ABSTRACT
In 1901, the former colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia federated to create the nation of Australia under the auspices of a new constitution. Within the federation, the colonies became States and a democratic national parliament with an upper house (the Senate) and a lower house (the House of Representatives) was created. 1 The party that achieves a majority of seats in the lower house forms the national government, generally referred to as the Commonwealth.
