The Australian Federation: A Story of the Centralization of Power

Abstract

The Australian federation has evolved since 1901 to become a highly centralized system with significant harmonization and unification as a result. This has largely been achieved by an approach to Constitutional interpretation by the High Court that has favoured a broad reading of the enumerated heads of Commonwealth power in the Constitution, especially the corporations and external affairs powers. The Commonwealth has also achieved financial supremacy through a series of High Court decisions that have permitted the Commonwealth to take over the field of income taxation, and interpreted the Commonwealth’s exclusive power to impose excise duties in a way that excludes the states from taxing a..