was not committed within any State the trial shall be held at such place as the Parliament prescribes. FINANCE AND TRADE Upon the establishment of the Commonwealth, the collection and control of duties of customs and excise, and the control of the payment of bounties passed to the Government of the Commonwealth and uniform duties of customs were required to be imposed within two years. With the imposition of uniform duties in 1901 the power of the Commonwealth Parliament to impose duties of customs and excise, and to grant bounties on the production or export of goods became exclusive and all laws of the States with respect to these matters ceased to have effect. A further consequence of the imposition of uniform duties was that trade, commerce, and intercourse among the States became ‘absolutely free'. Under a financial agreement entered into by the Commonwealth and the States in 1927, provision was made first for the taking over by the Commonwealth of the public debts of the States and the payment of interest thereon and for the reimbursement of the Commonwealth by the States in respect thereof, and second, for the establishment of the Australian Loan Council, consisting of a Minister from the Commonwealth and each of the States, to regulate borrowing by the Commonwealth and the States so as to avoid competition between the respective governments for loan funds. Among the terms of the agreement was one requiring the Commonwealth to submit certain proposals to the Parliament and the people for the amendment of the Constitution to give the Commonwealth clear constitutional authority to enter into and carry out the terms of the agreement. The agreement was approved by the Financial Agreement 1928 and the proposal for the amendment of the Constitution was passed by both Houses and approved by referendum in 1929. As a consequence of this constitutional amendment the Parliament passed the Financial Agreement Validation Act 1929 validating the 1927 agreement. In 1933 the Parliament enacted the Commonwealth Grants Commission Act 1933 which established, in the same form as it exists today, a three-member Commission appointed by the Commonwealth Government to enquire into claims made by the States for financial assistance and to make recommendations to the Government in respect thereof, Parliament being empowered to grant financial assistance to any State on such terms and conditions as the Parliament thinks fit. TAXATION The power of the Commonwealth Parliament to make laws with respect to taxation is one which is exercisable concurrently with the taxing powers of the several States. Prior to 1942 the amount of tax payable in each State under the respective State income tax laws was considerably in excess of that levied by the Commonwealth in respect of the same income. In 1942, the Commonwealth Government, in the light of the exigencies of the wartime financial position, secured the passage through Parliament of a scheme comprising four bills the nature of which was such as to increase the rate of Commonwealth income tax to a level that would make further State taxation of income virtually impossible. One of the Acts forming part of the scheme provided for the making of grants to the States by way of taxation reimbursements calculated on a formula re lated to the income tax that each State would have received had it continued to levy taxation. Although the constitutional authority of the scheme, known as Uniform Taxation was challenged by the States in High Court proceedings, it was, for the most part, upheld and now forms the basis of income taxation in Australia, although the formula for reimbursement of States has been varied. THE STATES Provision was made for the saving of the Constitutions of the States and the powers of the Parliaments of the States, except those powers exclusively vested in the Commonwealth Parliament, and for the saving of State laws relating to any matter within the powers of the Commonwealth Parliament until provision is made in that behalf by the Commonwealth Parliament. The Parliaments of the States are also empowered to surrender any part of the State to the Commonwealth whereupon that part of the State is to become subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Commonwealth. States may not, without the consent of the Commonwealth Parliament, raise or maintain any naval or military forces or impose any tax on property of any kind belonging to the Commonwealth, and the Commonwealth, in turn, is required to protect every State against invasion and, on the application of the Executive Government of the State, against domestic violence, and is not permitted to impose any tax on property of any kind belonging to a State. The States are required to make provision for the detention in State prisons of persons accused or convicted of offences against the law of the Commonwealth and for the punishment of persons convicted of such offences. Full faith and credit must be given throughout the Commonwealth to the laws, the public Acts and records, and the judicial proceedings of every State. The Commonwealth is expressly prohibited from making laws establishing any religion or for imposing any religious observance or for prohibiting the exercise of any religion, and no religious test is permitted to be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth. The Constitution guarantees that a subject of the Queen, resident in any State, shall not be subject in any other State to any disability or discrimination which would not be equally applicable to him if he were a subject of the Queen resident in such other State. NEW STATES The Commonwealth Parliament may admit to the Commonwealth, or establish, new States and may upon such admission or establishment impose such terms and conditions, including the extent of representation in either House of Parliament, as it thinks fit. A new State formed by separation of territory from a State may only be so formed with the consent of the Parliament of the State concerned and a new State formed by the union of two or more States or parts of States may only be so formed with the consent of the Parliaments of the States affected. Furthermore, the Commonwealth Parliament may increase, diminish, or otherwise alter the limits of a State only with the approval of the majority of the electors of the State voting upon the question and upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed on, and may, with the like consent, make provision respecting the effect and operation of any increase, diminution or alteration of territory in relation to any State affected. TERRITORIES The Commonwealth Parliament alone has power to make laws for the government of any territory surrendered by a State to, and accepted by, the Commonwealth, or of any territory placed by the Queen under the authority of and accepted by the Commonwealth or otherwise acquired by the Commonwealth, and may allow the representation of a territory in either House of Parliament to the extent and on the basis it thinks fit. In 1922, the Parliament exercised this latter power to permit the representation of the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory in the House of Representatives by one member for each territory, either member being entitled to vote on any question arising in the House except on a motion for the disallowance of any Ordinance of the Territory which the member represented. Full voting rights were extended to the member for the Australian Capital Territory in 1966 and to the member for the Northern Territory in 1968. The Commonwealth Parliament has exercised its power with respect to Territories to create a Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory and a Supreme Court of the Northern Territory which have jurisdiction in their respective territories comparable to that exercised by the Supreme Court of each State. Appeals lie from Territory Supreme Courts to the High Court of Australia. THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT The Constitution directed the Commonwealth Parliament to determine the Seat of Government, subject, however, to the requirements that it be situated in territory within the State of New South Wales to be granted to or acquired by the Commonwealth and that it be situated not less than one hundred miles from Sydney, the capital city of New South Wales. Provision was made for the Parliament to sit at Melbourne, the capital city of Victoria, until it met at the Seat of Government. In 1908 the Parliament determined the situation of the Seat of Government in the place now known as the Australian Capital Territory although it was not until 1927 that the Parliament first met in Canberra, the National Capital situated in that Territory. ALTERATION OF THE CONSTITUTION A proposed amendment of the Constitution must be passed by an absolute majority of both Houses of Parliament and must, not less than two or more than six months after its passage through both Houses, be submitted in each State to electors qualified to vote for the election of members of the House of Representatives. If, however, one House refuses twice to pass a proposed amendment that has been passed by the other House twice in the same session with an interval of not less than three months between each passage, the GovernorGeneral may, notwithstanding such refusals, submit the proposed amendment to the electors. A proposed amendment submitted to the electors must be passed by an absolute majority of all electors voting and absolute majorities of the electors in a majority of the States. When so passed, the proposed law must be presented to the Queen for her assent. Since 1901 twenty-six proposals have been passed by both Houses and submitted to the electors, the most recent being two proposals submitted on 27th May, 1967, and, of these, five only have been approved by the electors. In 1906 minor alterations were made to the provisions for the election of Senators; in 1910 the power of the Commonwealth to take over the debts of the States, C* which had hitherto been limited to debts existing at the establishment of the Commonwealth, was extended; in 1928 provisions empowering the Commonwealth to make agreements with the States with respect to the public debts of the States were inserted (see 'Finance and Trade' supra); in 1946 the Commonwealth Parliament was given concurrent powers with respect to social services; and in 1967 provisions (1) precluding the counting of aboriginals in reckoning the numbers of the people of the Commonwealth, or of a State or other part of the Commonwealth, and (2) excluding the aboriginal race from the races in respect of whose people the Commonwealth Parliament may make special laws, were deleted. HISTORICAL LIST John Adrian Hope, 7th Earl of Hopetoun, KT, PC, GCMG, GCVO, DL (later 1st Marquess of Linlithgow), 1st January 1901 to 9th January 1903 †Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, PC, GCMG, 17th January 1902 to 9th January 1903 Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, PC, GCMG, 9th January 1903 to 21st July 1904 Henry Stafford Northcote, 1st Baron Northcote, PC, GCIE, GCMG, CB, 21st January 1904 to 9th September 1908 William Humble Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley, PC, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, 9th September 1908 to 31st July 1911 †Frederick John Napier Thesiger, 3rd Baron Chelmsford, PC, KCMG (later 1st Viscount Chelmsford, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, GBE), 21st December 1909 to 27th January 1910 Thomas Denman, 3rd Baron Denman, PC, GCMG, KCVO, 31st July 1911 to 18th May 1914 Ronald Craufurd Munro-Ferguson, 1st Viscount Novar, PC, GCMG, 18th May 1914 to 6th October 1920 Henry William Forster, 1st Baron Forster of Lepe, PC, GCMG, 6th October 1920 to John Lawrence Stonehaven, 1st Baron Stonehaven, PC, GCMG, DSO, DL (later 1st Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Herbert Tennyson Somers, 6th Baron Somers, KCMG, DSO, Sir Isaac Isaacs, PC, KCMG, KC (later GCB, GCMG), 22nd January 1931 to 23rd Brigadier-General Alexander Gore Arkwright Hore-Ruthven, 1st Baron Gowrie of †William Charles Arcdeckne Vanneck, Bt., 5th Baron Huntingfield, KCMG, 29th March to 24th September 1938 †Major-General Sir Winston Dugan, GCMG, CB, DSO, 5th September 1944 to 29th January 1945 His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester, KG, KT, KP, GMB, GCMG, GCVO, 30th January 1945 to 10th March 1947 +Major-General Sir Winston Dugan, GCMG, CB, DSO, 19th January 1947 to 10th Sir William McKell, QC (later PC, GCMG), 11th March 1947 to 8th May 1953 Field-Marshal Sir William Slim, GCB, GCMG, GBE, DSO, MC (later 1st Viscount Slim William Shepherd Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil, PC, GCMG, MC, QC, 2nd February 1960 to 3rd February 1961 †General Sir Dallas Brooks, KCB, KCMG, KCVO, DSO, 4th February to 3rd August 1961 William Philip Sidney, 1st Viscount De L'Isle, vc, PC, GCMG (later GCVO), 3rd August 1961 to 6th May 1965 †Colonel Sir Henry Abel Smith, KCMG, KCvo, DSO, 7th May 1965 to 21st September Lord Casey, KG, CH, DSO, MC, 22nd September 1965 to 28th April 1969 † Administering the Government MINISTRIES E. Barton, PC, KC (later Sir Edmund Barton, GCMG, KC), 1st January 1901 to 24th A. Deakin, 24th September 1903 to 27th April 1904 J. C. Watson, 27th April 1904 to 18th August 1904 G. H. Reid, PC, KC (later Sir George Reid, GCMG, GCB), 18th August 1904 to 5th A. Deakin, 5th July 1905 to 13th November 1908 A. Fisher (later PC), 13th November 1908 to 2nd June 1909 A. Deakin, 2nd June 1909 to 29th April 1910 A. Fisher, PC, 29th April 1910 to 24th June 1913 J. Cook, PC (later Sir Joseph Cook, GCMG), 24th June 1913 to 17th September 1914 A. Fisher, PC, 17th September 1914 to 27th October 1915 W. M. Hughes, PC, CH, KC, 27th October 1915 to 9th February 1923 S. M. Bruce, PC, CH, MC (later Viscount Bruce of Melbourne), 9th February 1923 to 22nd October 1929 J. H. Scullin, PC, 22nd October 1929 to 6th January 1932 J. A. Lyons, PC, CH, 6th January 1932 to 7th April 1939 Sir E. C. G. Page, PC, GCMG, CH, 7th April to 26th April 1939 R. G. Menzies, PC, CH, KC, 26th April 1939 to 29th August 1941 A. W. Fadden, PC (later Sir Arthur Fadden, KCMG), 29th August to 7th October 1941 J. Curtin, PC, 7th October 1941 to 6th July 1945 F. M. Forde, PC, 6th July to 13th July 1945 J. B. Chifley, PC, 13th July 1945 to 19th December 1949 R. G. Menzies, PC, CH, QC (later Sir Robert Menzies, KT), 19th December 1949 to 26th January 1966 H. E. Holt, PC, CH, from 26th January 1966 to 19th December 1967 J. McEwen, from 19th December 1967 to 10th January 1968 J. G. Gorton, from 10th January 1968 GOVERNMENT After the general election held in November 1969, the composition of the political parties in the House of Representatives became: Liberal Party 46; Country Party 20; Australian Labour Party 59. The Government was formed by a coalition of the Liberal and Country Parties. GOVERNOR-GENERAL His Excellency The Right Honourable Sir Paul Hasluck, GCVO, GCMG CABINET *Prime Minister: The Rt. Hon. J. G. Gorton, MP *Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry: *Treasurer: The Hon. L. Bury, MP *Minister for External Affairs: The Rt Hon. W. McMahon, MP *Minister for Primary Industry: The Hon. J. D. Anthony, MP *Minister for National Development: The Hon. R. V. C. Swartz, MP *Minister for Education and Science: The Hon. N. H. Bowen, MP Minister for Air and Leader of the House: The Hon. T. C. Drake-Brockman, DFC, MP The Hon. R. Cotton, MP Minister for Immigration: The Hon. P. R. Lynch, MP Minister for Repatriation: The Hon. R. M. Holten, MP Minister for Housing: Senator The Hon. Dame Annabelle Rankin, DBE Denotes Minister in Cabinet |