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
- MARCH 12, 2002AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
A Malaysian court charged an Australian woman with...
A Malaysian court charged an Australian woman with carrying heroin in transit under a law carrying a maximum sentence of five years in jail rather than the death sentence for traffickers
- MARCH 1, 2002AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
An Australian woman appeared in court in Malaysia on...
An Australian woman appeared in court in Malaysia on charges of trying to smuggle 3kg of heroin hidden in her corset onto a flight to Sydney
- FEBRUARY 27, 2002AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
A group of Australians gathered beside a largely forgotten...
A group of Australians gathered beside a largely forgotten grave site in South Africa to remember one of the nation's most controversial figures, Harry "Breaker" Morant
- FEBRUARY 26, 2002AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
A Perth man wrongly convicted over the hit-and-run...
A Perth man wrongly convicted over the hit-and-run manslaughter of his girlfriend almost 40 years ago won the battle to clear his name in one of Western Australia's most controversial justice cases
- FEBRUARY 25, 2002AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
David Hicks, the Australian prisoner in Cuba, was given...
David Hicks, the Australian prisoner in Cuba, was given a new ray of hope of being tried in Australia when the US said it would agree to repatriate British prisoners from Guantanamo Bay
- FEBRUARY 23, 2002AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Richards has written The Hanged Man: The Life and Death...
Richards has written The Hanged Man: The Life and Death of Ronald Ryan and it is a sad, powerful and important document, a new study of one of the darkest episodes in Australian history mounts a powerful argument against capital punishment
- FEBRUARY 22, 2002AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
West Australians demonstrated in front of the Supreme...
West Australians demonstrated in front of the Supreme Court, holding placards advocating the death sentence for paedophiles
- FEBRUARY 16, 2002AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Victoria's Chief Justice, John H
Victoria's Chief Justice, John H
- FEBRUARY 13, 2002AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Two of the world's biggest alleged drug barons, languishing...
Two of the world's biggest alleged drug barons, languishing in a high-security jail near Sydney, gave up their fight against extradition to the US after American authorities agreed not to execute them
- FEBRUARY 2, 2002AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
A Somali woman facing execution by stoning for adultery...
A Somali woman facing execution by stoning for adultery won a reprieve from the Federal Court from deportation to her homeland
- JANUARY 30, 2002AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Three Australian law students from Victoria are in...
Three Australian law students from Victoria are in the United States helping provide legal representation for inmates on death row
- JANUARY 30, 2002AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
An Australian woman faces a death sentence in Vietnam...
An Australian woman faces a death sentence in Vietnam after being arrested at Ho Chi Minh City's international airport carrying more than 800g of heroin