Text3. The Commonwealth of Australia

Australia is a country in the southern hemisphere. In fact, there are many names for Australia - Oz, Down Unde r, the Lucky Country and the official name, the Commonwealth of Australia. It consists of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania and other islands in the Indian the Pacific Oceans. The neighbouring countries are Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. The largest part of Australia is desert or semi-desert. Asa result, most of the central and western parts of the country are uninhabited. Australia is a huge country and has a wide range of climate from the tropical rains in the Northmen Territory to the mild temperate climate of Victoria and Tasmania in the south east. Australia has the oldest and leas t fertile soils. It is the driest inhabited continent. The greatest rivers are the Murray and the Darling. MountKosciusko is the highest mountain. The population is about 21 ml. The Aborigines were the first Australians. They had occupied the continent long before the Europeans arrived there. Later a lot of the Aborigines died because of disease s brought by the settlers. The first European settlers in fact, were convicts who had been transported to Australia from Britain. However,when gold was found thousands of people left their cold dark industrial towns in Britain to find their places in the Sun. Today over eighty per cent of Australia's population is of British origin. This can be seen in many aspects of Australian life. English is the national language, cricket is the national game and they drive on the left. Nowadays, many young people from all over the world are eagerly coming to stay in Australia. Over half the population lives in the south-east corner of the country between Sydney and Melbourne. Australia has a prosperous, Western-style mixed economy. Mining industry and agriculture are still the main important sources of income in Australia. The most important branches of industry are metal works, machine-building, clothing, and food industries. However, the service sector of the economy is growing very fast now and comprises about 70% of GDP. It includes tourism, education, and financial services. Australia is mainly a producer of wool, wheat, and gold. Australia has ten times as many sheep as people and and is the world's largest producer of wool. Besides, it exports meat, leather, butter, fresh and dried fruits. Australia, like the USA, has a separate capital city - Canberra.- which is not in the any of the states. Today, the Commonwealth of Australia is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government. It means that the British Queen is still the Head of State, while the Heard of the Government is the Prime Minister. The Queen is represented by the Governor-General and by the Governors. The Constitution gives extensive executive power to the Governor-General, but it is normally exercised only on the advice of the Prime Minister.Australia consists of six states and two major mainland territories. Each state and territory has its own state parliament. There are three branches of government; each of them has its own peculiarities. The legislature is represented by the Commonwealth Parliament. It consists of the Queen, the Senate (the upper house), and the House of Representatives (the lower house).The House of Representatives has 150 members, each representing a different area of the country ('electorate'). The Senate is composed of 76 members. Unlike the House of Representatives,the membership of the Senate is divided evenly between the states. Each state has 12 senators, while the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory have 2 senators each. Elections for both chambers are held every three years. The party with major support in the House of Representatives forms the government. Its leader becomes the Prime Minister. There are two major political parties: the Australian Labour Party, and the Coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The executive branch of power consists of the Federal Executive Council. The councillors are the Prime Minister and Ministers of State. The Prime Minister also serves as Australia's Head of Government. The judiciary includes the High Court of Australia and other federal courts. Australia is a founding member of the United Nations, a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, APEC, the WTO, NATO, etc.

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