Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that can help answer the question.
Query: When did Australia become a commonwealth?
The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia agreed to unite and form the Commonwealth of Australia, establishing a system of federalism in Australia. Fiji and New Zealand were originally part of this process, but they decided not to join the federation.[1] Following federation, the six colonies that united to form the Commonwealth of Australia as states kept the systems of government (and the bicameral legislatures) that they had developed as separate colonies, but they also agreed to have a federal government that was responsible for matters concerning the whole nation. When the Constitution of Australia came into force, on 1 January 1901, the colonies collectively became states of the Commonwealth of Australia.
This was ended in 1961 when South Africa left the British Commonwealth on becoming a Republic, and formally abandoned all of its connections, with Union nationals becoming citizens of the Republic of South Africa. By the time South Africa returned to the Commonwealth in 1994, the phrase "British Subject" had been replaced by "Commonwealth citizen". Australia was the last to phase out British Subject in the Citizenship law which was in 1986.
The $1 (10/-), $2 (£1), $10 (£5), and $20 (£10) had exact exchange rates with pounds and were a similar colour to the notes they replaced, but the $5 (£2/10) did not, and so was introduced after the public had become familiar with decimal currency. Notes issued between 1966 and 1973 bore the title "Commonwealth of Australia". Starting from 1974, the title on the new notes only read "Australia" and the legal tender phrase was also changed from "Legal Tender throughout the Commonwealth of Australia and the territories of the Commonwealth" to "This Australian Note is legal tender throughout Australia and its territories". The $50 note was introduced in 1973 and the $100 note in 1984, in response to inflation requiring larger denominations for transactions. The one dollar note was replaced by a coin in 1984, while the two dollar note was replaced by a smaller coin in 1988. These original bank notes were designed by Gordon Andrews, who rejected traditional Australian clichés in favour of interesting and familiar subjects such as Aboriginal culture, women, the environment, architecture and aeronautics. Although no longer printed, all previous issues of Australian dollar banknotes are considered legal tender.
Australia is a federation that relies on the Constitution to divide power between the Commonwealth (federal) government and the six original States (see federalism in Australia). As the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act did not specify Federal control over road transport, it effectively relinquished full jurisdiction of that area to the States.
The term is typically used when referring to the relationship between Tasmania and the other Australian states, in that people not from Tasmania are referred to as mainlanders. Tasmania has been omitted on a number of occasions from maps of Australia, reinforcing the divide between Tasmania and the mainland. The 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane left Tasmania off the map of Australia during the opening ceremony, as did the designs of the Australian Swim Team uniform for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
In 1949, King George VI was king of each of the countries that then comprised the British Commonwealth (later the Commonwealth of Nations): the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, and Ceylon. However, the Indian Cabinet desired the country become a republic, but not depart the Commonwealth as a consequence of no longer having George VI as king, as happened to Ireland. To accommodate this, the London Declaration, devised by Canadian prime minister Louis St. Laurent, stated that the King, as the symbol of the free association of the countries of the Commonwealth, was the Head of the Commonwealth. When India adopted a republican constitution on 26 January 1950, George VI ceased to be its monarch (the President of India, Rajendra Prasad, becoming head of state), but it did regard him as Head of the Commonwealth.
Renzi started wrestling in 2007. She represented Australia at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in free-style wrestling, finishing sixth in the U/59 kg division. Frequently, when men found out Renzi was a wrestler, they asked her if she did mud or jelly wrestling. Going into the 2010 Commonwealth Games, she trained with Emily Bensted. People at Renzi's place of employment did not believe she was going to the Commonwealth Games to compete in the sport.
Melbourne's status as Australia's largest city lasted long enough, however, for it to become the seat of government of the new Commonwealth of Australia when the six colonies federated in 1901. Parliament House in Spring St was lent to the Parliament of Australia, while Victoria's Parliament found temporary accommodation in the Royal Exhibition Building.
A fundamental change in the constitutional structures of the British Commonwealth (formerly the British Empire, and not to be confused with the Commonwealth of Australia) did occur, however, in the late 1920s. Under the British Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927, which implemented a decision of an earlier Commonwealth conference, the unified Crown that had heretofore been the centre point of the Empire was replaced by multiple crowns worn by a shared monarch.
The High Court in "Sue v Hill" in 1999 did not rely upon the long title or the preamble, which conventionally do not have force of law. But it decided that the effect of the "Australia Act 1986" (Cth) was that, at least from the date when the Act came into operation, Britain had become a "foreign power" within the meaning of Constitution section 44(i), so that a parliamentary candidate who had British nationality was ineligible to be a member of the Commonwealth Parliament.
As South Africa was a foreign country (under United Kingdom law) between 1 January 1973, the date the Immigration Act 1971 came into force in the UK, and 1 January 1983 (when the British Nationality Act 1981 came into force) South African Citizens cannot have right of abode in the UK unless they also held before 1983 and still hold citizenship of another Commonwealth country (such as by descent from their parent, e.g. Australia or Zimbabwe which did not cease to be Commonwealth Nations under U.K. Law) or of the UK itself, the holders would most likely have acquired that Citizenship by descent from a parent who was a Citizen of that Commonwealth Country at the time of their birth or through marriage. A Present Day Commonwealth country refers to any country within the Commonwealth of Nations, for instance, Australia, New Zealand or Canada. Since Queen Elizabeth II is not the head of state in South Africa (Queen/ monarch), as South Africa is a Republic, the Queen is the head of the Commonwealth of Nations only and is not the Constitutional Monarch which is the case for systems of the Monarchy for 16 of the Commonwealth nations which are known as realms (including the United kingdom).
Whittaker began competing in amateur freestyle wrestling tournaments in 2015, when he unexpectedly turned up to compete in the Australia Cup in Canberra. He won each of his three bouts. It was also at the 2015 Australia Cup that Whittaker flagged the possibility of potentially representing Australia in Olympic or Commonwealth wrestling competitions. He returned to the wrestling mat in May 2017 and claimed the Australian National Wrestling Championships gold medal in the 97 kg (213 lbs) division. After winning the national championship, Whittaker entered Australia's 2018 Commonwealth Games 97 kg qualifying tournament in November 2017. He would once again claim first place in his division and in doing so qualified to represent Australia in the wrestling at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, the city in which he made his UFC debut. Following his qualification, Whittaker made it clear he would only compete in the Commonwealth Games if the event did not interfere with his UFC commitments. It was confirmed in March 2018 that Whittaker would be one of eight Australians to compete in the Commonwealth Games wrestling competition in April 2018. However, Whittaker was forced to withdraw from the Games less than three weeks from the event in order not to risk being stripped of his UFC championship title, as the UFC was concerned that an injury incurred during the Commonwealth Games would render him unable to compete for the middleweight championship at UFC 225 against Yoel Romero on 9 June 2018.
A second turning point came with the threat to Australia at the beginning of the Second World War and the Commonwealth government's mobilisation of financial resources. The constitutional framework on tax allowed both the Commonwealth and States to levy taxes. However, in 1942 the Commonwealth introduced legislation to give it a monopoly on income taxes. It did this by providing financial grants to states (using the section 96 grants power), on the condition that they did not collect their own income taxes. The validity of this scheme was upheld twice in the High Court. "Uniform" income taxation levied by the Commonwealth became the principal instrument of Commonwealth financial domination and vertical imbalance in the Australian federal system (vertical fiscal imbalance). The system allowed the Commonwealth to intrude into traditional fields of State responsibility by means of specific purpose grants or loans to the States for purposes such as education, health and transport. Extensive use of these 'tied grants' by the Labor Government 1972–75 provided a "work-around" solution for the Australian Labor Party's long-standing frustration with the obstacles of federalism. It thus helped diminish Labor's antipathy to the federal system in Australia.
In 1901, when the six British colonies in Australia federated to form the Commonwealth of Australia, Melbourne and Sydney were the two largest cities in the country, but the long history of rivalry between them meant that neither could become the national capital. Section 125 of the Constitution of Australia therefore provided that:
Australia officially became a member of the Commonwealth of Nations in 1931 under the Statute of Westminster having become independent of the UK in 1901.
On 18 April 1949, Ireland formally became a republic in accordance with the Irish Republic of Ireland Act 1948. Because it did this, it was automatically excluded from the Commonwealth. While Ireland had not actively participated in the Commonwealth since the early 1930s and was content to leave the Commonwealth, other dominions wished to become republics without losing Commonwealth ties. The issue came to a head in April 1949 at a Commonwealth prime ministers' meeting in London. Under the London Declaration, India agreed that, when it became a republic in January 1950, it would accept the British Sovereign as a "symbol of the free association of its independent member nations and as such the Head of the Commonwealth". Upon hearing this, King George VI told the Indian politician Krishna Menon: "So, I've become 'as such'".[25] The other Commonwealth countries recognised India's continuing membership of the association. At Pakistan's insistence, India was not regarded as an exceptional case and it was assumed that other states would be accorded the same treatment as India.
Control was vested in the Commonwealth of Australia until 10 January 1964, when the land was transferred to the state of Western Australia on condition that future use was restricted to purposes of public recreation and/or parklands. It was further agreed that when existing holiday-camp leases expired, the entire area would become an A-class reserve.
On the 1st of January 1901 the nation-state of Australia officially came into existence as a federation. The Australian continent was colonised by the United Kingdom in 1788, which subsequently established six, eventually self-governing, colonies there. In the 1890s the governments of these colonies all held referendums on becoming the unified, self-governing "Commonwealth of Australia" within the British Empire. When all the colonies voted in favour of federation, the Federation of Australia commenced, resulting in the establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. The model of Australian federalism adheres closely to the original model of the United States of America, although it does so through a parliamentary Westminster system rather than a presidential system.
Secessionism has been a recurring feature of Western Australia's political landscape since shortly after European settlement in 1826. Western Australia was the most reluctant participant in the Commonwealth of Australia. Western Australia did not participate in the earliest federation conference. Longer-term residents of Western Australia were generally opposed to federation; however, the discovery of gold brought many immigrants from other parts of Australia. It was these residents, primarily in Kalgoorlie but also in Albany who voted to join the Commonwealth, and the proposal of these areas being admitted separately under the name Auralia was considered.
The Commonwealth was first officially formed in 1931 when the Statute of Westminster gave legal recognition to the sovereignty of dominions. Known as the "British Commonwealth", the original members were the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Irish Free State, and Newfoundland, although Australia and New Zealand did not adopt the statute until 1942 and 1947 respectively.[4] In 1949, the London Declaration was signed and marked the birth of the modern Commonwealth and the adoption of its present name.[5] The newest member is Rwanda, which joined on 29 November 2009.[6] The most recent departure was the Maldives, which severed its connection with the Commonwealth on 13 October 2016.
Although Federation is often regarded as the moment of "independence" of Australia from Britain, legally the Commonwealth was a creation of the British Parliament, through the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (Imp), which applied to Australia by paramount force. As a result, since Australia was still legally a self-governing colony of the United Kingdom, there was continued uncertainty as to the applicability of British Imperial laws to the Commonwealth. This was resolved by the Statute of Westminster 1931, adopted by the Commonwealth via the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942. The Statute of Westminster freed the Dominions, including the Commonwealth, from Imperial restrictions and removed nearly all of the British Parliament's remaining authority to legislate for the Dominions. The Adoption Act backdated Australia's adoption of the Statute of Westminster to 1939, when Australia entered World War II. Legally, this is often regarded as the moment Australia became a de jure sovereign nation.
In the High Court Deakin and Lyne continued to be represented by Higgins , apparently in his capacity as the then Attorney-General, and the Commissioner continued to be represented by Isaacs . The argument recorded in the Commonwealth Law Reports does not set out any objection that the decision would directly affect the interests of the judges. The arguments for Deakin and Lyne were that their salaries were not earned in Victoria, but in Australia as a whole. The tax was unlawful as an interference between an officer of the Commonwealth and the Government. The Commissioner argued that income tax was a personal obligation that did not depend upon the source of the income being from the Commonwealth, the "Income Tax Act" 1895 was a valid Act in 1895 and did not become invalid as a result of the passage of the Constitution.
Though never formally disbanded, the Australian Commonwealth Party did not contest any other election nor seek party registration under later legislation. Its last public action was a rebuke delivered to prime minister Gough Whitlam in July 1974 over the removal of the name 'Commonwealth' from Australia's paper currency. The open letter, signed by the party's chairman Max Fabre, enquired "Has [the PM] forgotten that Australia was a Commonwealth when the British Empire was in short pants?"
Constitutional law in the Commonwealth of Australia consists mostly of that body of doctrine which interprets the Commonwealth Constitution. The Constitution itself is embodied in clause 9 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, which was passed by the British Parliament in 1900 after its text had been negotiated in Australian Constitutional Conventions in the 1890s and approved by the voters in each of the Australian colonies. The British government did, however, insist on one change to the text, to allow a greater range of appeals to the Privy Council in London. It came into force on 1 January 1901, at which time the Commonwealth of Australia came into being.
This was an era of rapid repositioning in wireless regulation. Balsillie had been engaged as Commonwealth wireless expert and offered his "Australian Wireless" system gratis to the Commonwealth. The Australian Wireless system was evaluated by an independent expert and found to be more efficient than either the Marconi system or the Telefunken system. The Commonwealth promptly swung its support behind the Australian Wireless system. The first two coastal stations had been contracted to Australasian Wireless Co. but the Commonwealth now swiftly proceeded with new stations commencing with Melbourne (callsign VIM) and Hobart (VIH). Pennant Hills (callsign VIS) was essentially complete, but the Commonwealth would not sign off on "practical completion". Australasian Wireless Co. did not seem entirely unhappy with this system, as it permitted the commercial operations at Hotel Australia to continue for a longer period than envisaged. Finally, on 3 June 1912, the Department gave three months notice of cancellation of the commercial licence, stating that if Pennant Hills was not complete at that time, they would make alternative arrangements. Circa 3 September 1912 the AAA equipment was relocated back to Underwood St (becoming callsign ATY). The "alternative arrangements" alluded to by the PMG were made clear on 10 September 1912 when equipment at Pennant Hills failed, only a few days after cancellation of the licence and the outage was covered by wireless apparatus at Father Shaw's wireless factory at Randwick, the facility at Hotel Australia being dismantled.