When was the Australian Constitution first written?
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The importance of the draft Constitution of 1891 was recognised by John La Nauze when he flatly declared that "The draft of 1891 is the Constitution of 1900, not its father or grandfather." In the Twenty-First Century, however, a lively debate has sprung up as to whether the principal credit for this draft belongs to Queensland's Sir Samuel Griffith or Tasmania's Andrew Inglis Clark. The debate began with the publication of Peter Botsman's "The Great Constitutional Swindle: A Citizen's Guide to the Australian Constitution" in 2000, and a biography of "Andrew Inglis Clark" by F.M. Neasey and L.J. Neasey published by the University of Tasmania Law Press in 2001.
Federation of Australia
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In 1890, there was an informal meeting of members from the Australasian colonies, this was followed by the first National Australasian convention a year later. The New Zealand representatives stated it would be unlikely to join a federation with Australia at its foundation, but it would be interested in doing so at a later date. New Zealand's position was taken into account when the Constitution of Australia was written up. New Zealand did not join because of fears of racist laws towards the Māori from the treatment of the Australian Aboriginal people. Australia, in an attempt to sway New Zealand to join, gave Māori the right to vote in 1902, while Australian Aboriginal people did not gain the right to vote until 1967. In 1908 and 1912, Australia and New Zealand sent Australasians teams to the Olympic Games. New Zealand and Australian soldiers fought together in 1915 under the name ANZAC.
List of proposed states of Australia
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According to Shepherd and Calvert, the first genuine attempt to establish national Road Rules was in 1947 when Australian transport ministers (constituted as the Australian Transport Advisory Council) established the Australian Road Traffic Code Committee. The first version of a National Traffic Code was issued in 1958 and the last in 1988. Shepherd and Calvert reported that it was not applied uniformly across the country: some jurisdictions adopted parts of the Code; others ignored significant parts of it. In 1963 Richard Kingsland, then Secretary of the Department of the Interior, convened the 13th meeting of the Australian Road Traffic Committee and called for states to be flexible and to compromise to achieve a national traffic code. By 1965, the Australian Transport Advisory Council had prepared recommendations for nationwide standards for a national road law, for considerations by the states.
Australian Road Rules
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The Constitution created a framework of government some of whose main
features, and sources of inspiration, were the following:This last feature – the ability of The High Court of Australia to declare legislation unconstitutional and therefore invalid – has its origin in American experience, where the right of the Supreme Court of the United States to strike down legislation deemed incompatible with the Constitution was first asserted by the Supreme Court itself in the seminal case of "Marbury v. Madison" in 1803. Although completely foreign to both British and Australian colonial experience, the framers of the Australian Constitution clearly intended that the practice would take hold in Australia, and even expressly adverted to it in the Constitutional text (in section 76). This power of judicial review of legislation for conformity with the Constitution has been exercised almost exclusively by the High Court of Australia, and almost invariably with a Full Bench of all its members, perhaps most famously in the Communist Party case.
Australian constitutional law
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After the revolution that led to the overthrow of the monarch, King Farouk, and the declaration of the republic, President Nasser adopted the nation’s first written constitution as a republic in 1956. During the short spell of the United Arab Republic, (Egypt & Syria), President Nasser adopted yet another constitution for the new merger, but this merger was dissolved in 1961. In 1964, President Nasser once again introduced a new written constitution for the republic. In 1971, when President Anwar Sadat took office, he moved to the adoption of a new democratic constitution that would allow more freedoms, a return of a more sound parliamentary life and correct democratic practice with the return of political parties and a bicameral parliamentary system.
Egyptian Constitution of 1971
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The Holt Government held two constitutional referenda on 27 May 1967, and amendments relating to Indigenous Australians were carried overwhelmingly with 90.8% of votes cast in favour. Technically, the referendum passed the bill titled the "Constitution Alteration (Aboriginals), 1967," and it became law on 10 August 1967. The referendum was intended to alter section 51(xxvi) to allow the Federal Parliament to legislate in states for the benefit of the Aboriginal people (they were already so-empowered in the territories by section 122), though the High Court decision in "Kartinyeri v Commonwealth" has since clarified that legislating to the detriment of Aborigines was also authorised. Section 127 was repealed in its entirety, having the immediate effect of including Aboriginal Australians in determinations of population, and Indigenous Australians have been fully included in the census since 1971 (the first census conducted after the passage of the referendum).
Section 127 of the Australian Constitution
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The three inaugural judges of the High Court, Griffith CJ, Barton and O'Connor JJ, and the two new judges appointed in 1906, Isaacs and Higgins JJ, had been leading participants in the Constitutional Conventions and all are properly seen as among the framers of the Constitution. The Court described the Constitution as "framed in Australia by Australians, and for the use of the Australian people", thus when the Court spoke of what was framers of the Constitution knew, intended or expected, their Honours are referring to their personal experience in that process, and not to the intention or knowledge of the Imperial Parliament in passing the "Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act" 1900."Peterswald v Bartley" concerned a brewer of beer at Cootamundra in the state of New South Wales. Bartley had a licence under the Commonwealth "Beer Excise Act" 1901, which involved payment of an annual fee together with duty on the quantity of beer. He didn't however have a licence under the NSW "Liquor Act 1898" which required payment of a fixed fee regardless of the brewer's output. Bartley had successfully argued in the Supreme Court of NSW that the NSW licence fee was an excise duty and that the effect of section 90 of the Australian Constitution was that the State Act ceased to have effect once the Commonwealth imposed uniform customs duties.
Reserved powers doctrine
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Following a series of amendments made to the proposed constitution at the Secret Premiers meeting on 31 January and 1 February 1899, a second referendum was required in the four states, whilst on 2 September, Queensland held a referendum on the constitution for the first time. All five states saw a majority vote in favour.
1898–1900 Australian constitutional referendums
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Australia remains a constitutional monarchy under the Australian Constitution adopted in 1901, with the duties of the head of state performed by a Governor-General selected by the Australian Prime Minister. Australian republicanism has persisted since colonial times, though for much of the 20th century, the monarchy remained popular. In the early 1990s, republicanism became a significant political issue. Australian Labor Party Prime Minister Paul Keating indicated a desire to instigate a republic in time for the Centenary of the Federation of Australia in 2001. The opposition Liberal-National Coalition, led by Alexander Downer, though less supportive of the republic plan, promised to convene a Constitutional Convention to discuss the issue. Under John Howard, the Coalition won the 1996 Federal Election and set the Convention date for February 1998.
1998 Australian Constitutional Convention
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The 1945 Constitution is the highest legal authority in Indonesia, of which executive, legislative and judicial branches of government must defer to it. The constitution was written in July and August 1945, when Indonesia was emerging from Japanese control at the end of World War II. It was abrogated by the Federal Constitution of 1949 and the Provisional Constitution of 1950, but restored after the President Sukarno's decree on 5 July 1959. During the 32 years of Suharto's administration, the constitution had never been amended. Suharto refused to countenance any changes to the constitution and the People's Consultative Assembly passed a law in 1985 requiring national referendum for the constitution amendments.
Law of Indonesia