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How well do you know the Australian Constitution? Take our quiz to find out

  1. Which provisions of the Australian Constitution reference Australia’s First Peoples?
  1. The preamble
  2. Section 51(xxvi)
  3. Sections 51(xxvi) and 127
  4. None of the above

2. How did the Australian Constitution become law?

  1. By a vote of delegates to the Australian Constitutional Conventions
  2. By enactment of a British Act of Parliament
  3. By approval in a referendum
  4. By ratification of the Australian states

3. Aspects of Australia’s constitutional design are drawn from which of the following countries? 

  1. The United States
  2. Germany
  3. Switzerland
  4. All of the above

4. The High Court of Australia has been Australia’s final court of appeal since:

  1. 1903
  2. 1946
  3. 1986
  4. 1996

5. How many advisory opinions has the High Court of Australia given?

  1. 32
  2. 16
  3. 8
  4. 0

6. International treaties to which Australia is a party have what status at Australian law?

  1. Treaty obligations override conflicting constitutional provisions
  2. Treaty obligations override conflicting legislation
  3. Treaty obligations have the status of ordinary legislation
  4. Treaty obligations ordinarily have no direct domestic legal effect

7. International law is referred to in only one provision of the Australian Constitution. Which is it? 

  1. Section 51 (xxix)
  2. Section 51 (xxvi)
  3. Section 61
  4. Section 75(i)
  1. The original High Court of Australia had how many justices?
  1. 3
  2. 5
  3. 7
  4. 9
  1. Each of the Australian States has its own Constitution. When did those Constitutions come into existence? 
  1. Before the Australian Constitution
  2. At the same time as the Australian Constitution
  3. After the Australian Constitution
  4. The Constitutions of New South Wales and Victoria came into existence prior to the Australian Constitution; the remainder after the Australian Constitution.

10. The Australian Constitution does not yet recognise Australia’s Indigenous peoples. The Constitutions of which Australian States contain a form of Indigenous recognition?

  1. Victoria and New South Wales
  2. Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland
  3. All States other than Western Australia
  4. All States

11. Before federation, the nationality status of persons in the Australian Colonies was “subject of the Queen”? When did the status of “Australian citizen” arise?

  1. In 1901
  2. In 1929
  3. In 1949
  4. In 1979

12. Section 44(i) of the Australian Constitutions disqualifies “any person who is under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power, or is a subject or citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a citizen of a foreign power” from being a Member of Parliament. What constitutes a “foreign power” for the purposes of s 44(i)?

  1. All foreign nations other than nations which are members of the British Commonwealth
  2. All foreign nations other than nations which are members of the United Kingdom
  3. All foreign nations other than New Zealand
  4. All foreign nations

13. Which of the following Australian jurisdictions has a Bill or Charter of Rights? 

  1. The Commonwealth of Australia
  2. Western Australia
  3. Victoria
  4. New South Wales
  1. In 1999, Australia had a referendum on amendments to the Australian Constitution, which would have made Australia a Republic. The referendum failed. A majority vote in favour was achieved in only one Australian State or Territory. Which was it? 
  1. New South Wales
  2. Australian Capital Territory
  3. Victoria
  4. Northern Territory
  1. The “separation of judicial power” principle was definitively identified by the High Court in which landmark decision?
  1. Amalgamated Society of Engineers v Adelaide Steamship Co Ltd (1920) 28 CLR 129 (‘Engineers’ Case’)
  2. Australian Communist Party v Commonwealth (1951) 83 CLR 1 (‘Communist Party Case’)
  3. R v Kirby; Ex Parte Boilermakers’ Society of Australia (1956) 94 CLR 254 (‘Boilermakers’)
  4. Melbourne Corporation v Commonwealth (1947) 74 CLR 31 (‘State Banking Case’)
  1. On how many occasions has Australia been a litigant before the International Court of Justice? 
  1. Never
  2. Twice
  3. Five times
  4. Eight times
  1. The Australian Constitution states that the “Executive power of the Commonwealth is vested in” whom?
  1. The Queen
  2. The Governor-General
  3. The Prime Minister
  4. Government Ministers
  1. The Constitution defines Parliament as having three components. Which of the following is not one of those components?
  1. The Queen
  2. The House of Representatives
  3. The Senate
  4. The Prime Minister
  1. Which of the following is a constitutional pre-requisite for a federal Minister of State?
  1. That they have attained the age of 35
  2. That they hold a seat in Parliament
  3. That they have significant private sector experience
  4. That they are a resident of a State rather than a Territory
  1. In what year was the first female High Court judge appointed?
  1. 1977
  2. 1987
  3. 1997
  4. 1999
  1. Section 51 of the Constitution enumerates matters in respect of which the Commonwealth Parliament has power to legislate. Which of the following is not one of them?
  1. “the influx of criminals”
  2. “lighthouses, lightships, beacons and buoys”
  3. “piracy and felonies committed on the high Seas”
  4. “relations…with the islands of the Pacific”

22. At what age must justices of the High Court of Australia retire?

  1. 70
  2. 75
  3. 80
  4. High Court justices are appointed for life
  1. Which Australian Courts have the power to declare a law of the Commonwealth or a State unconstitutional? 
  1. Only the High Court of Australia
  2. The High Court of Australia and the Federal Court of Australia
  3. The High Court of Australia, the Federal Court of Australia, and State Supreme Courts
  4. Every Australian Court of competent jurisdiction
  1. Australia contains how many common law systems?
  1. English common law
  2. Australian common law
  3. Each State and Territory has its own common law, but there is no federal common law
  4. Each State and Territory has its own common law, and there are “enclaves” of federal common law
  1. Intergovernmental agreements are frequently entered into between the Commonwealth and the States in the exercise of their respective executive powers. What is the status of these agreements? 
  1. They are a both a law of the Commonwealth and the participating States
  2. They are a law of the Commonwealth, but not a law of the participating States
  3. They are a law of the participating States, but not a law of the Commonwealth
  4. They are neither a law of the Commonwealth, nor a law of the participating States

Answers:

  1. 4 – None of the above – The Australian Constitution makes no reference to Australia’s First Peoples or their societies, laws, and cultures. Originally, section 127 excluded Aboriginal people from the population headcount, and section 51(xxvi) excluded Aboriginal people living in the States from Commonwealth jurisdiction under the “races power”. However, section 127 was repealed and the exclusion in section 51(xxvi) removed by referendum in 1967: see Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution, p 27-49.
  2. 2 – By enactment of a British Act of Parliament – Since the Australian federation was to be the union of several independent British colonies, which were to remain under the British Crown and within the British Empire, the Constitution was enacted by the British Parliament as the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (Imp). The Act came into force, and the Commonwealth of Australia came into being on 1 January 1901: see Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution, p 79.
  3. 4 – All of the above – Many delegates to the Australian Constitutional Conventions were well-versed in other constitutional systems, and element of those systems were adapted for Australian purposes. From the United States comes, for instance, the separation of powers; from Germany, provision for aged pensions; from Switzerland, referenda procedures: see Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution, p 81. 
  4. 3 – 1986 – The High Court has been Australia’s final court of appeal since the passage of the Australia Act 1986 (Cth). The Australia Act abolished appeals from State Courts to the Privy Council. Earlier legislation had abolished appeals to the Privy Council from the High Court: see Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution, pp 95, 456.
  5. 4 – 0 – In re Judiciary and Navigation Acts (1921) 29 CLR 258, the High Court held that it had no power to give advisory opinions. Despite the prohibition on advisory opinions, however, the Court may, in certain circumstances, give declaratory judgments, make declarations as to the constitutionality of legislation, and resolve questions of criminal law on appeal even where the accused has been acquitted: see Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution, pp 456, 514.
  6. 4 – Treaty obligations ordinarily have no direct domestic legal effect – Subject to certain exceptions, international treaties do not form part of Australian domestic law, unless their provisions have been validly incorporated into domestic law by statute: see Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution, p 242.
  7. 4 – Section 75(i) – The sole reference to international law is found in section 75(i) of the Australian Constitution, which confers original jurisdiction on the High Court in matters arising under any treaty. Otherwise the Constitution is silent with respect to international law, making no reference to the power to enter into treaties or the effect of treaties in domestic law, and no express reference to the power to implement treaties. This reflects the fact that responsibility for making treaties was expected, at the time of drafting the Australian Constitution, to remain with the Imperial Crown: Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution, p 237.
  8. 1 – 3 – The original high court had three justices. That increased to five in 1906 and to seven in 1912: See Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution, p 456.
  9. 1 – Before the Australian Constitution – Each of the Australian States’ Constitutions preceded the Australian Constitution. They are legal instruments separate from the Australian Constitution and were retained “as is” upon federation, except insofar as they were qualified by the creation of a federal system: Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution, p 277.
  10. 4 – All States –  All Australian State Constitutions have been amended to provide some form of Indigenous recognition. Victoria was the first to do so, in 2004, followed by Queensland and New South Wales in 2010, South Australia in 2013, Western Australia in 2015 and Tasmania in 2016: Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution, p 306.
  11. 3 – In 1949 – Following a meeting of members of the British Commonwealth in 1947, at which members agreed to a system of nationality across the Commonwealth, the Australian Parliament enacted the Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948 (Cth) which came into effect on 26 January 1949. The general rule was that persons born within Australia would be Australian citizens, but also “by virtue of that citizenship… British subjects.” References to “subject” status were finally deleted from federal legislation in 1987: Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution, p 342.
  12. 4 – All foreign nations – In the High Court’s 1999 Sue v Hill decision, the Court held that for the purposes of s 44(i), the United Kingdom is a foreign power to Australia, and disqualified Heather Hill, a woman with dual Australian and UK citizenship from sitting as a federal Senator: Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution, p 354.
  13. 3 – Victoria – Only Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory have statutory Charters of Rights, although Queensland will shortly follow suit: see Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution, p 369.
  14. 2 – Australian Capital Territory – Only the Australian Capital Territory returned a majority in favour: Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution, p 389.
  15. 3 – R v Kirby; Ex Parte Boilermakers’ Society of Australia (1956) 94 CLR 254 (‘Boilermakers’) – In Boilermakers, the High Court identified as implicit in Australia’s constitution the separation of judicial power principle. The principle has two limbs. The first limb prohibits the executive and legislative branches from exercising judicial power. The second limb prohibits the conferral of non-judicial powers and functions on federal courts: see Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution, p 678-79.
  16. 3 – Five times – Australia accepted the jurisdiction of the ICJ in 1954 and has appeared as a litigant before the ICJ five times, twice as applicant (the Nuclear Test Case and the Whaling in the Antarctic Case) and three times as respondent (The Case Concerning Certain Phosphate Lands in Nauru, the East Timor Case, and the Seizure and Detention of Certain Documents and Data case): see Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution, p 436.
  17. 1 – The Queen – Section 61 states that the “executive power of the Commonwealth is vested in the Queen” though “exercised by the Governor-General as the Queen’s representative.” In practice, however, this makes the Governor General the effective constitutional head of the executive branch. To the extent the Queen plays an active role, it is to appoint and dismiss Governors-Generals, on the advice of the Prime Minister: see Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution, p 590
  18. 4 – The Prime Minister – Section 1 of the Constitution vests legislative power in the Parliament, which is defined as comprising the Queen, the House of Representatives, and the Senate: see Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution, p 620.
  19. 2 – That they hold a seat in Parliament – Section 64 of the Constitution provides that federal Ministers of State must hold seats in the Parliament. This is a key component of Australia’s system of responsible and representative government, since it ensures that government Ministers are politically responsible to Parliament: see Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution, p 591-8.
  20. 2 – 1987 – Australia’s first female High Court judge, Justice Gaudron, was appointed in 1987, slightly later than the appointment of women judges to the highest courts in the United States and Canada. There are currently three female judges, Chief Justice Kiefel, Justices Bell and Gordon: See Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution, p 464.
  21. 3 – “piracy and felonies committed on the high Seas” – The framers of the Australian Constitution settled upon a relatively long list of matters in respect of which the Commonwealth would be able to legislate. “Piracy and felonies committed on the high Seas”, one of the enumerated powers in the United States’ Constitution, however, was not one of them: see Australian Handbook of the Australian Constitution, p 735, 769.
  22. 1 – 70 – High Court justices were originally appointed for life, but this was altered by constitutional amendment in 1977, which provided for a mandatory retirement age of 70: See Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution, p 465.
  23. 4 – Every Australian Court of competent jurisdiction – Every Australian Court of competent jurisdiction has the power to declare a law of the Commonwealth or of a State void by reason of transgressing the Constitution: see Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution, pp 488, 511.
  24. 2 – Australian common law – In contrast to the United Kingdom, where the Supreme Court determines Scottish appeals applying a different system of law, and the United States, where there is a separate common law in each State, as well as enclaves of federal common law, it is now settled that there is a single common law of Australia: see Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution, pp 197, 781.
  25. 4 – They are neither a law of the Commonwealth, nor a law of the participating States – Australia ranks third amongst federations in the number of intergovernmental agreements created. These intergovernmental agreements now pertain to virtually all aspects of government activities. However, intergovernmental agreements in the exercise of Commonwealth and State executive power are not laws, and there is no constitutional requirement for parliamentary involvement in the making of such agreements: see Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution, pp 820-21.

The launch of The Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution will be held at the Melbourne Law School on Friday, 25 May at 5 pm.

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