Australian politics

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Hierarchy

Australia is a constitutional monarchy, a federation and a parliamentary democracy, and Australians elect state and territory legislatures as well as a bicameral Parliament of Australia, there are two main political parties in Australia: Liberal (which is a party of the centre-right which broadly represents business, the suburban middle classes and many rural people).and Labor. Currently the Prime Minister of Australia is John Howard who is also the head of the Liberal party and is the second longest serving Prime Minister of Australia.

The Queen

Queen Elisabeth is the Queen of Australia, her head appears on all the coins and the $5 note, however her position is honorary and she holds no political powers over Australian policy, neither does England hold any power over Australia, the crown is rather a "bonding" factor that holds these nations together due to their shared history. The Queen is a very respected and beloved figure, this is evident whenever there is a royal visit to Australia.

Shadow government

Whenever a government is in office the other party forms what is called a shadow-government, they have a shadow Prime Minister, shadow immigration minister, shadow interior minister etc, and whenever an important issue comes up both real minister and shadow minister are interviewed on the issue and how they would deal with it and why .. it goes without saying that they rarely agree! However this serves as giving the Australian people an understanding and a balanced view of how each party thinks and operates which would help them decide which party to elect in the next round.

States and federal government

It is also worth mentioning that each state has its own body of government and separate elections, in other words if the Prime Minister is Liberal it isn't necessary for all the State Premiers to be Liberal as well (which is the case with New South Wales which has a Labor head)

Republic

Labor has traditionally pushed for an Australian republic and usually the question is asked once every decade or so however most of the population - according to the last referendum have chosen to leave Australia as a constitutional monarchy.