Australia has a unique system of government which, while similar in some respects to the United States of America (USA), is quite different in important areas. In the follow paper I argue that while in certain areas the President of the USA carries greater powers than that of an Australian Prime Minister, in some important categories he or she does not. I argue that the separation of powers are a critical constitutional restriction on the President which does not similarly hamstring the Prime Minister and may indeed make the President envious.
Australia is a constitutional monarchy, which means it has a parliamentary system of government and monarch who is the nominal head of state, but in reality holds little real power (Miragliotta et al …show more content…
Government is formed by the party who holds the most seats in the House of Representatives and the leader of that party becomes the Prime Minister. Other ministers in the government form the cabinet and the Prime Minister and the cabinet together comprise the executive branch of government. Of course the members of the cabinet are also part of the parliament and so they also form part of legislature. Control is maintained, however, as the cabinet are responsible for their actions to the parliament and the parliament are responsible for their actions to the voters when next there is an election (Miragliotta et al 2012: 8; 14).
The USA system of government includes many checks and balances designed to ensure power cannot be accumulated by an individual or an institution. The strict separation of powers is one method, a limit of two terms as president is another (Miragliotta et al 2012: 8-9). The Australian system has no limit to the number of terms a Prime Minister can govern for and does not separate the executive branch of government from the legislature. The Australian Prime Minister could therefore be considered to wield considerably more power than the President of the
Australia is a constitutional monarchy, which means it has a parliamentary system of government and monarch who is the nominal head of state, but in reality holds little real power (Miragliotta et al …show more content…
Government is formed by the party who holds the most seats in the House of Representatives and the leader of that party becomes the Prime Minister. Other ministers in the government form the cabinet and the Prime Minister and the cabinet together comprise the executive branch of government. Of course the members of the cabinet are also part of the parliament and so they also form part of legislature. Control is maintained, however, as the cabinet are responsible for their actions to the parliament and the parliament are responsible for their actions to the voters when next there is an election (Miragliotta et al 2012: 8; 14).
The USA system of government includes many checks and balances designed to ensure power cannot be accumulated by an individual or an institution. The strict separation of powers is one method, a limit of two terms as president is another (Miragliotta et al 2012: 8-9). The Australian system has no limit to the number of terms a Prime Minister can govern for and does not separate the executive branch of government from the legislature. The Australian Prime Minister could therefore be considered to wield considerably more power than the President of the