AUSTRALIA

Government
The Government of the Commonwealth of Australia, also known as the Australian
Government, Commonwealth Government or Federal Government, is the administrative
authority of Australia. The Commonwealth of Australia, a federal constitutional
monarchy under a parliamentary democracy, was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement
among six self-governing British colonies, which became the six states. The terms of this
agreement are embodied in the Australian Constitution, which was drawn up at
a Constitutional Convention and ratified by the people of the colonies atreferendums. The
structure of the Australian Government may be examined in light of two distinct concepts,
namely federalism and the separation of powers into executive, legislative,
and judicial branches of government. Separation of powers is implied from the structure of
the Constitution which breaks down the branches of government into separate chapters.
Poverty
Poverty in Australia is a contentious political issue. Many on the left wing of Australian
politics argue that relative poverty ought to be the appropriate measure.
[citation
needed]
Relative incomepoverty, for example, looks at the percentage of the population that
earns less in comparison to average earnings. Many on the right of Australian politics argue
that this relative measure is a mistake because it hides the existence of absolute poverty in
Australia by looking only at those who, for whatever reason, earn relatively little.
[citation
needed]
Some of the latest information on poverty in Australia comes from a study conducted
by the Australian Council of Social Service in 2012. The Report, Poverty In Australia, shows
that in 2010, after taking account of housing costs, an estimated 2,265,000 people or 12.8%
of all people, including 575,000 children (17.3% of all children), lived in households below
the most austere poverty line widely used in international research.
Contacts and colonisation

Augustus Earle, Bungaree, 1826, lithograph. Image courtesy of the State Library of New
South Wales.
In the winter of 1791, the process of British colonisation of Western Australia began when
George Vancouver claimed the Albany region in the name of King George III. In the summer
of 1801, Matthew Flinders was welcomed by Nyungar upon his arrival aboard
the Investigator and various items were exchanged. On the 1802 voyage from Sydney,
Flinders recruited two Aboriginal people, Bungaree, who had sailed with him on the Norfolk,
and Nanbaree. The visit of Flinders and other mariners to the coast of Arnhem Land is
recorded in the paintings of 'praus' and European ships at rock art sites.
Initially, relations between the explorers and the Aboriginal inhabitants were generally
hospitable and based on understanding the terms of trading for food, water, axes, cloth and
artefacts, a relationship encouraged by Governor Phillip. These relations became hostile as
Aborigines realised that the land and resources upon which they depended and the order of
their life were seriously disrupted by the on-going presence of the colonisers. Between 1790
and 1810, clans people of the Eora group in the Sydney area, led by Pemulwuy of the
Bidjigal clan, undertook a campaign of resistance against the English colonisers in a series of
attacks.
In 1821 Bundle/Bundell sailed on board H.M. Brig Bathurst, under the command of Phillip
Parker King, on a surveying voyage to the northern coast of Australia. Bundle replaced, at
short notice, Bungaree, who had sailed with Flinders. After surveying the northern and north-
western coastline of Australia, Bundle accompanied King on his survey work of the western
coast of Australia between 1821-22, travelling to Mauritius for repairs. Bundle, an Eora man
who ranged from Port Jackson to Parramatta, in the company of Tedbury, the son of
Pemulwuy, was renowned for his tracking skills. Bundle had accompanied the Surveyor
George William Evans on board the Lady Nelson in the party sent to explore Jervis Bay in
1812 and, with another Aboriginal named 'Broughton', accompanied Charles Throsby on his
exploratory expedition into the southern region in 1818.
Monetary unit
Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas
Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of
Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu.

Independence
Australia is one of the world's rich, developed countries. It is also one of the world's most
industrialized countries. The economy of Australiais one of the largest capitalist economies in
the world with a GDP of US$1.57 trillion.
[13]
Australia's total wealth is 6.4 trillion dollars. In
2011, it was the 13th largest national economy by nominal GDP
[14]
and the 17th-largest
measured by PPP adjusted GDP, about 1.7% of the world economy. Australia is the 19th-
largest importer and 19th-largest exporter. Economy of Australia is quarterly forecasted by
the Reserve Bank of Australia.
[15]
Australian National University also supplements
Probabilistic interest rate setting project for the Australian Economy, which is compiled by
Shadow Board Members from the ANU academic staff.
[16]

The Australian economy is dominated by its service sector, comprising 68% of GDP. The
mining sector represents 10% of GDP; the "mining-related economy" represents 9% of GDP
the total mining sector is 19% of GDP.
[17]
Economic growth is largely dependent on the
mining sector and agricultural sector with the products to be exported mainly to the East
Asian market.
[18]
IT related jobs (such as computer system design and engineering) belong to
the category of Professional, Scientific and Technical Services as defined by the Department
of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations of Australia that its job creations appear
mostly in the state capital cities of Australia.
[19]

The Australian Securities Exchange is the largest stock exchange in Australia and in the
South Pacific
[20]
and ranks 9th in the world in terms of market capitalization.
[21]
Australia is
home to some of the largest (commodity) companies in the world, including but not limited
to, BHP Billiton, National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank, Rio Tinto
Group, ANZ, Westpac, Telstra, Macquarie Bank, Woolworths and AMP which also are the
10 largest companies in Australia.
[22]
The Australian dollar is the currency of the
Commonwealth of Australia and itsterritories, including Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling)
Islands, and Norfolk Island. It is also the official currency of the independent Pacific Island
nations of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu.
Australia is a member of the APEC, G20, OECD and WTO. The country has also entered
into free trade agreements with ASEAN, Chile, New Zealand, Thailand, and the United
States.
[23]
The ANZCERTA agreement with New Zealand has greatly increased integration
with the New Zealand economy and in 2011 there was a plan to form an Australasian Single
Economic Market by 2015.

Mining boom
The establishment of a mining industry continued the high level of economic growth in the
post-war period. The opportunities for large profits in pastoralism and mining attracted
considerable amounts of British capital, while expansion generally was supported by
enormous government outlays for transport, communication and urban infrastructures, which
also depended heavily on British finance. As the economy expanded, large-scale immigration
became necessary to satisfy the growing demand for workers, especially after the end of
convict transportation to the eastern mainland in 1840. Australia's mining operations secured
continued economic growth and Western Australia itself has benefited strongly from
mining iron-ore and gold from the 1960s and 1970's which fueled the rise of suburbanisation
and consumerism in Perth, the capital and most populous city of WA as well as other regional
centres. Australia's economy grew at an average annual rate of 3.6% for over 15 years, well
above the OECD average of 2.5%.
[25]

Population
22,015,576 (July 2011 est.)
Age structure
0-14 years: 18.3% (male 2,040,848/female 1,937,544)
15-64 years: 67.7% (male 7,469,092/female 7,266,143)
65 years and over: 14% (male 1,398,576/female 1,654,508) (2011 est.)
Median age
total: 37.7 years
male: 37 years
female: 38.4 years (2011 est.)
Population growth rate
1.126% (2011 est.)
Birth rate
12.28 births/1,000 population (2011 est.)
Death rate
6.94 deaths/1,000 population (July 2011 est.)
Net migration rate
5.93 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2011 est.)
Urbanization
urban population: 89% of total population (2010)
rate of urbanization: 1.2% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)
Major cities - population
Sydney 4.429 million; Melbourne 3.853 million; Brisbane 1.97 million; Perth 1.599 million;
CANBERRA (capital) 384,000 (2009)
Sex ratio
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.85 male(s)/female
total population: 1 male(s)/female (2011 est.)
Infant mortality rate
total: 4.55 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 4.87 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 4.21 deaths/1,000 live births (2011 est.)
Life expectancy at birth
total population: 81.9 years
male: 79.48 years
female: 84.45 years (2011 est.)
Total fertility rate
1.77 children born/woman (2011 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate
0.1% (2009 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS
20,000 (2009 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths
fewer than 100 (2009 est.)
Nationality
noun: Australian(s)
adjective: Australian
Ethnic groups
white 92%, Asian 7%, aboriginal and other 1%
Religions
Protestant 27.4% (Anglican 18.7%, Uniting Church 5.7%, Presbyterian and Reformed 3%),
Catholic 25.8%, Eastern Orthodox 2.7%, other Christian 7.9%, Buddhist 2.1%, Muslim 1.7%,
other 2.4%, unspecified 11.3%, none 18.7% (2006 Census)
Languages
English 78.5%, Chinese 2.5%, Italian 1.6%, Greek 1.3%, Arabic 1.2%, Vietnamese 1%, other
8.2%, unspecified 5.7% (2006 Census)
Literacy
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99%
male: 99%
female: 99% (2003 est.)
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)
total: 21 years
male: 20 years
female: 21 years (2008)
Education expenditures
4.5% of GDP (2007)
Maternal mortality rate
8 deaths/100,000 live births (2008)
Health expenditures
8.5% of GDP (2009)
Physicians density
2.991 physicians/1,000 population (2009)
Hospital bed density
3.82 beds/1,000 population (2009)
Obesity - adult prevalence rate
16.4% (2005)
Australia is a politically stable country with a multicultural society that has a high standard of
living
and generally good health by world standards. However, Indigenous peoples, who make up
2.4% of
the Australian population, do not share this good fortune with other Australians. Their health
outcomes are, by standard measures, much poorer than that of other Australians. Good
policymaking is a crucial part of changing this inequitable situation.
Indigenous health policymaking in Australia is a highly complex process. Management is
increasingly using an evidence-based approach around policy decisions, with evidence used
as a
decision support tool. Health policy operates at four levels: strategic, sectoral, operational,
and
clinical. There are interactions at the different levels, and various actors, constituencies and
interest
groups impact across all levels. Moreover, there are clear gradients in evidence-based and
politically-based decision making across these levels.
Evidence-based policymaking in Indigenous Health is of great importance when addressing
issues
of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health inequalities. The concept of evidence and
what Lin
(2003) describes as coinciding (wording) rationalities is explored in this paper, within the
context of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health. The three coinciding rationalities as described
by Lin
are cultural, political and technical. A social rationality can also be included which relates to
how
we see and know the world. The social rationality can differ according to class, race and
ethnicity.
White-middle class Australians and Indigenous Australians do not think and interpret realities
in the
same way because of their divergent structural positions, histories and cultures. I argue that
cultural
rationalities inform and shape social, political and technical rationalities because in our view
the
latter are grounded in and developed by the former.
RACIAL CONFLICT
Various examples of violence have been attributed to racial factors during the
recorded history of Australia since white settlement, and a level of inter-tribal rivalry and
violence among Indigenous Australians pre-dates the arrival of white settlers from Britain in
1788.
During the period of British colonisation, various incidents of inter-racial tension and
competition for land and resources between Europeans and Indigenous peoples involved
violence, which was a factor in the decline of indigenous populations during the 19th century.
Incidents of racial violence between settler communities followed the large scale multi-ethnic
immigration of the Australian goldrushes of the mid-19th century - notably white miners
targeting Chinese miners - which contributed to the development of the White Australia
Policy which preferenced British and "white" immigration to Australia for some decades. The
policy resulted in a largely racially homogenous population by the mid-20th century.
Australia's large scale, Post-World War Two, multi-ethnic immigration program has seen
Australia develop into one of the most ethnically diverse nations, with relatively little racial
violence, and in which incitement to racial violence is a crime. Nevertheless, incidents and
examples of violence between the various ethnicities of modern Australia have continued to
be attributed to racial motivations up to the present time.