. Nigeria) have adopted the presidential system as their form of government. There are other parliamentary systems whose procedures differ considerably from the Westminster system.