FIGURE1 Each state and territory’s parliament house
Australian Capital Territory
Western Australia
Northern Territory
New South Wales
Queensland
South Australia
Victoria
Tasmania
12.4.2 Features of the state and territory parliaments State and territory parliaments have many similar features and some have unique characteristics: • All state parliaments originally had two houses. In 1922, Queensland removed its upper house and became unicameral . • In bicameral parliaments, the upper house is called the Legislative Council. The lower house is the Legislative Assembly in Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. In South Australia and Tasmania, it is called the House of Assembly. • The territory parliaments are also unicameral, with the one house in each territory known as the Legislative Assembly. • The leader of a state is called the premier, and the leader of a territory is called the chief minister. • Each state and territory has three parts: legislative, executive and judiciary .
• The legislative parliament makes laws. • The executive runs the government • The judiciary enforces laws and solves problems.
• Each state and territory has a supreme court, but the High Court is the highest in Australia. • Each state has a governor who represents the King, like the Governor-General does at the federal level.
TOPIC12 Government and democracy 451
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