IN AUSTRALIA - cpahq.org

1 THE separation OF POWERS IN AUSTRALIA : ISSUES FOR THE STATES BY JOHN RALPH ALVEY BA, MPubAd, MA (Qld) This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Business (Research) in Public Policy Work and Industry Futures Research Centre School of Management Faculty of Business Queensland University of Technology December 2005ii ABSTRACT A study of the separation of powers (legislative, executive, and judicial) in AUSTRALIA at the Commonwealth and the State level including three Australian States, Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales.

2 The separation of powers (SOP) theory from Locke and Blackstone is used for the SOP theory in AUSTRALIA . In practice, the English rather than the American system of government and SOP is the model used for the Australian Commonwealth Government and SOP. The Commonwealth SOP is used as a guide for the States SOP. Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales are case studies used to compare and contrast with the Commonwealth. The concept of the SOP in AUSTRALIA is articulated by the High Court and is derived from the Blackstonian SOP theory rather than the Federalist SOP theory.

3 The implementation of the SOP theory into practice is problematic. The SOP theory is used as a conceptual framework to understand current events. The advantages and disadvantages or problems of the Commonwealth model are presented as a guide for the States. The same structure is used for the study of the three States in the form of the advantages and disadvantages or problems of the SOP at the State level. The entrenchment of the SOP at the State level will help to partly overcome the problems highlighted in the case study chapters.

4 The federal SOP situation is better than at the State level but the entrenchment of Bills of Rights at the Commonwealth and State levels would help to counter the trend in reduction of civil rights. The SOP is important in protecting citizens from the abuse of government power . The lack of separation of powers, especially separation of judicial power at State level, has meant the increasing abuse of powers by the executive and the executive dominating the other two branches of ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank my Principal Supervisor, Professor Neal Ryan (Professor in the School of Management, and Director of Research and Development, Faculty of Business at the Queensland University of Technology [QUT] Gardens Point Campus).

5 Professor Ryan saw the significance of the topic separation of Powers (SOP) in the Australian States and has encouraged me in pursuing this important public policy topic. He saw the novel nature of the topic and its importance for future research prospects as most research on the separation of powers in AUSTRALIA is at the Commonwealth level not the State level. He gave useful advice on draft chapters of the thesis that saw the possibility of combining research from a number of specialised fields such as political science, law and management in order to formulate, implement and review democratic decisions that are in the public interest and the advancement of liberty.

6 I would also like to acknowledge Professor Neal Ryan s assistance in my attaining Research Assistant (RA) work (I have worked as a RA for Dr Caroline Bailey on a research project) in the School of Management (SOM) at QUT. I would also like to thank Professor Ryan and the SOM for their support for my attendance at the Australasian Political Studies Association (APSA) Conference 2005 in NZ where I presented a paper derived from the research for this thesis. I also wish to thank my Associate Supervisor, Professor Clive Bean (Head of School of Humanities and Human Services, Queensland University of Technology [QUT] Carseldine Campus).

7 Professor Bean gave helpful advice and suggestions on current reading material particularly on the Australian system of government at the Commonwealth level and some of the relevant political theorists from the UK and AUSTRALIA . Professor Bean also read and commented on various draft chapters. The title was suggested by Professor Suri Ratnapala (at the time Senior Lecturer in Law, now full Professor, in the School of Law at the University of Queensland) after I completed his subject (LA213 Constitutional Law A), a second year law subject in theiv LLB course.

8 Professor Ratnapala completed his PhD in Law at UQ on the topic of the separation of Powers at the Commonwealth level. As the separation of powers had been well covered at the Commonwealth level but the topic had not been touched at the State level in AUSTRALIA therefore it would to be a good topic for original research. Prior to writing this thesis I had the benefit of discussions with Dr David Gow (Senior Lecturer in Public Administration in the Department of Government, now the School of Management, at the University of Queensland [UQ]).

9 He made valuable suggestions on the structure, theory and content in the early stages of development. More recently at QUT, various Lecturers have given me useful comments and advice on the SOP research topic including. These lecturers included: Professor Roger Scott (in the subject MGN425 The Context of Public Management) Dr Yunus Ali, Professor Boris Kabanoff, and Professor Bill Renforth (in the subject BSN503 Research Seminar) and Dr Kerrie Unsworth (in the subject BSN502 Research Methodology).

10 I wish to thank my brother Jim (Dr James Edward Alvey) (PhD in political science from the University of Toronto, Canada), he is currently a Senior Lecturer in Economics at Massey University, NZ. He took time out from his recent studies as a post doctoral fellow at the University of Tokyo, Japan to make valuable suggestions on various aspects of the thesis and I also had the benefit of discussions about the thesis with him. Finally, thanks go to my examiners who provided me with helpful suggestions on improving the thesis.