the Senate and the House of Representatives. A Governor-General appointed by the Queen is Her Majesty's representative in the Commonwealth. The Constitution requires that a session of the Parliament be held once at least in every year.

THE SENATE

The Senate is composed of an equal number of senators for each of the six States of the Commonwealth, it having been the intention of the framers of the Constitution that the Senate should be both a States' House and a House of Review. Although originally there were thirty-six senators, this number has been increased to the present number of sixty (ten from each State) in pursuance of the Parliament's power under the Constitution to increase or diminish the number of senators for each State, but so that equal representation of the original States is maintained and no original State has less than six senators. The Senate is presided over by the President who is chosen by the senators from their own members. Senators are chosen for a term of six years. The places of one half of the Senators become vacant every three years. Immediately prior to the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1948 the method of electing senators was in general the 'preferential block majority system' under which as a general rule all seats in any one State went to the party or combination of parties favoured at the time by a simple majority of the electors, leaving the minority without any representation at all in the Senate. The 1948 Act altered the system of Senate elections to one of proportional representation. The franchise for the election of senators is on the basis of adult suffrage, subject to electors being British subjects and having lived in Australia continuously for six months.

Where the place of a senator becomes vacant before the expiration of his term of office, the House or Houses of Parliament for the State for which he was chosen, sitting and voting together may choose a person to hold the place until either the expiration of the term, the next general election of the House of Representatives or the next election of senators of the State, whichever event first happens, at which time a senator is elected to hold the senate place until the expiration of the term.

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

The House of Representatives is at present composed of 125 members, and, although the number of members may be increased or decreased by the Parliament, such changes must comply with the requirement that the number of members shall, as nearly as practicable, be twice the number of senators. Unlike the Senate, which has equal representation for each State, the number of members of the House of Representatives chosen in the respective States is required to be in proportion to the respective numbers of their people, subject to certain guaranteed numbers of members from original States. The House of Representatives is presided over by the Speaker who is chosen by the members from their own numbers. Every House of Representatives continues for three years from the first meeting of the House, and no longer, but may be sooner dissolved by the Governor-General. Members of the House of Representatives are elected for electoral Divisions on a preferential voting system by adult British subjects who have lived in Australia for at least six months.

A casual vacancy occurring in the House of Representatives is filled by by-election, the member so returned holding his place until the expiration or prior dissolution of that House of Representatives. Voting is compulsory in elections for both Houses of Parliament.

QUALIFICATIONS OF SENATORS AND MEMBERS

To qualify for election as a member of the Senate or House of Representatives a person must be a British subject of the full age of twenty-one years, be an elector entitled to vote at the election of members of the House of Representatives, or a person qualified to become such an elector, and have been for three years at least a resident within the limits of the Commonwealth of Australia as existing at the time he is chosen. A member of either House of Parliament is incapable of being chosen or of sitting as a member of the other House.

POWERS OF THE PARLIAMENT

The Constitution confers on the Parliament two classes of powers; those in respect of which the Parliament alone has power to legislate, i.e. exclusive powers, and those in respect of which the States retain power to legislate concurrently, i.e. concurrent powers. When a concurrent State law is inconsistent with a Commonwealth law, the Commonwealth law prevails and the State law is, to the extent of the inconsistency, invalid.

The matters in respect of which the Constitution expressly provides that the Parliament has exclusive power include the seat of Government of the Commonwealth and all places acquired by the Commonwealth for public purposes, the departments of the Commonwealth Public Service, the imposition of duties of customs and excise and, subject to limited exceptions, the granting of bounties on the production or export of goods.

The concurrent powers given to the Parliament include the power to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the Commonwealth in respect of international and inter-State trade and commerce, taxation, defence, banking and insurance (other than State banking and State insurance), industrial property, immigration and emigration, aliens and naturalisation, marriage, divorce and matrimonial causes, social services, external affairs and conciliation and arbitration for the prevention and settlement of industrial disputes extending beyond the limits of any one State.

With certain exceptions, proposed laws may originate in either House which, for most purposes, have equal power in respect of all proposed laws. Proposed laws appropriating revenue or money or imposing taxation, however, may originate only in the House of Representatives and the Senate may not amend proposed laws imposing taxation or appropriating revenue or moneys for the ordinary annual services of the Government. Such proposed laws may deal only with appropriation of revenue or with the imposition of taxation as the case may be and laws imposing taxation, except those imposing duties of customs or of excise, may deal with one subject of taxation only. The Senate may not amend any proposed law so as to increase any proposed charge or burden on the people but may, at any stage, return to the House of Representatives a proposed law that the Senate is not permitted to amend, requesting the omission or amendment of any item or provision therein. In such event the House of Representatives may, if it thinks fit, make any such omission or amendments, with or without modifications.

If a deadlock between the Senate and the House of Representatives occurs over a proposed law passed by the House of Representatives and if, after three months from the disagreement, the House of Representatives again passes the proposed law and the Houses again fail to agree, the Governor-General may dissolve both Houses immediately. If, after the double dissolution, the House of Representatives again passes the proposed law and a deadlock again occurs, the Governor-General may convene a joint sitting of Members and Senators and if the proposed law is passed by an absolute majority of Members and Senators sitting together it shall be taken to have been duly passed by both Houses.

When a proposed law has been passed by both Houses, it is presented to the Governor-General who is empowered to assent to the bill in the Queen's name, withhold assent or reserve the law for the Queen's pleasure. Additionally, the Queen is empowered to disallow any law within one year from the GovernorGeneral's assent.

THE EXECUTIVE POWER

The executive power of the Commonwealth is vested in the Queen and is exercised by the Governor-General as the Queen's representative. In the Government of the Commonwealth, the Governor-General is advised by the Federal Executive Council, the members of which are appointed by him. By constitutional convention the Governor-General summons to meetings of the Executive Council only such members of the Council as are Ministers of State of the Government of the day. All Ministers of State, of which there are at present 26, are required to be members of the Executive Council.

THE JUDICIAL POWER

The judicial power of the Commonwealth is vested in the federal courts, namely, the High Court of Australia, the Commonwealth Industrial Court, the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration and the Federal Court of Bankruptcy and in certain courts of the States and Territories when exercising federal jurisdiction conferred upon them by Commonwealth law.

The High Court of Australia, which is the federal supreme court, consists of the Chief Justice and six other justices all of whom are, in common with justices of the Commonwealth Industrial Court, the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration and the Federal Court of Bankruptcy, appointed by the Governor-General in Council and are removable by the GovernorGeneral in Council only on an address by both Houses of the Parliament on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity.

The High Court has both original and appellate jurisdiction. The Constitution confers original jurisdiction on the High Court in respect of matters (1) arising under any treaty, (2) affecting consuls or other representatives of other countries, (3) in which the Commonwealth is a party, (4) between States, or between residents of different States, or between a State and a resident of another State and (5) in which a writ of Mandamus or prohibition or an injunction is sought against an officer of the Commonwealth. In addition, the Parliament is empowered to make laws conferring original jurisdiction on the High Court in any matter (1) arising under the Constitution, or involving its interpretation, (2) arising under any laws made by the Parliament, (3) of Admiralty and maritime jurisdiction and (4) relating to the same matter claimed under the laws of different States.

The Parliament may, with respect to matters in which the High Court has or may be invested with original jurisdiction, make laws defining the jurisdiction of any federal court other than the High Court and the extent to which the jurisdiction of any federal court shall be exclusive of that which belongs to or is invested in the courts of the States, and investing any court of a State with federal jurisdiction.

The appellate jurisdiction of the High Court is to hear and determine appeals from (1) any justice or justices exercising the original jurisdiction of the High Court, (2) any other federal court or court exercising federal jurisdiction, (3) the Supreme Court or any other Court of any State from which at the establishment of the Commonwealth an appeal lay to the Queen in Council and (4) the Inter-State Commission, but as to questions of law only.

In 1968 appeals from decisions of the High Court to the Queen in Council were abolished. It is now not possible to ask for special leave to appeal to Her Majesty in Council against decisions of the High Court except decisions on appeals from State Supreme Courts on matters that do not involve the exercise of federal jurisdiction, or on matters that do not involve the application or interpretation of (1) the Constitution, (2) a law made by the Commonwealth Parliament or (3) an instrument made under such a law. It is also not possible to appeal to Her Majesty in Council from any decisions of Federal Courts other than the High Court.

The Constitution guarantees that the trial on indictment of an offence against any law of the Commonwealth shall be by jury, and that every such trial shall be held in the State where the offence was committed, and that if the offence 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 related 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.