What would happen if Australia had a unitary government?

Thank you for your question, Safir.

A unitary government is a system where one central government decides the laws for the whole country. This is different to Australia’s federal system where power is shared and balanced between three levels of government – federal, state and local.

It is highly unlikely that Australia would change from a federal to a unitary government because the states would all need to agree to surrender their governing powers. In addition, the Australian Constitution would need to be altered and perhaps completely re-written. To change the Constitution in this way, a referendum - nationwide vote of electors - would be required, and every state would need to approve the change for it to be successful.

Hypothetically speaking, if Australia was to switch its system of government from federal to unitary, there would be a number of significant changes, including:

  1. State parliaments and governments would likely be abolished or significantly reduced in power.
  2. All law-making power would transfer to the national parliament in Canberra.
  3. The national government would take over services currently run by states (like hospitals, schools, police).
  4. State court systems would merge into a single national court system or become regional offices.
5 components of the Australian system of government.

The Australian system of government

Parliamentary Education Office (PEO.GOV.AU)

The Australian system of government

5 components of the Australian system of government.

Parliamentary Education Office (PEO.GOV.AU)

Description

Different components come together to make up the Australian system of government. The main features are democracy, being a representative democracy, the Australian Constitution, constitutional monarchy and being a federation of states.

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