Politics of Australia in the context of "Democracy Index"

The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia and one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party has been in government since the 2022 federal election, and with political branches active in all the Australian states and territories, they currently hold government in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory. As of 2025, Queensland, Tasmania and Northern Territory are the only states or territories where Labor currently forms the opposition. It is the oldest continuously operating political party in Australian history, having been established on 8 May 1901 at Parliament House, Melbourne, the meeting place of the first Federal Parliament.

The ALP is descended from the labour parties founded in the various Australian colonies by the emerging labour movement. Colonial Labour parties contested seats from 1891, and began contesting federal seats following Federation at the 1901 federal election. In 1904, the ALP briefly formed what is considered the world's first labour party government and the world's first democratic socialist or social democratic government at a national level. At the 1910 federal election, Labor became the first party in Australia to win a majority in either house of the Australian parliament. In every election since 1910 Labor has either served as the governing party or the opposition. There have been 13 Labor prime ministers and 10 periods of federal Labor governments, including under Billy Hughes from 1915 to 1916, James Scullin from 1929 to 1932, John Curtin from 1941 to 1945, Ben Chifley from 1945 to 1949, Gough Whitlam from 1972 to 1975, Bob Hawke from 1983 to 1991, Paul Keating from 1991 to 1996, Kevin Rudd from 2007 to 2010 and 2013, Julia Gillard from 2010 to 2013, and Anthony Albanese since 2022.

The governor-general of Australia is the federal representative of the monarch of Australia, currently Charles III. The governor-general has many constitutional and ceremonial roles in the Australian political system, in which they have independent agency. However, they are generally bound by convention to act on the advice of the prime minister and the Federal Executive Council. They also have a significant community role, through recognising meritorious individuals and groups, and representing the nation as a whole. The current governor-general is Sam Mostyn.

Significant functions of the governor-general include giving royal assent to bills passed by the houses of parliament, issuing writs for elections, exercising executive power on the advice of the Federal Executive Council, formally appointing government officials (including the prime minister, other ministers, judges and ambassadors), acting as commander-in-chief of the Australian Defence Force, and bestowing Australian honours. However, in almost all instances the governor-general only exercises de jure power in accordance with the principles of the Westminster system and responsible government. This requires them to remain politically neutral and to only act in accordance with Parliament (such as when selecting the prime minister and providing royal assent) or on the advice of ministers (when performing executive actions). However, in certain limited circumstances, the governor-general can exercise reserve powers (powers that may be exercised without or against formal advice), most notably during the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis. These situations are often controversial and the use of and continued existence of these powers remains highly debated.

Parliament House is the meeting place of the Parliament of Australia, the legislative body of Australia's federal level of government. The building also houses the core of the executive (the Australian Government), containing the Cabinet room and offices of the Prime Minister and other federal ministers.

Located in Canberra, Parliament House is situated on the southern apex of the National Triangle atop Capital Hill, at the intersection of Commonwealth, Adelaide, Canberra and Kings Avenues enclosed by the State Circle.

The politics of Australia has a mild two-party system, with two dominant political groupings in the Australian political system, the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal Party of Australia. Federally, 13 of the 150 members of the lower house (Members of Parliament, or MPs) are not members of major parties, as well as 20 of the 76 members of the upper house (senators).

The Parliament of Australia has a number of distinctive features including compulsory voting, with full-preference instant-runoff voting in single-member seats to elect the lower house, the Australian House of Representatives, and the use of the single transferable vote to elect the upper house, the Australian Senate.

The Liberal Party of Australia (LP) is the prominent centre-right to right-wing political party in Australia. It is considered one of the two major parties in Australian politics, the other being the Australian Labor Party (ALP). The Liberal Party was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United Australia Party. Historically the most electorally successful party in Australia, the Liberal Party is now in opposition at a federal level, although it presently holds government in the Northern Territory, Queensland and Tasmania at a state (sub-national) level.

The Liberal Party is the largest partner in a centre-right grouping known in Australian politics as the Coalition, accompanied by the regional-based National Party, which is typically focussed on issues pertinent to regional Australia. The Liberal Party last governed Australia, in coalition with the Nationals, between 2013 and 2022, forming the Abbott (2013–2015), Turnbull (2015–2018) and Morrison (2018–2022) governments. The Coalition has been suspended on occasion throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, though as of 2025 the two parties form a shadow ministry under the leadership of Sussan Ley.

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 King Charles III, who has reigned since 8 September 2022. The monarch is represented at the federal level by the governor-general (currently Samantha Mostyn), 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 (assisted by a lieutenant-governor; generally the chief justice of the state's supreme court), according to the Australia Act and respective letters patent and state constitutions. In the Northern Territory (which is legally subordinate to the federal government), 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.

In modern politics, "law and order" is an approach focusing on harsher enforcement and penalties as ways to reduce crime. Penalties for perpetrators of disorder may include longer terms of imprisonment, mandatory sentencing, three-strikes laws and even capital punishment in some countries. Many who support the "Law and Order" movement would see harsh punishment as a deterrent for crime. Opponents of the "law and order" movement make the argument that harsh punishment is unsuccessful in deterring crime and does not address underlying or systemic causes of crime. They furthermore credit it with facilitating greater militarisation of police and contributing to mass incarceration in the United States.

Despite the widespread popularity of "law and order" ideas and approaches between the 1960s to the 1980s exemplified by presidential candidates including Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan running successfully on a "tough-on-crime" platform, statistics on crime showed a significant increase of crime throughout the 1970s and 1980s instead, and crime rates only began declining from the 1990s onwards. To differing extents, crime has also been a prominent issue in Canadian, British, Australian, South African, French, German, and New Zealand politics.