The referral of power by the states to the Commonwealth was effective in "fixing" the Corporations Law by replacing it with the Corporations Act. But it has proved to be no more than a stop-gap measure, doing nothing to remedy the fact that the constitution, as interpreted by the High Court, no longer provides an...

The Liberal National Party Coalition Government was returned with an increased majority at the 2001 election. The two per cent swing to the Government in two-party preferred terms was the largest swing to an incumbent government since 1966 and was only the fifth time that a government received a swing to it since 1949. This...

Today, as a sovereign nation, Australia enters into treaties and its Parliaments decide whether to implement them as law in Australia. This situation is vastly different from that which prevailed at the time the Commonwealth Constitution came into effect. In 1901, the Australian Government had no power to enter into treaties in its own right...

This review was Australia's first national consultation with people with disability, their families and service providers. Overview For much of Australia's history there was no national program of disability service provision. This changed with the election of the Whitlam government, which passed the Handicapped Program Assistance Act 1974, funding non-government organisations to provide housing or...