Analysing the Australian convention debates of the 1890s, this article will show how the text of the Australian Constitution broke with British political constitutionalism by guaranteeing ‘the people’ a direct role in Australian political constitutionalism. This system of Australian ‘popular political constitutionalism’ has since led to distinct practices and debates. First, this unique form of political constitutionalism explains the implications the High Court has drawn from Sections 7 and 24 of the Constitution. 

The critical question for this jurisprudence is how the Court can protect the role of the people without undermining Australian political constitutionalism. Second, this popular political constitutionalism has also shaped the evolving role of proportionally elected upper houses in representing more than a simple majority in Australian parliamentary governance. This practice raises the question of how Parliament can move beyond majoritarianism without creating too many checks on political majorities.

This article argues that Australia has a distinctive form of political constitutionalism that departs from British categories and concepts in critical ways. In particular, Australia’s distinctive constitutional system combines a trust in parliamentary politics and process with a direct role for ‘the people’. This system helps to understand the unique role that Australian courts and Parliaments play in Australian political constitutionalism.

This purpose of this article is to reorient theoretical debate to match the practical debates at the centre of Australian political constitutionalism. This kind of research can help to understand how political constitutionalism can address emerging problems in Australian constitutional governance such as growing executive centralism. 

More broadly, this approach shows how theorists of political constitutionalism must critically evaluate (and sometimes move beyond) the categories and concepts of British constitutionalism in order to better understand and theorise the practices of its constitutional system. Political constitutionalism can come in many different forms. British concepts and categories should not hinder the ability to understand these different systems and their distinctive practices and concepts.