Politics of Australia
Coat of arms
Polity type	Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy
Constitution	Constitution of Australia
Formation	1 January 1901
Legislative branch
Name	Parliament
Type	Bicameral
Meeting place	Parliament House
Upper house
Name	Senate
Presiding officer	Sue Lines, President
Lower house
Name	House of Representatives
Presiding officer	Milton Dick, Speaker
Executive branch
Head of State
Title	Monarch represented by Governor-General
Currently	Charles III represented by David Hurley
Head of Government
Title	Prime Minister
Currently	Anthony Albanese
Cabinet
Name	Cabinet of the Federal Executive Council
Current cabinet	Albanese Ministry
Leader	Prime Minister
Deputy leader	Deputy Prime Minister
Ministries	30
Judicial branch
Name	Judiciary
Courts	Courts of Australia
High Court

This article is part of a series on the
Politics of Australia
Constitution
The Crown Monarch Charles III Governor-General David Hurley
Executive Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (ALP) Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles (ALP) Federal Executive Council Ministry Albanese ministry Cabinet
Legislature Australian Parliament Senate President Sue Lines (ALP) Leader Penny Wong (ALP) House of Representatives Speaker Milton Dick (ALP) Leader Tony Burke (ALP) Opposition Leader Peter Dutton (LP) Shadow Ministry
Judiciary High Court of Australia Chief Justice Susan Kiefel Gageler Keane Gordon Edelman Steward Gleeson Lower courts Law of Australia
Elections Recent elections 2022 2019 2016 2013 2010 2007 Federal electoral system Electoral divisions By-elections Referendums and plebiscites Voter registration Leadership spill Political parties Political funding
States and territories Governors and administrators Premiers and chief ministers Parliaments and assemblies State courts State electoral systems
Local government NSW Vic Qld WA SA Tas NT
Foreign relations Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Foreign Minister Penny Wong Diplomatic missions of / in Australia Nationality law Passports Visa requirements Visa policy Australia and the United Nations G20 APEC New Zealand United Kingdom United States Canada European Union China India
Ideology Anarchism Christian Conservatism Environmentalism Far-right Liberalism Nationalism Republicanism Socialism Hansonism
v t e

The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a liberal democratic political system. The Constitution of Australia is the world's tenth-oldest, having been in place since Federation in 1901. Australia is a federation of the six states and the two territories.

Australia's system of government has been influenced by many other systems, mostly the British Westminster system and the American federalist system, so it has sometimes been described as the "Washminster system" (a blend of "Washington" and "Westminster").

There are three tiers of government in Australia: the federal government, the state/territory government and local government.

The Australian head of government is called the Prime Minister. The Australian head of state is the Monarch (King or Queen), who is also the head of state of the United Kingdom and many other countries (like Canada and New Zealand, as well as many others). The monarch is represented by the Governor General. The current Prime Minister is Anthony Albanese (who was elected in 2022) and the current Governor General is David Hurley, who represents King Charles III.

The federal government has three branches:

• Legislature: the bicameral Parliament, which is the House of Representatives (the lower house) and the Senate (the upper house)
• Executive: the Federal Executive Council, which gives legal effect to the decisions of the Cabinet
• Judiciary: the High Court and other federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the Governor General

• List of political parties in Australia

v t e Politics of Australia
Commonwealth	Monarch Governor-General Prime Minister Cabinet (Shadow Cabinet) Executive Council Ministry Foreign relations Parliament House of Representatives Senate Opposition Leader High Court lower courts Constitution Statute of Westminster Australia Act
Federal elections	Pre-1972 1972 1974 1975 1977 1980 1983 1984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 2013 2016 2019 2022 Next by-elections referendums Timeline
State/territory governments	Governors and administrators premiers and chief ministers parliaments and assemblies State and Territory Shadow Cabinet NSW Vic Qld WA SA Tas ACT NT
State/territory elections	NT 2020 ACT 2020 Qld 2020 WA 2021 Tas 2021 SA 2022 Vic 2022 NSW 2023 NT 2024 ACT 2024 Qld 2024 WA 2025 Tas 2025 SA 2026 Vic 2026 NSW 2027 Timeline
Local government	New South Wales (list) Northern Territory (list) Queensland (list) South Australia (list) Tasmania (list) Victoria (list) Western Australia (list)
Political parties	Coalition (Liberal, National, Liberal National, Country Liberal) Centre Alliance Greens Katter Labor Lambie One Nation UAP other parties historical
Political terminology	battlers Bjelkemander branch stacking casual vacancy caucus revolt Chardonnay socialist contempt of Parliament despatch box donkey vote Dorothy Dixer double dissolution faceless men forgotten people group voting ticket hardworking families how-to-vote card independent politicians Kirribilli agreement Langer vote leadership spill Middle Australia mortgage belt nationalism parliamentary secretary Playmander quiet Australians responsible government Stolen Generations working family worm