Australian Constitutional Monarchy
- 1901 - Queen of Australia - Governor-General - Australia Constitution Act, 1900 (UK) - Australia Act, 1986 -
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Australia's constitutional Monarchy is complicated. The commonwealth, as a federated unit is a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as the current monarch, the Queen of Australia. (Queen Elizabeth is, of course, also the Queen of the United Kingdom and several other Commonwealth Realms.)
Each Australian state is itself a Constitutional Monarchy, with a dual relationship to the Queen, via the State Governor directly and also through the Commonwealth, where she is represented by the Governor-General.
Each State has its own Constitution, while the Commonwealth possesses a complex mix of a written Constitution standing alongside convention, tradition, the G.G.'s Reserve Powers and Letters Patent. The scale of the complexity is shown in the fact that though the Commonwealth has always had a prime minister, the office doesn't feature in the Constitution.
The Australian Constitution is a creation of English law, namely the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, 1900. Thus, originally it was technically possible for the UK Parliament to unilaterally amend or even abolish the Australian Constitution. However, since the passage of the Australia Act, 1986, the British Parliament no longer has power to amend the Australian Constitution, this now being solely the prerogative of the Australian people, the States and the Australian Parliament.
In practice, the Queen rarely exercises her power in Australia; such exercises have been confined to the ceremonial opening of Parliament, and attending meetings of the Executive Council and the Privy Council during the Queen's official visits.
The Crown's powers are in practice vested in the Governor-General who acts in the name of the Queen in such matters as granting Royal Assent to Parliamentary bills. He does so without consulting with the Queen, and she has no personal role in the exercise of these powers.
One of the monarch's principal roles is formally appointing the Governor-General and state governors; this is done on the advice of the Prime Minister or the relevant state premier.
In contemporary Australia, as in most constitutional monarchies, the monarch is bound by tradition to follow the "advice" of their democratically elected ministers in all but the most extreme circumstances.