The Role Of Democracy In Australia

Australia is a democracy; however this exists in name only. Democracy means that representatives elected by the people act on behalf of the people to promote and protect their human rights and wellbeing. When governments and individuals are able to self- impose regulations and laws on the people without due consideration or consultation, then democracy has failed. The Prime Minister, the federal and state governments are guilty on self-imposing laws onto the Australian people which negate their human rights without legal or public consideration. Therefore, democracy in the true sense of the word does not currently exist in Australia. Australian is a sovereign country under the monarchy of Queen Elizabeth II, however it has its own constitution and parliament. Australia became a constitution in 1901 when all six states came together under federation, consequently enabling it to construct its own laws. (Parliamentary Education Office. N.d). Australia is self-governed through state and federal governments, these …show more content…
(Gallup. N.d). As part of the United States democratic system and after years of deliberation, and activism the subject was placed before the Supreme court who ruled 5-4 in favour of making same-sex marriage a law. (Liptak. 2015). When Tony Abbott, the Prime Minister of Australia was asked of the possibility of Australia following suite, he replied “I have views on this which are pretty well known and they haven’t changed.” (Baxendale. 2015). Prime Minister Abbott has “traditionally opposed same-sex marriage in Australia” and continually thwarts attempts to legalise it. (Neilsen. 2012, Massola. 2015) This is contrary to the opinion of the Australian people and what they want to achieve, 77% of Australians in a poll commissioned by the Australian Marriage Equality organisation wanted the law to accept same-sex marriage. (Cox.