Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Table of statutes and executive instruments
- Table of cases
- Introduction: Australia as a federal commonwealth
- PART I Federalism
- PART II Federating Australia
- 3 Models and sources
- 4 Australian appropriations
- 5 Constitutional foundations
- 6 Formative institutions
- PART III Australian federation
- PART IV Conclusions
- Select provisions
- Bibliography
- Index
6 - Formative institutions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Table of statutes and executive instruments
- Table of cases
- Introduction: Australia as a federal commonwealth
- PART I Federalism
- PART II Federating Australia
- 3 Models and sources
- 4 Australian appropriations
- 5 Constitutional foundations
- 6 Formative institutions
- PART III Australian federation
- PART IV Conclusions
- Select provisions
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
[W]e must recognise this fact, that there is a feeling, and a natural feeling, though, perhaps, it may not be capable of the most logical justification, on the part of the parliaments and peoples of the different states, that they will require safeguards to be provided for the preservation of state interests before they will have anything to do with the adoption of a constitution providing for a federal government.
Charles Kingston (1891)The hard realities of colonial politics, in conjunction with idealistic beliefs about the true nature of federalism, conspired to ensure that a federation of the Australian colonies would only occur on the basis of an intercolonial agreement negotiated by politicians and ratified by the voters of the constituent colonies. The two federal conventions held in 1891 and 1897–8 and a series of colonial referendums held between 1898 and 1900 were the primary decision-making mechanisms through which this was accomplished. A full account of the making of the Australian Constitution must necessarily grapple with the deliberations that occurred within the conventions and ratification debates of the 1890s. But before turning to the particularities of the debate, it is finally necessary to understand the procedures and processes that were adopted within the conventions in order to facilitate and shape that debate. It is therefore the objective of this chapter to explain the formative institutions through which the Australian Constitution was debated, drafted and ratified, before addressing in later chapters the precise terms of the debate and of the constitutional text that emerged from the entire formative process.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Constitution of a Federal CommonwealthThe Making and Meaning of the Australian Constitution, pp. 158 - 184Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009