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
- MAY 30, 2001AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Jonathan Brett Horrocks, 40, who was sentenced to life...
Jonathan Brett Horrocks, 40, who was sentenced to life with a minimum of 23 years in 2000 for shooting dead his former boss at a La Trobe University bar wrote a letter to Victorian Attorney-General Rob Hulls asking to be executed
- MAY 15, 2001AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
An AustralSCAN survey shows Australians would approve...
An AustralSCAN survey shows Australians would approve a referendum on capital punishment
- MAY 15, 2001AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Clive Stafford-Smith, a US lawyer fighting the death...
Clive Stafford-Smith, a US lawyer fighting the death penalty, arrived in Melbourne helping to launch the group Reprieve Australia, to campaign against the death penalty
- MAY 1, 2001AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Rex Jory, writing on the Advertiser, lashed out against...
Rex Jory, writing on the Advertiser, lashed out against the scheduled execution of American bomber Timothy McVeigh
- APRIL 25, 2001AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Australia was a cosponsor of the resolution on the...
Australia was a cosponsor of the resolution on the death penalty approved by the UN Commission on Human Rights on April 25, 2001
- MARCH 28, 2001AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Prime Minister John Howard was assailed by callers...
Prime Minister John Howard was assailed by callers to an Adelaide talkback radio program who demanded he introduce capital punishment or use the army to clear heroin traffickers from Sydney's western suburbs
- MARCH 8, 2001AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said gunman Martin...
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said gunman Martin Bryant should be a candidate for capital punishment
- FEBRUARY 7, 2001AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
The Queensland branch of the One Nation party will...
The Queensland branch of the One Nation party will call for a referendum on capital punishment if it wins the February 17, 2001 elections
- JANUARY 25, 2001AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
The director of the Australian Institute of Criminology,...
The director of the Australian Institute of Criminology, Dr Adam Graycar, commenting a report on homicide in 2001 Year Book Australia, released by the Bureau of Statistics, said that capital punishment has no effect on the crime rate
- JANUARY 24, 2001AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Bill Feldman leader of the City Country Alliance, a...
Bill Feldman leader of the City Country Alliance, a political party made up of six former One Nation MPs, has launched its election campaign in the Australian state of Queensland where polls will be held on February 17, with a call for a referendum on the
- JANUARY 1, 2001AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Australia abolished the death penalty for ordinary...
Australia abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes in 1984 and for wartime crimes in 1985
- JANUARY 1, 2001AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Queensland, a state where there is a big debate on...
Queensland, a state where there is a big debate on the death penalty, had 18 hangings between 1901-13 and none since