Monarchy of Australia
The monarchy of Australia is a central component of Australia's system of government, by which a hereditary monarch serves as the country's sovereign and head of state. It is a constitutional monarchy, modelled on the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy and responsible government, while incorporating features unique to the Constitution of Australia.
The present monarch is, who has reigned since. The monarch is represented at the federal level by the governor-general, in accordance with the Australian Constitution and letters patent from his mother and predecessor, Queen Elizabeth II. Similarly, in each of the Australian states the monarch is represented by a governor, according to the Australia Act and respective letters patent and state constitutions. In the Northern Territory, the monarch is represented by an administrator appointed by the governor-general. The monarch appoints the governor-general on the advice of the prime minister, and appoints the state governors on the advice of the respective premiers. These are the only mandatory constitutional functions of the monarch of Australia.
Australian constitutional law provides that the person who is monarch of the United Kingdom will also be the monarch of Australia. Since the 1940s at the latest, the Australian monarchy has been a distinct office and in that capacity, they act exclusively upon the advice of Australian state and federal ministers. Australia is one of the Commonwealth realms, 15 independent countries that share the same person as monarch and head of state.
International and domestic aspects
The monarch of Australia is the same person as the monarch of the 14 other Commonwealth realms within the 56-member Commonwealth of Nations. However, each realm is independent of the others, the monarchy in each being distinct from the rest. Effective with the Australia Act 1986, the British government cannot advise the monarch on any matters pertinent to Australia; on all matters of the Australian Commonwealth, the monarch is advised solely by Australian federal ministers of state. Likewise, on all matters relating to any Australian state, the monarch is advised by the ministers of that state, tendered via the premier.Emergence of a separate Crown
Courts and academics have proposed several dates on which the Crown of Australia separated from the Crown of the United Kingdom. These include 1926, when at an Imperial Conference it was announced that governors-general would no longer represent the government of the United Kingdom or 1930, when at another Imperial Conference it was clarified that the monarch would be advised directly by dominion ministers. Anne Twomey argues for this later date at the latest. Others have suggested the Crowns separated once Australia became fully independent, with dates suggested including 1931, 1939 or 1942 or 1986. However, members of the High Court have indicated that the separation of the Crowns was complete by at least 1948, as seen by the creation of Australian citizenship laws.Despite the emergence of an Australian Crown at the federal level, prior to the Australia Acts in 1986 the states still operated under the Crown of the United Kingdom. It has been debated whether the end of that relationship in 1986 led to a unified Australian crown or created, in addition to the federal crown, separate crowns for each state. However, this distinction is of little practical importance while the states and the Commonwealth continue to recognise the same sovereign.
Title
The formal title of the current monarch is King ''Charles the Third, by the Grace of God King of Australia and His other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth.Prior to 1953, the title of the Australian monarch had simply been the same as that in the United Kingdom. A change in the title resulted from occasional discussion among Commonwealth prime ministers and an eventual meeting in London in December 1952, at which Australia's officials stated their preference for a format for Queen Elizabeth II's title that would name all the realms. However, they stated they would also accept Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, , and all of her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth ''. The latter composition was adopted, despite some objections from the South African and Canadian governments. The sovereign's title in all her realms thus kept mention of the United Kingdom, but, for the first time, also separately mentioned Australia and the other Commonwealth realms. The passage of the Royal Style and Titles Act 1953 by the Parliament of Australia put these recommendations into law.
the Whitlam government replaced this with the Royal Style and Titles Act 1973, with Whitlam arguing that the inclusion and position of Elizabeth's title in the UK made the title not "sufficiently distinctively Australian" and that the phrase "Defender of the Faith" had "no historical or constitutional relevance in Australia". A new Royal Titles and Styles Bill that removed these references was passed by the federal Parliament. The governor-general, Sir Paul Hasluck, reserved royal assent for the monarch, as governor-general Sir William McKell had done with the 1953 Royal Titles and Styles Bill to allow Elizabeth to give her assent in person, which she did at Government House in Canberra on 19 October 1973.
At the state level, Western Australia and South Australia have independently legislated the monarch's title to be the same as the Commonwealth title. There is limited reference to the monarch's title in the other states, however parliamentarians have used expressions such as "Queen of " and "Queen in right of " during parliamentary debates. In 1973, Queensland sought to pass legislation to include Queensland specifically in the monarch's title. The Queensland parliament passed legislation seeking an advisory opinion from the Privy Council as to whether they had the legislative power to do, however this legislation was declared unconstitutional by the High Court. In seeking this title, the Queensland government's motivation was to dissuade the British from accepting the Whitlam government's advice that all of the British government's then authority over the states should be transferred to the federal government. The dismissal of the Whitlam government in 1975 removed the impetus for the title change and no further steps were taken in the matter.
Succession
Royal succession is determined by a mix of common law, British law that continues to apply in Australia, and more recent Australian federal and state statutes. These entail that succession follows the eldest non-adopted child of the current monarch, with the restriction that an heir must be in communion with the Church of England and not a Roman Catholic to ascend the throne.History
These rules have evolved over centuries. The British statutes, the Bill of Rights 1689 and the Act of Settlement 1701 first limited succession to legitimate descendants of Sophia, Electress of Hanover and imposed religious requirements in the context of the Glorious Revolution. These laws were received alongside all other British laws to Australia when Australia was settled. Considering the colonial status of the individual colonies and later the federated Australia, it was accepted at the time that these laws could only be changed by the UK Parliament.Later, Australia and the other dominions gained greater legislative independence with the passage of the Statute of Westminster 1931. While this allowed the dominions to pass laws that conflicted with UK laws, to ensure that succession laws remained consistent, the preamble noted that it would be in keeping with each Commonwealth realm's constitutional practice that any succession changes would require the consent of the parliaments of each realm.
As Australia had not yet adopted the Statute of Westminster by the time of the abdication of Edward VIII in 1936, the UK Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 applied automatically without the need for Australia's consent. However, the Australian federal Parliament did pass a resolution of assent to the changes as a matter of courtesy.
The most recent reforms to the succession occurred following the Perth Agreement in 2011, in which all the Commonwealth realms agreed to changes including the removal of a preference towards male heirs and the repeal of the Royal Marriages Act 1772. As the Australian federal Parliament does not have a head of power over succession, it required a referral legislation from each of the states. The Northern Territory also added its request and concurrence, although this was not constitutionally required. The federal legislation finally become law on 24 March 2015 and as Australia was the last realm to the make the required changes, the act took effect on 26 March 2015, parallel to other realms' laws.
Demise of the Crown
Upon a demise of the Crown, it is customary for the accession of the new monarch to be publicly proclaimed by the governor-general on behalf of the Federal Executive Council, which meets at Government House after the accession. Parallel proclamations are made by the governors in each state. Regardless of any proclamations, the late sovereign's heir immediately and automatically succeeds, without any need for confirmation or further ceremony. Following an appropriate period of mourning, the monarch is also crowned at a coronation ceremony in the United Kingdom; though, this is not necessary for a sovereign to reign, being primarily a symbolic event. For example, Edward VIII was never crowned, yet was undoubtedly king during his short time on the throne. After an individual ascends the throne, he or she typically continues to reign until death.The monarch legally cannot unilaterally abdicate; the only Australian monarch to do so, Edward VIII, did so following the passage of British legislation. While the UK has passed regency acts from 1936 onwards to prepare for a situation when the monarch is incapacitated, the dominions did not agree for these acts to be extended into domestic law as it was felt that governors-general could exercise all the powers a regent would need to exercise. Issues could arise if the monarch was incapacitated for a particularly long period, as there is no other legal method for the governor-general to be replaced.