Australia
Coordinates: 25°S 133°E
| Commonwealth of Australia | |
|---|---|
.svg) |
|
| Capital | Canberra 35°18′29″S 149°07′28″E |
| Largest city | Sydney |
| National language | English[N 2] |
| Demonym |
|
| Government | Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy |
• Monarch
|
Elizabeth II |
| Sir Peter Cosgrove | |
| Malcolm Turnbull | |
| Michael McCormack | |
| Susan Kiefel | |
| Scott Ryan | |
| Tony Smith | |
| Legislature | Parliament |
| Senate | |
| House of Representatives | |
| Independence from the United Kingdom | |
| 1 January 1901 | |
| 9 October 1942 (with effect from 3 September 1939) |
|
| 3 March 1986 | |
| Area | |
• Total
|
7,692,024 km2 (2,969,907 sq mi) (6th) |
• Water (%)
|
0.76 |
| Population | |
• 2018 estimate
|
24,910,500[5] (51st) |
• 2016 census
|
23,401,892[6] |
• Density
|
3.2/km2 (8.3/sq mi) (236th) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2018 estimate |
• Total
|
$1.313 trillion[7] (19th) |
• Per capita
|
$52,191[7] (17th) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2018 estimate |
• Total
|
$1.500 trillion[7] (13th) |
• Per capita
|
$59,665[7] (10th) |
| Gini (2012) | 33.6[8] medium · 19th |
| HDI (2015) |  0.939[9]very high · 2nd |
| Currency | Australian dollar (AUD) |
| Time zone | Various[N 3] (UTC+8 to +10.5) |
• Summer (DST)
|
Various[N 3] (UTC+8 to +11.5) |
| Date format | dd/mm/yyyy |
| Drives on the | left |
| Calling code | +61 |
| ISO 3166 code | AU |
| Internet TLD | .au |
.svg)
listen)),[10][11] officially the Commonwealth of Australia,[12] is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country by total area. The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. Australia's capital is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney.For about 60,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who in documented times have spoken languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. After the European discovery of the continent by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770 and initially settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored and an additional five self-governing crown colonies established. On 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a stable liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states and several territories.
Australia has the world's 13th-largest economy and tenth-highest per capita income (IMF).[13] With the second-highest human development index globally, the country ranks highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom, and civil liberties and political rights.[14] Australia is a member of the ASEAN Plus mechanism, United Nations, G20, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), World Trade Organization, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, and the Pacific Islands Forum. The population of 25 million[5] is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard.[15] Australia has the world's 9th largest immigrant population, with immigrants accounting for 26% of the population
Name
The name Australia (pronounced [əˈstɹæɪljə, -liə] in Australian English[18]) is derived from the Latin Terra Australis ("southern land"), a name used for a hypothetical continent in the Southern Hemisphere since ancient times.[19] When Europeans first began visiting and mapping Australia in the 17th century, the name Terra Australis was naturally applied to the new territories.[N 4]Until the early 19th century, Australia was best known as "New Holland", a name first applied by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1644 (as Nieuw-Holland) and subsequently anglicised. Terra Australis still saw occasional usage, such as in scientific texts.[N 5] The name Australia was popularised by the explorer Matthew Flinders, who said it was "more agreeable to the ear, and an assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the earth".[25] The first time that Australia appears to have been officially used was in April 1817, when Governor Lachlan Macquarie acknowledged the receipt of Flinders' charts of Australia from Lord Bathurst.[26] In December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted.[27] In 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially by that name.[28] The first official published use of the new name came with the publication in 1830 of The Australia Directory by the Hydrographic Office.[29]
Colloquial names for Australia include "Oz" and "the Land Down Under" (usually shortened to just "Down Under"). Other epithets include "the Great Southern Land", "the Lucky Country", "the Sunburnt Country", and "the Wide Brown Land". The latter two both derive from Dorothea Mackellar's 1908 poem "My Country"
History
Pre-colonial history
Aboriginal rock art in the Kimberley region of Western Australia
Government and politics
Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia
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Peter Cosgrove, Governor-General of Australia
Malcolm Turnbull, Prime Minister of Australia
The federal government is separated into three branches:
- Legislature: the bicameral Parliament, defined in section 1 of the constitution as comprising the Queen (represented by the Governor-General), the Senate, and the House of Representatives;
- Executive: the Federal Executive Council, which in practice gives legal effect to the decisions of the cabinet, comprising the prime minister and ministers of state who advise the Governor-General;[150]
- Judiciary: the High Court of Australia and other federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the Governor-General on advice of the Federal Executive Council.
Parliament House, Canberra
Australia's electoral system uses preferential voting for all lower house elections with the exception of Tasmania and the ACT which, along with the Senate and most state upper houses, combine it with proportional representation in a system known as the single transferable vote. Voting is compulsory for all enrolled citizens 18 years and over in every jurisdiction,[154] as is enrolment (with the exception of South Australia).[155] The party with majority support in the House of Representatives forms the government and its leader becomes Prime Minister. In cases where no party has majority support, the Governor-General has the constitutional power to appoint the Prime Minister and, if necessary, dismiss one that has lost the confidence of Parliament.[156]
There are two major political groups that usually form government, federally and in the states: the Australian Labor Party and the Coalition which is a formal grouping of the Liberal Party and its minor partner, the National Party.[157][158] Within Australian political culture, the Coalition is considered centre-right and the Labor Party is considered centre-left.[159] Independent members and several minor parties have achieved representation in Australian parliaments, mostly in upper houses.
In September 2015, Malcolm Turnbull successfully challenged Tony Abbott for leadership of the Coalition, and was sworn in as the 29th Prime Minister of Australia.[160] The most recent federal election was held on 2 July 2016 and resulted in the Coalition's forming a majority government.[161]
States and territories
A clickable map of Australia's states, mainland territories and their capitals
Under the constitution, the States essentially have plenary legislative power to legislate on any subject, whereas the Commonwealth (federal) Parliament may legislate only within the subject areas enumerated under section 51. For example, State parliaments have the power to legislate with respect to education, criminal law and state police, health, transport, and local government, but the Commonwealth Parliament does not have any specific power to legislate in these areas.[163] However, Commonwealth laws prevail over State laws to the extent of the inconsistency.[164] In addition, the Commonwealth has the power to levy income tax which, coupled with the power to make grants to States, has given it the financial means to incentivize States to pursue specific legislative agendas within areas over which the Commonwealth does not have legislative power.
Each state and major mainland territory has its own parliament—unicameral in the Northern Territory, the ACT and Queensland, and bicameral in the other states. The states are sovereign entities, although subject to certain powers of the Commonwealth as defined by the Constitution. The lower houses are known as the Legislative Assembly (the House of Assembly in South Australia and Tasmania); the upper houses are known as the Legislative Council. The head of the government in each state is the Premier and in each territory the Chief Minister. The Queen is represented in each state by a Governor; and in the Northern Territory, the Administrator.[165] In the Commonwealth, the Queen's representative is the Governor-General.[166]
The Commonwealth Parliament also directly administers the following external territories: Ashmore and Cartier Islands; Australian Antarctic Territory; Christmas Island; Cocos (Keeling) Islands; Coral Sea Islands; Heard Island and McDonald Islands; and Jervis Bay Territory, a naval base and sea port for the national capital in land that was formerly part of New South Wales.[150] The external territory of Norfolk Island previously exercised considerable autonomy under the Norfolk Island Act 1979 through its own legislative assembly and an Administrator to represent the Queen.[167] In 2015, the Commonwealth Parliament abolished self-government, integrating Norfolk Island into the Australian tax and welfare systems and replacing its legislative assembly with a council.[168] Macquarie Island is administered by Tasmania, and Lord Howe Island by New South Wales.
Military
Australian soldiers deployed to Iraq in 2017
In the 2016–17 budget, defence spending comprised 2% of GDP, representing the world's 12th largest defence budget.[185] Australia has been involved in UN and regional peacekeeping, disaster relief and armed conflict, including the 2003 invasion of Iraq; it currently has deployed about 2,241 personnel in varying capacities to 12 international operations in areas including Iraq and Afghanistan.
Language
Although Australia has no official language, English has always been entrenched as the de facto national language.[2] Australian English is a major variety of the language with a distinctive accent and lexicon,[238] and differs slightly from other varieties of English in grammar and spelling.[239] General Australian serves as the standard dialect.According to the 2016 census, English is the only language spoken in the home for close to 72.7% of the population. The next most common languages spoken at home are Mandarin (2.5%), Arabic (1.4%), Cantonese (1.2%), Vietnamese (1.2%) and Italian (1.2%).[240] A considerable proportion of first- and second-generation migrants are bilingual.
Over 250 Indigenous Australian languages are thought to have existed at the time of first European contact,[241] of which less than 20 are still in daily use by all age groups.[242][243] About 110 others are spoken exclusively by older people.[243] At the time of the 2006 census, 52,000 Indigenous Australians, representing 12% of the Indigenous population, reported that they spoke an Indigenous language at home.[244] Australia has a sign language known as Auslan, which is the main language of about 5,500 deaf people.[245]
Religion
Australia has no state religion; Section 116 of the Australian Constitution prohibits the federal government from making any law to establish any religion, impose any religious observance, or prohibit the free exercise of any religion.[246] In the 2016 census, 52.1% of Australians were counted as Christian, including 22.6% as Roman Catholic and 13.3% as Anglican; 30.1% of the population reported having "no religion"; 7.3% identify with non-Christian religions, the largest of these being Islam (2.6%), followed by Buddhism (2.5%), Hinduism (1.9%) and Judaism (0.4%). The remaining 9.6% of the population did not provide an adequate answer. Those who reported having no religion increased conspicuously from 19% in 2006 to 30% in 2016. The largest change was between 2011 (22%) and 2016 (30.1%), when a further 2.2 million people reported having no religion.[247]Before European settlement, the animist beliefs of Australia's indigenous people had been practised for many thousands of years. Mainland Aboriginal Australians' spirituality is known as the Dreamtime and it places a heavy emphasis on belonging to the land. The collection of stories that it contains shaped Aboriginal law and customs. Aboriginal art, story and dance continue to draw on these spiritual traditions. The spirituality and customs of Torres Strait Islanders, who inhabit the islands between Australia and New Guinea, reflected their Melanesian origins and dependence on the sea. The 1996 Australian census counted more than 7000 respondents as followers of a traditional Aboriginal religion.[248]
Since the arrival of the First Fleet of British ships in 1788, Christianity has grown to be the major religion practised in Australia. Christian churches have played an integral role in the development of education, health and welfare services in Australia. For much of Australian history, the Church of England (now known as the Anglican Church of Australia) was the largest religious denomination. However, multicultural immigration has contributed to a decline in its relative position, and the Roman Catholic Church has benefitted from recent immigration to become the largest group. Similarly, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism have all grown in Australia over the past half-century.[249]
Australia has one of the lowest levels of religious adherence in the world.[250] In 2001, only 8.8% of Australians attended church on a weekly basis
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