Responsible government in the context of "Presidential system"

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It has a total area of 7,688,287 km (2,968,464 sq mi), making it the sixth-largest country in the world and the largest in Oceania. Australia is the world's flattest and driest inhabited continent. It is a megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates including deserts in the interior and tropical rainforests along the coast.

The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from Southeast Asia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, during the Last Glacial Period. By the time of British settlement, Aboriginal Australians spoke more than 250 distinct languages and had one of the oldest living cultures in the world. Australia's written history commenced with Dutch exploration of most of the coastline in the 17th century. British colonisation began in 1788 with the establishment of the penal colony of New South Wales. By the mid-19th century, most of the continent had been explored by European settlers and five additional self-governing British colonies were established, each gaining responsible government by 1890. The colonies federated in 1901, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. This continued a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom, highlighted by the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942, and culminating in the Australia Acts of 1986.

The Westminster system, or Westminster model, is a type of parliamentary government modelled on that of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Key aspects of the system include an executive branch made up of members of the legislature which is responsible to the legislature; the presence of parliamentary opposition parties; and a ceremonial head of state who is separate from the head of government. The term derives from the Palace of Westminster, the seat of the British parliament. The Westminster system can be contrasted with the presidential system, which originated in the United States, and with the semi-presidential system based on the government of France.

The Westminster system is used, or was once used, in the national and subnational legislatures of most former colonies of the British Empire upon gaining self-government, beginning with the Province of Canada in 1848. However, many former colonies have since adopted other forms of government.

His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The government is led by the prime minister (Keir Starmer since 5 July 2024) who selects all the other ministers. The government is currently supported by the Labour party, which has had a majority in the House of Commons since 2024. The prime minister and his most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision-making committee, known as the Cabinet.

Ministers of the Crown are responsible to the House in which they sit; they make statements in that House and take questions from members of that House. For most senior ministers this is usually the elected House of Commons rather than the House of Lords. The government is dependent on Parliament to make primary legislation, and general elections are held at least once every five years to elect a new House of Commons, unless the prime minister advises the monarch to dissolve Parliament, in which case an election may be held sooner. After an election, the monarch selects as prime minister the leader of the party most likely to command the confidence of the House of Commons, usually by possessing a majority of MPs.

Harare (/həˈrɑːreɪ/ hə-RAR-ay), formerly known as Salisbury, is the capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 982.3 km (379.3 sq mi), a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 census, and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metropolitan province. The city is situated in north-eastern Zimbabwe in the country's Mashonaland region. Harare Metropolitan Province incorporates the city and the municipalities of Chitungwiza, Epworth and Ruwa. The city sits on a plateau at an elevation of 1,483 metres (4,865 feet) above sea level, and its climate falls into the subtropical highland category.

The city was founded in 1890 by the Pioneer Column, a small military force of the British South Africa Company, and was named Fort Salisbury after the British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury. Company administrators demarcated the city and ran it until Southern Rhodesia achieved responsible government in 1923. Salisbury was thereafter the seat of the Southern Rhodesian (later Rhodesian) government and, between 1953 and 1963, the capital of the Central African Federation. It retained the name Salisbury until 1982 when it was renamed Harare on the second anniversary of Zimbabwe's independence from the United Kingdom. The national parliament moved out of Harare upon completion of the New Parliament of Zimbabwe in Mount Hampden in April 2022.

The Colony of New South Wales was a colony of the British Empire from 1788 to 1901, when it became a State of the Commonwealth of Australia. At its greatest extent, the colony of New South Wales included the present-day Australian states of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania, and South Australia, the Northern Territory as well as New Zealand.

The first responsible self-government of New South Wales was formed on 6 June 1856 with Sir Stuart Alexander Donaldson appointed by Governor Sir William Denison as its first Colonial Secretary.

The governor-general of Belize is the representative of the Belizean monarch, currently King Charles III, in Belize. The governor-general is appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the prime minister of Belize. The functions of the governor-general include appointing ministers, judges, and ambassadors; giving royal assent to legislation passed by the National Assembly; and issuing writs for election.

In general, the governor-general observes the conventions of the Westminster system and responsible government, maintaining a political neutrality, and has to act only on the advice of the prime minister. The governor-general also has a ceremonial role: hosting events at the official residence—Belize House in the capital, Belmopan—and bestowing honours to individuals and groups who are contributing to their communities. When travelling abroad, the governor-general is seen as the representative of Belize and its monarch.

The Dominion of New Zealand was the historical successor to the Colony of New Zealand. It was a constitutional monarchy with a high level of self-government within the British Empire.

New Zealand became a separate British Crown colony in 1841 and received responsible government with the Constitution Act in 1852. New Zealand chose not to take part in the Federation of Australia and became the Dominion of New Zealand on 26 September 1907, Dominion Day, by proclamation of King Edward VII. Dominion status was a public mark of the political independence that had evolved over half a century through responsible government.

In the British Empire, a self-governing colony was a colony with responsible government in which the Executive Council was appointed from the majority in the elected Legislative Assembly. This gave the colony nearly full internal autonomy while reserving control of foreign and defence policy, for the most part, to London. This was in contrast to a Crown colony, in which the British Government ruled directly via an appointed Governor, with or without the assistance of an appointed Council.

Self-governing colonies for the most part had no formal authority over constitutional matters such as the monarchy and the constitutional relationship with the United Kingdom. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London serves as the ultimate avenue of appeal in matters of law and justice.