Introduction. Australia is a
Australian constitutional law provides that the monarch of the United Kingdom is also the monarch in Australia. This is understood today to constitute a separate Australian monarchy, the monarch acting with regard to Australian affairs exclusively upon the advice of Australian ministers.
Until 1949, Britain and Australia shared a common nationality code. The final constitutional ties between the United Kingdom and Australia ended in 1986 with the passing of the Australia Act 1986.
Before Australia was a nation, it was a collection of British colonies. Each had its own written constitution, parliament and laws. When these colonies joined together to form Australia, a constitutional monarchy system of government was chosen for the new country very similar to those of the colonies.
We do not pay the Queen any money for her upkeep or even for her duties as Queen of Australia. We do pay a salary to the Governor-General and pay for the upkeep for the official residences.
There are three sources of funding for The Queen, or officials of the Royal Household acting on Her Majesty's behalf, in both a public and private capacity. These are: the Sovereign Grant, the Privy Purse and The Queen's personal wealth and income.
Now that she's died, most of her personal assets will be passed down to Prince Charles when he takes the throne.
Australia is a constitutional monarchy and our head of state is the King. However, the King does not have a role in the day-to-day running of Australia.
The Queen receives a yearly sum through what is known as the Sovereign Grant , which is equivalent to £1.29 per person in the UK. In Aussie dollars, that's around $2.23 per person, which last financial year amounted to a whopping $148 million.
Australia became officially autonomous in both internal and external affairs with the passage of the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act on 9 October 1942. The Australia Act 1986 eliminated the last vestiges of British legal authority at the Federal level.
Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, 1900: Original Public Record Copy (1900). The Australian Constitution does not contemplate any state or territory leaving Australia. The only legal path to secession would be by a national referendum.
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands.
As of 2023, there are 15 Commonwealth realms: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, and the United Kingdom.
The King and the Commonwealth
The King is Sovereign of 14 Commonwealth realms in addition to the UK. His Majesty is also Head of the Commonwealth itself, a voluntary association of 56 independent countries. This is an important symbolic and unifying role.
Although Elizabeth II was queen of 15 member-states of the Commonwealth, she did not have any constitutional role in any Commonwealth state by virtue of her position as head of the Commonwealth.
The Hon Anthony Albanese MP was sworn in as the 31st Prime Minister of Australia on 23 May 2022.
Commonwealth member countries benefit from being part of a mutually supportive community of independent and sovereign states, aided by more than 80 Commonwealth organisations. The Commonwealth Secretariat, established in 1965, supports Commonwealth member countries to achieve development, democracy and peace.
Australia's 6 British colonies became one nation on 1 January 1901. The Constitution is one of the Commonwealth of Australia's founding documents.
Despite the belief held by many Australian landholders that they own their land absolutely, including anything above or below it, due to the Doctrine of Tenure, the law in Australia holds that the Crown has absolute ownership - not withstanding any native title claims.
However, Australia is a constitutional monarchy, so the Queen shares power with the government of the day under a written constitution. This means The Queen is not involved in the day-to-day workings of the federal or state governments in Australia, and acts upon the advice of Australian Ministers.
Crown lands comprise around 23% of Australian land, of which the largest single category is vacant land, comprising 12.5% of the land. Crown land is used for such things as airports, military grounds (Commonwealth), public utilities (usually State), or is sometimes unallocated and reserved for future development.
Queen Elizabeth is believed to have left an estate worth approximately 782 million dollars solely to her son, King Charles. King Charles' inheritance from his mother will not be taxed due to the fact that money exchanged from "monarch to monarch" is exempt from taxation.
Queen Elizabeth and The Firm
King Charles, inherited her $500 million per Forbes.4 Charles' inheritance has reportedly made his wealth total over $2 billion (£1.8 billion), according to The Guardian,2 and includes assets ranging from estates and artwork, to jewels, racehorses, stamps and cars.
Switching monarchs
“Current banknotes featuring the image of Her Majesty The Queen will continue to be legal tender,” the Bank of England said. An announcement on existing paper money issued by the UK's central bank will be made after the official 10-day mourning period has ended, it said.