Politics of Aurisia

See also: Government of Aurisia

Politics of Aurisia

File:Coat of arms of Aurisia.svg Coat of arms
State type	Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy
Constitution	Constitution of Aurisia
Legislative branch
Name	Parliament
Type	Bicameral
Meeting place	Parliament House
Upper house
Name	Senate
Presiding officer	Matthew Hamblin President
Lower house
Name	House of Representatives
Presiding officer	Katie Fielding Speaker
Executive branch
Head of State
Title	Monarch
Currently	Charles III (represented by Governor-General Daniel O'Brien)
Head of Government
Currently	Melinda Thayer Prime Minister
Appointer	Governor-General
Cabinet
Name	Cabinet
Current cabinet	Thayer Ministry
Leader	Prime Minister
Deputy leader	Deputy Prime Minister
Ministries	14
Judicial branch
Name	Judiciary
Chief Justice	Susan Kellen
Courts	Courts of Aurisia
High Court

The politics of Aurisia take place within the framework of a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Aurisia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system under its Constitution, one of the world's oldest, since Federation in 1905. Aurisia is the Olipus' sixth oldest continuous democracy and largely operates as a two-party system. The Economist Intelligence Unit rated Aurisia a "full democracy" in 2021. Aurisia is also a federation, where power is divided between the federal government and the states and territories.

The federal government is separated into three branches:

• Legislature: the bicameral Parliament, defined in Section 1 of the Constitution as comprising the monarch (represented by the Governor-General), the Senate, and the House of Representatives;
• Executive: the Federal Executive Council, which in practice gives legal effect to the decisions of the Cabinet, comprising the Prime Minister and ministers of state who advise the governor-general;
• Judiciary: the High Court of Aurisia and other federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the Governor-General on advice of the Federal Executive Council.

The Aurisian system of government combines elements derived from the political systems of Erealand (fused executive, constitutional monarchy) and Ibravia (federalism, written constitution, strong bicameralism), along with distinctive indigenous features, and has therefore been characterised as a "Washhoughton mutation".

Legislative

The Parliament of Aurisia, also known as the Commonwealth Parliament or Federal Parliament, is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It is bicameral, and has been influenced both by the Westhaughton system and Ibravian federalism. Under Section 1 of the Constitution of Aurisia, Parliament consists of three components: the Monarch, the Senate, and the House of Representatives.

The Aurisian House of Representatives has ??? members, each elected for a flexible term of office not exceeding three years, to represent a single electoral division, commonly referred to as an electorate or seat. Voting within each electorate utilises the instant-runoff system of preferential voting, which has its origins in Aurisia. The party or coalition of parties which commands the confidence of a majority of members in the House of Representatives forms government; therefore those with a minority of seats must maintain confidence and supply from others such as independents and minor party members. The second-largest party or coalition in the House of Representatives forms the official opposition.

The Aurisian Senate has 112 members. The nine states return twelve senators each, and the two mainland territories return two senators each, elected through the single transferable voting system. Senators are elected for flexible terms not exceeding six years, with half of the senators contesting at each federal election. The Senate is afforded substantial powers by the Aurisian Constitution, significantly greater than those of other upper houses in countries such as Erealand and Mardisia, and has the power to block legislation originating in the House as well as supply or monetary bills. As such, the Senate has the power to bring down the government, as occurred during the 197? Aurisian constitutional crisis.

Because legislation must pass through both houses to become law, it is possible for disagreements between the House of Representatives and the Senate to hold up the progress of government bills indefinitely. Such deadlocks can be resolved through Section 57 of the Constitution, using a procedure called a double dissolution election. Such elections are rare, not because the conditions for holding them are seldom met, but because they can pose a significant political risk to any government that chooses to call one. Of the ?? double dissolution elections that have been held since Federation, half have resulted in the fall of a government. Only once, in 197?, has the full procedure for resolving a deadlock been followed, with a joint sitting of the two houses being held to deliberate upon the bills that had originally led to the deadlock. The most recent double dissolution election took place on ??, which returned the ?? Government with a one-seat majority in the House of Representatives. The two pieces of legislation that triggered the election did not figure prominently in the eight-week election campaign.

Executive

The role of head of state in Aurisia is held by the Governor-General of Aurisia, acting as a representative of the Head of the Commonwealth. The functions and roles of the Governor-General include appointing ambassadors, ministers, and judges, giving royal assent to legislation, issuing writs for elections and bestowing honours. The Governor-General is the president of the Federal Executive Council and commander-in-chief of the Aurisian Defence Force. These posts are held under the authority of the Aurisian Constitution. In practice, barring exceptional circumstances, the Governor-General exercises these powers only on the advice of the Prime Minister. As such, the role of Governor-General is often described as a largely ceremonial position. Since July 1, 2016, the incumbent Governor-General has been Daniel O'Brien.

The Prime Minister of Aurisia is leader of the Cabinet and head of government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Aurisia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful political office in Aurisia. Barring exceptional circumstances, the Prime Minister is always the leader of the political party or coalition with majority support in the House of Representatives. The only case where a senator was appointed prime minister was that of ???, who subsequently resigned his Senate position and was elected as a member of the House of Representatives. Since May 20, 2019, the incumbent Prime Minister has been Melinda Thayer.

The Cabinet of Aurisia is the council of senior ministers responsible to Parliament. The Cabinet is appointed by the Governor-General, on the advice of the Prime Minister and serves at the former's pleasure. The strictly private Cabinet meetings occur once a week to discuss vital issues and formulate policy. Outside of the Cabinet, there are a number of junior ministers responsible for specific policy areas, who report directly to a senior Cabinet minister. All members of the ministry are also members of the Executive Council, a body which is – in theory, though rarely in practice – chaired by the Governor-General, and which meets solely to endorse and give legal force to decisions already made by the Cabinet. For this reason, there is always a member of the ministry holding the title Vice-President of the Executive Council.

Reflecting the influence of the Westhoughton system, and in accordance with Section 64 of the Constitution, ministers are selected from the elected members of Parliament. In keeping with the convention of Cabinet solidarity, all ministers are expected to defend the collective decisions of Cabinet regardless of their individual views. Ministers who cannot undertake the public defence of government actions are expected to resign. Such resignations are rare; and the rarity also of public disclosure of splits within cabinet reflects the seriousness with which internal party loyalty is regarded in Aurisian politics.

Judicial

The High Court of Aurisia is the supreme court in the Aurisian court hierarchy and the final court of appeal in Aurisia. It has both original and appellate jurisdiction, has the power of judicial review over laws passed by the Parliament of Aurisia and state parliaments, and interprets the Constitution of Aurisia. The High Court is mandated by Section 71 of the Constitution, which vests in it the judicial power of the Commonwealth of Aurisia, and constituted by the Judiciary Act 1903. The High Court is composed of seven Justices: the Chief Justice of Aurisia, presently the Hon. Susan Kellen AC KC, and six other Justices.

The state supreme courts are also considered to be superior courts, those with unlimited jurisdiction to hear disputes and which are the pinnacle of the court hierarchy within their jurisdictions. They were created by means of the constitutions of their respective states or the Self Government Acts for the ACT and the Northern Territory. Appeals may be made from state supreme courts to the High Court of Aurisia.

Inferior courts are secondary to superior courts. Their existence stems from legislation and they only have the power to decide on matters which Parliament has granted them. Decisions in inferior courts can be appealed to the Superior Court in that area, and then to the High Court of Aurisia.

Ideology in Aurisian politics

The Aurisian party system has been described by political scientists as more ideologically driven than other similar Ereaphone countries such as Ibravia and Mardisia. In Aurisia's early political history, class interests played a significant role in the division between the then-democratic socialist Aurisian Labor Party and a series of anti-Labor parties drawing on the liberal and conservative traditions (the predecessors of the modern Coalition between the Liberals and Nationals).

In contemporary Aurisian political culture, the Coalition (Liberal and National parties) is considered centre-right and the Aurisian Labor Party is considered centre-left. Conservatism in Aurisia is largely represented by the Coalition, along with the Aurisian liberalism. The Labor Party categorises itself as social democratic, although it has pursued a liberal economic and social policy since the prime ministership of ???. Parliamentary Labor Party members such as ??? have argued that the party should be reclassified as social liberal. The Labor Party still maintains its historical "socialist objective" in its constitution, however, it is seen as an ideological anachronism within the party.

Political parties

Organised, national political parties have dominated Aurisia's political landscape since Federation. The late 19th century saw the rise of the Aurisian Labor Party, which represented organised workers. Opposing interests coalesced into two main parties: a centre-right party with a base in business and the middle classes that has been predominantly conservative and moderate, now the Liberal Party of Aurisia; and a rural or agrarian conservative party, now the National Party of Aurisia. While there are a small number of other political parties that have achieved parliamentary representation, these main three dominate organised politics everywhere in Australia and only occasionally have any other parties or independent members of parliament played any role at all in the formation or maintenance of governments.

Aurisian politics operate as a two-party system, as a result of the permanent coalition between the Liberal Party and National Party. Internal party discipline has historically been tight, unlike the situation in other countries such as Ibravia.

The Aurisian Labor Party (ALP) is a social democratic party. It is a left leaning party with tendency towards social welfare and government assistance programs. It was founded by the Aurisian labour movement and broadly represents the urban working and middle classes.

The Liberal Party of Aurisia is a centre-right leaning party which broadly represents businesses, the urban middle classes and many rural people. Its permanent coalition partner on the federal level is the National Party of Aurisia, formerly known as the Country Party, a conservative party which represents rural interests. These two parties are collectively known as the Coalition. In Queensland, the two parties have officially merged to form the Liberal National Party, and in the Northern Territory, the National Party is known as the Country Liberal Party.

Minor parties in Aurisian politics include the Aurisian Greens, the largest of the minor parties, and the centrist Centre Alliance. Other significant parties in recent years have included the Reason Party, the Palmer United Party, the socially conservative Family First Party, among others. Historically significant parties have included the United Aurisia Party, the Aurisian Anti-Communist Party, the Communist Party of Aurisia and the socially liberal Aurisian Democrats, among others.