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
- DECEMBER 24, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. AUSTRALIANS SUPPORT ABOLITION OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
many adults in Australia disagreed with the implementation of the death penalty for specific crimes, according to a poll by Roy Morgan International.
- DECEMBER 21, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. AMNESTY URGES GOVERNMENT TO HELP NATIONAL ON DEATH ROW IN VIETNAM
Amnesty International said the Federal Government must do all it could for Trinh Huu, an Australian man sentenced to death for trafficking heroin in Vietnam.
- DECEMBER 20, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM. AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
Trinh Huu, an Australian man of Vietnamese origin, was sentenced to death for trafficking heroin in southern Vietnam, a court official said. Huu, 53, was found guilty of trafficking about two kilograms of heroin following a trial in Tay Ninh province bord
- DECEMBER 7, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
INDONESIA. BUTT OUT ON DEATH PENALTY: BALI 9 JUDGE
the judges hearing the Bali Nine trials in Indonesia warned Australians not to interfere in Indonesia's right to impose capital punishment, insisting they would not allow their independence to be compromised.
- DECEMBER 2, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. SINGAPORE HANGS AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL NGUYEN, THOUSANDS MOURN
Singapore executed Australian national Nguyen Tuong Van just before dawn despite repeated pleas by Australia's government for clemency.
- DECEMBER 2, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
MALAYSIA. MALAYSIA BACKS SINGAPORE DECISION TO EXECUTE AUSTRALIAN
Malaysia's Foreign Minister supported Singapore's decision to execute Australian heroin trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van, saying the death penalty was a necessary legal deterrent.
- NOVEMBER 30, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL NGUYEN 'READY TO DIE'
Nguyen Tuong Van, an Australian heroin trafficker on death row in Singapore still had his sense of humor just days before his scheduled execution on December 2, his lawyer said.
- NOVEMBER 17, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. EXECUTION DATE SET FOR AUSTRALIAN MAN CONVICTED OF DRUG SMUGGLING
Singapore will hang 25-year-old Australian drug smuggler Nguyen Tuong Van on December 2, despite numerous pleas by Canberra for clemency, his Australian lawyer Lex Lasry said.
- NOVEMBER 15, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
UNITED NATIONS. UN OFFICIAL URGES SINGAPORE NOT TO EXECUTE AUSTRALIAN
Philip Alston, special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions for the UN Commission on Human Rights, urged the Singapore government not to hang Nguyen Tuong Van, a convicted Australian heroin trafficker, saying the execution violated
- NOVEMBER 14, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. CALL FOR END TO DEATH PENALTY
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer should use a regional economic meeting in South Korea to call for the abolition of the death penalty across the region, Amnesty International said.
- NOVEMBER 7, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. ACTIVISTS URGE GOVERNMENT TO SPARE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL ON DEATH ROW
activists in Singapore protested against the planned execution of Nguyen Tuong Van, a convicted Australian drug carrier, and urged the government to relax its harsh drug laws. Speakers at a forum, organised by Singaporean civil rights group Think Centre,
- NOVEMBER 7, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. NGUYEN SUPPORTERS VOICE DEATH PENALTY OPPOSITION
Adelaide supporters of Nguyen Tuong Van, an Australian man on death row in Singapore, held a lunchtime rally to voice their opposition to the death penalty. About 30 people sat on the steps of Parliament House to show support for Nguyen, 25, who was facin