DEMOCRACY IN AUSTRALIA
Jauncey, G. E. M.
Democracy In Australia Representatives Are Responsible to the People Between Elections; Cabinet Members Are Always Subject to Questioning at the Hands of Representatives; People Take More Interest...
...These men held the balance of power between the Conservatives and Liberals...
...The powers of the upper house are mainly obstructive...
...In other words, the Labor members are chosen rather as instructed delegates than as free representatives...
...1916, and the result was a victory for the stand taken by the Labor conference and conscription was turned down by the electors...
...The conference is in session for perhaps two weeks in the year and it cannot therefore keep the Labor members of parliament in line while it is not in session, so an executive council is chosen to keep an eye on the members of parliament while the conference is not in session...
...The Labor members are at all times liable to be called to account before either the executive council or tho Labor conference...
...For instance the federal parliament could establish an eight-hour work day but this would not prevent a state from establishing a seven-hour day within its own confines...
...Before 1890, Australians had been electing Liberals and Conservatives and then leaving these men more or less responsible to no one until the next election...
...The whole course of American politics makes it very hard for the voter to know how to vote...
...The state elections are held every three years or less and are usually held on a different date from the federal elections...
...The bond issuing powers of the states are unlimited and the states can go into any line of business, such as owning and conducting cold storage plants,, etc...
...The population of Australia is about 5,000,000...
...Well, yes, it takes away his freedom to go back upon his election promises...
...These conferences decide on the program and instruct Labor members of parliament as to their actions in parliament The Labor candidates at the parliamentary elections are required to pledge themselves to vote and act in parliament, if elected, as the Labor conference decides...
...The federal constitution can be altered either by the state parliaments giving over certain powers to the federal parliament or by popular referendum...
...The life of the House of Representatives is three years or less...
...A special conference is usually called when something unforeseen happens in the political field...
...In such a case a general election can be forced, even though three years have not elapsed since the previous election...
...The fact that the cabinet ministers, who are heads of departments, sit in parliament and are liable to questions aids the people in placing responsibility for mismanagement of a department...
...It is the practice for the cabinet at the beginning of a session to outline the legislation it intends to introduce during the session...
...The system simplifies matters tremendously for the voters...
...Similar success attended the efforts of the party in the other states and later in the federal parliament...
...Australia, on tile outbreak of the war, supported England most heartily and men volunteered willingly and in tens of thousands to go to Europe to fight for the cause of the mother country...
...If the House of Representatives does not like the program it can and does remove the cabinet from office...
...All went well until Hughes went to England in the early part of 1916 and became an enthusiast for conscription...
...Upon the result of a federal or state election becoming known if the party in power is defeated, tho prime minister or state premier immediately resigns and the leader of the opposition takes office and the new parliament is assembled as soon as practicable after the elections...
...the prime minister is just as liable to be dismissed from the party as any ordinary member of parliament.' The State Parliaments THE STATE PARLIAMENTS, like the federal parliament, consist of upper and lower houses...
...This means that any matter whatever can be legislated upon cither by the federal parliament or by the slate parliaments...
...Immediately a special Labor conference was called and delegates from all over Australia assembled to consider the question of conscription...
...Such a state "constitution" is similar in some respects to the constitution proposed by the Farmers' Non-Partisan League of North Dakota...
...The writer is an Australian at present resident in the United States and is a supporter of the Australian Labor Party...
...Iu particular the trade unionists and farmers had been voting this way...
...The rank and file of the party through their delegates turned the proposition down and instructed Hughes and other Labor members of parliament to vote against conscription...
...These conferences are held every twelve months or oftener...
...Not only is the executive authority responsible to the lower house but this house itself is in a way continuously responsible to the people, for it is the practice that the government appeals to the country when there is a general feeling that the government does not have the confidence of the country...
...The fact that the heads of departments under the American system do not in general have to answer awkward questions seems to Australians to be a fundamental defect in the American system...
...This irresponsibility is partly due to the fact that the functions of government are divided into three separate and independent departments, namely, the executive, the legislative and the judicial, partly to the fact that the policies of the two dominant political parties are not easily distinguished from one another and partly to the fact that neither dominant party is responsible to anyone between elections...
...There are six states and there is a federal constitution but there are no state constitutions as these are understood in America...
...Disputes which may arise between the two houses have usually been settled either by a general election or by referendum...
...if he likes the Liberal Union program, which usually is a "leave everything alone" program, he votes Liberal, but in this case he docs not know that the program will be carried out as it is one of the tenets of the Liberal Unionists to elect "free Representatives...
...It is about time that all radicals in America got together and formed political party of their own instead of voting against each other at elections...
...These parliaments can legislate on any matter, except on tariffs, so long as the state legislation does not conflict with any federal laws, and even then in certain cases it is possible for there to be a state law as well as a federal law on the subject...
...Roughly the Australian constitution states upon what matters Hie federal parliament can legislate and leaves all other matters to the province of the state parliaments...
...The number of trade unionists is about 500,000, some of whom are women...
...The cabinet Is also responsible for most of the important legislation brought forward during the session...
...Further, the cabinet each financial year introduces the annual budget, that is, expenses for the coming year are estimated by the heads of departments and the proposed appropriations are presented to parliament...
...The Labor Party was formed in 189-and immediately began to elect members to the variReal Patriotism By Speaker Champ Clark PATRIOTISM does not consist entirely in public speeches, braying bands, flag-bedecked parades and vociferous asseverations of love of country, but genuine patriotism consists in being a thoroughgoing American citizen, discharging all the various duties of citizenship every day of the three hundred and sixty-five, thereby showing forth the blessing and glories of our free and beneficent institutions to all the world...
...As a step,in further fixing responsibility the Labor party stands for the abolition of all the state upper houses and it is only a matter of time for this to be effected...
...In Australia the prime minister does not continue in office for four months after he has been defeated...
...In 1911, the Labor Party won the federal elections by electing 41 to 3-1 in the Representatives and 29 to 7 in the Senate, and hence a Labor prime minister, W. M. Hughes, was chosen...
...It may be less due to the arising of some important issue or to some other cause...
...These bodies send delegates to the various state and federal conferences of the party...
...Some people object that this system takes away the freedom of the elected representative...
...It is to the lower house that the state premier and cabinet are responsible...
...These men make up the rank and file of the party...
...The voter reads the Labor and Liberal Union platforms...
...The Australian Govermental System Australia is a federation of states like the United States...
...Such a result can be brought about by holding public demonstrations, etc...
...To an Australian, democratic government in the United States seems to suffer from irresponsibility...
...If he likes the Labor program he votes Labor, knowing that the program will be carried out if the party wins...
...The writer feels confident in stating that at the very lowest 50% of the men who vote Labor arc members of the party...
...It is safe to estimate 400,000 men trade unionists...
...The cabinet also proposes the means for raising revenue...
...If responsibility is definitely fixed there is no need of placing safeguards in the constitution...
...ous state legislatures...
...Organization of the Labor Party THE LABOR PARTY is one of the few political parties of the world which is democractically organized, that is, a party in which the program is drafted and the party financed by the rank and file of the voters of the party...
...The prime minister chooses the members of each of the members of his cabinet, is at all times responsible to the House of Representatives...
...The party is made up of various affiliated bodies, such as trade unions, socialist societies, farmers' societies and so on...
...The referendum was„taken on October 28...
...The prime minister, who corresponds in a general way to the President of the United States, is usually chosen from amongst the members of the House of Representatives by the members of that house...
...The lower house is responsible for carrying on the business of the country and every voter knows where the responsibility lies...
...In 1910 the two old parties combined together under the name of the Liberat Union to defeat Labor at the federal elections with the result that labor secured a majority in both houses...
...The prime minister choses the members of his cabinet from amongst the members of either house...
...This prevents confusion of state and federal issues...
...Between 1890 and 1893 there were serious industrial and financial troubles, which had the effect of waking up the working class...
...In 1891 the Labor Party elected 36 members to the lower house of the state parliament of New South Wales...
...In 1914 the Labor Party polled 1,000,000 votes, half of which are women's votes, thus making about 500,000 men's votes for the party...
...Since 1910 the issues in all elections have been absolutely clear cut, the Labor Party representing the working class or those who work for a living and the Liberal Union Party the capitalists and money interests or those who own for a living...
...Now a section of the constitution of the Labor party states that if a Labor prime minister differs with the party upon an issue he can appeal by referendum to the people...
...There are no restrictions whatever on the taxation and bond issuing powers of the federal parliament...
...Hughes and his Labor followers refused to do this and were consequently dismissed from the party...
...The Labor Party is no respecter of persons...
...The Labor Party IT IS AN UNDISPUTED FACT that no matter how good a system of government may be theoretically, its practical working out depends fundamentally on the interest the people take in the government...
...People Take More Interest Under Present Method By G. E. M. JAUNCEY (Member of Faculty, University of Missouri) SOME REMARKS on the particular typo of democracy which lias been evolved in Australia, with special reference to the Labor Party, may be of interest to radicals, members of the Farmers' Non-Partisan League, and other liberals at this present time when there is so much talk about fighting for, and making the world safe for, democracy...
...Recent history gives a good instance of the working Qf the Australian system...
...The cabinet members sit in parliament, are always liable to questions however awkward and the cabinet can be removed at any time from office by a majority vote against it in the House of Representatives...
...Hughes then asserted this right and conscription was referred to the people, which It would never have been if there had been no Labor party...
...If a Labor member votes against tiie wishes of the party, he is dismissed from the party, which usually means that at the next election his district will not elect him as the Australian Labor voters have learned to vote for the platform and not at all for the particular candidates...
...The federal parliament consists of two houses elected by universal suffrage, all men and women ever 21 being entitled to vote...
...The affiliated bodies of each election district are organized into a Political Labor League...
...Such safeguards are usually found in practice to safeguard the Big Interests and never the people...
...As might be expected the trade unionists form the dominant faction of the party...
...Ho returned to Australia, determined to give Australia conscription...
...The puzzling thing about the dominant American political parties is that both the Republican and Democratic parties contain both radicals and conservatives and that neither party is definitely conservative nor definitely radical...
...The lower house, or the House of Representatives as it is called, and the upper house, or Senate, are each elected on a basis of representation similar to that for the corresponding house in America...
...Upon the result becoming known Hughes and the other pro-conscription Labor members of parliament wore Instructed to cease all attempts at evading the expressed will of the people by economic conscription, that is, by throwling eligible men out of employment, etc...
...it can prevent legislation but its powers in regard to money bills are restricted and it has no power to remove cabinet ministers...
...The state lower houses are responsible to the people in a similar way to the federal lower house...
...In particular the trade unionists representatives in most cases do not carry out their election promises...
...In Australia, it is a the present time the belief of most radically and democratically minded people that it is no use electing men to parliament and then going home and forgetting all about it unfile next election...
...As far as has come to the" knowledge of the writer, on no occasion has a state law been declared unconstitutional by the courts, although such a law might have been declared inoperative on account of conflicting with a federal law...
...Delegates arc chosen by the various local leagues to represent them in the state and federal conferences, the delegates being instructed by the rank and file as to their votes...
...The party in parliament always votes solidly on all matters affecting the party platform...
Vol. 9 • September 1917 • No. 10
