Political System of the Commonwealth of Australia

1. Words and expression to remember:

   realm	королевство	guarantee	гарантировать,
   governor-general	генерал- губернатор	responsibility	утверждать ответственность,
   virtually	фактически	allocate	обязательства
   council	совет	defence	распределять,
   			размещать
   			оборона, защита

2. Read and translate the text.

The Commonwealth of Australia is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government. Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of Australia, a role that is distinct from her position as monarch of the other Commonwealth realms. The Queen is represented by the Governor-General at federal level and by Governors at a state level. The Governor-General has wide powers, but by convention acts only on the advice of ministers on virtually all matters.

There are three branches of government: the legislative, represented by the Commonwealth Parliament (the Senate and the Hose of representatives) and the Governor-General; the executive, represented by the Federal executive Council; the judiciary, represented by the High Court of Australia and other federal courts.

Commonwealth Parliament consists of the Queen, the Senate (the upper house) of 76 senators and a House of representatives are allocated to states on the basis of population with each original state guaranteed a minimum five seats. In the Senate each state is represented by 12 senators and the territories by two. Elections for both chambers are held every 3 years. The party with majority support in the House of Represent forms government and its leader becomes Prime Minister. There are three major political parties: the Australian Labour Party, the Liberal party and the National Party. The Labour party is in power in every state and territory.

Like the United States and unlike Britain Australia has a written constitution. It defines the responsibilities of the federal government, which include foreign relations and trade, defence and immigration.

3. Answer the questions.

1. What is the system of government in the Commonwealth of Australia?

2. Who is the head of the state?

3. Who represents the Queen in Australia?

4. What are powers of the governor general?

5. What branches of government are there?

6. What does Commonwealth Parliament consist of?

7. Who becomes Prime Minister?

8. How many political parties are there?

9. What party is in power?

10. What does Australian constitution define?

New Zealand