Australia
2026
- GOVERNMENT
- federal parliamentary democracy
- CONSTITUTION
- July 9, 1900, in effect from January 1, 1901
- LEGAL SYSTEM
- based on English common law
- LEGISLATIVE SYSTEM
- bicameral, Senate and House of Representatives
- JUDICIAL SYSTEM
- High Court, judges appointed by the Governor-General High Court of Australia, each of the 6 states and 2 territories and Norfolk Island have a Supreme Court. The High Court is the final court of appeal for territorial courts.
RELIGIONS
26% Catholics; 21% Anglicans; 21% other Christians; 1% minorities (including Aboriginals)
From the country
- SEPTEMBER 23, 2002AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he had expressed...
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he had expressed to Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo his concern over the case of a mother sentenced to death by stoning for adultery
- SEPTEMBER 18, 2002AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
The Australian Federal Opposition joined global calls...
The Australian Federal Opposition joined global calls for a boycott of the Miss World Pageant in Nigeria amid outrage over the planned stoning of a woman accused of adultery
- SEPTEMBER 2, 2002AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Prime Minister John Howard described the death sentence...
Prime Minister John Howard described the death sentence by stoning given to Amina Lawal in Nigeria for having a child out of wedlock, as sickening and said he would relay his feelings to the country's president
- AUGUST 29, 2002AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
A court in the southern Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam...
A court in the southern Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam handed down the death sentence to an Australian of Vietnamese origin after she was found guilty of heroin trafficking
- AUGUST 29, 2002AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Speaking in relation to Le My Linh, an Australian sentenced...
Speaking in relation to Le My Linh, an Australian sentenced to death in Vietnam for drug trafficking, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said that the federal government had no sympathy for drug traffickers but was equally firm in its opposition to the dea
- AUGUST 22, 2002AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said his...
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said his country would be outraged if a Nigerian woman was stoned to death as sentenced by a Sharia court
- AUGUST 16, 2002AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Lawyers and academics condemned the handing down of...
Lawyers and academics condemned the handing down of a 55-year jail sentence to a man convicted of leading a series of gang rapes in Sydney
- AUGUST 8, 2002AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Singapore has promised Australia it will not hang a...
Singapore has promised Australia it will not hang a British businessman if he is extradited to the city state and convicted of a grisly double murder
- AUGUST 8, 2002AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Deaf mute Darryl Beamish, who was on death row in Australia...
Deaf mute Darryl Beamish, who was on death row in Australia 41 years ago for the murder of a wealthy Melbourne heiress, began a new legal fight
- AUGUST 7, 2002AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
A British businessman and his Singaporean assistant...
A British businessman and his Singaporean assistant wanted in Singapore in connection with a grisly double murder intend to fight extradition from Australia
- JULY 25, 2002AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
One Nation, which has three WA [Western Australia]...
One Nation, which has three WA [Western Australia] Upper House MPs, wants to initiate various referendums, including a yes-no vote on the death penalty
- JULY 25, 2002AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Liberal leader Colin Barnett is at odds with his deputy...
Liberal leader Colin Barnett is at odds with his deputy Dan Sullivan over One Nation's push for a referendum on the reintroduction of the death penalty in WA [Western Australia]