"Your conscience is a constitutional constituent of your own consciousness, therefore the Constitution binds us all."  Alex Young

The Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act (The Constitution) is available in several formats:

1. The short and non-annotated 66 page version, available here

2. The 1127 page Commentaries on the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia, as sponsored by the New South Wales Centenary of Federation Committee for the SETIS electronic texts collections, available here¹

3. Parliamentary Handbook of the Australian Commonwealth, 30^th Edition available here

Note: These PDF materials require the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader, please download here if your computer is unable to open these documents.

Becoming Familiar with Your Constitution.

The Australian Constitution was written as an Act of British Parliament. It consists of the following sections:-

       Preamble
       Chapter 1 - The Parliament
              Part 1 - General
              Part 2 - The Senate
              Part 3 - The House of Representatives
              Part 4 - Both Houses of the Parliament
              Part 5 - Powers of the Parliament
       Chapter 2 - The Executive Government
       Chapter 3 - The Judicature
       Chapter 4 - Finance and Trade
       Chapter 5 - The States
       Chapter 6 - New States
       Chapter 7 - Miscellaneous
       Chapter 8 - Alteration of the Constitution
       Schedule
 

The Australian Constitution and the Australian Citizen.

Clause 5 of the Preamble demands obedience, and S.24 AA (1) (a) of the Crimes Act 1914 says it is an act of treason not to obey the Constitution.

Use the Australian ComLaw database to search for all relevant pieces of law which are enacted under the Constitution.

Below are some sections which may be relevant to you.

• S.55   - G.S.T illegal - one form of taxation only

• S.100 - Forbids charging for water

• S.116 - Shall not legislate with respect to religion (or conscience)
   

S.55 Tax Bill

"Laws imposing taxation shall deal only with the imposition of taxation, and any provision therein dealing with any other matter shall be of no effect.

Laws imposing taxation, except laws imposing duties of customs or of excise, shall deal with one subject of taxation only; but laws imposing duties of customs shall deal with duties of customs only, and laws imposing duties of excise shall deal with duties of excise only."

S.100 Nor abridge right to use water

"The Commonwealth shall not, by any law or regulation of trade or commerce, abridge the right of a State or of the residents therein to the reasonable use of the waters of rivers for conservation or irrigation."

S.116  Commonwealth not to legislate in respect of religion

S.116 as found in Chapter 5 - The States, is a very powerful section which empowers the ordinary citizen to exempt themselves from repugnant legislation:-

"The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth."

The term "public trust" is of particular interest. Public trust according to Wikipedia is thus:-

"The concept of the public trust relates back to the origins of democratic government, and its seminal idea that; within the public, lies the true power and future of a society, therefore, whatever trust the public places in its officials must be respected."

Public trust can also be defined as the responsibility the public places on government to care for their (the public) interests. Now lets break it down into two words - public & trust. We are the People are the "public", that much is evident. It must be recognized however, that even our members of Parliament who makes laws on our behalf, are themselves also members of the public. We art all human. However, there exists a differentiation between those people who are not members of government and those that are. This differentiation can also be likened to disassociation.

This "disassociation" is by pure virtue of fact of the differences in roles undertaken and the entities that various to whom persons are employed and therefore seemingly protected by. In many instances the public in general may feel by this same virtue of fact that their MPs are inapproachable. Some are - once the "machine" has molded them and robbed them of their once good principles.

The term "general public", is a common term used to denote such a differentiation and therefore implies the exclusivity of the positions of others which are defined by more prominent roles such as those occupied by State and Federal MP's. So the line of demarcation and the onset of human disassociation begins when a person or persons performs a role which is directly related to influencing the lives and roles of others. It seems to be a global inheritance for those that practice politics. These greater roles should denote a burden of responsibility to the lesser defined roles within a society. Another words, the greater, as defined by the powers conferred upon them, should be a servant to the lesser (the general public) and therefore preclude a relationship of trust.

Trust according to Merriam-Websters Dictionary can be defined as:-

1 a : assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something b : one in which confidence is placed
2 a : dependence on something future or contingent : HOPE b : reliance on future payment for property (as merchandise) delivered : CREDIT <bought furniture on trust>
3 a : a property interest held by one person for the benefit of another b : a combination of firms or corporations formed by a legal agreement; especially : one that reduces or threatens to reduce competition
4 archaic : TRUSTWORTHINESS
5 a (1) : a charge or duty imposed in faith or confidence or as a condition of some relationship (2) : something committed or entrusted to one to be used or cared for in the interest of another b : responsible charge or office c : CARE, CUSTODY <the child committed to her trust>
- in trust : in the care or possession of a trustee

All of these definitions are applicable here. Essentially trust is usually earnt. The formation of trust is dependent with both time and to the degree of binding according to some prior contract or agreement. Obviously in real life, there exists a margin of error where trust is either broken or misplaced due to both sides not understanding or abiding by the original terms of the contract or agreement. Signed documents make contracts legally binding. Verbal contracts, usually inadmissible and treated as heresy in the courts, only exist between two or more people. Verbal contracts are unwritten acknowledgements of two or more consciousness', which usually when self predominates, the contract ends up broken. This can be a major source of conflict, be it the buying and selling of goods and services, sex, marriages and so on. All these things are issues with which our courts deal with everyday.

When a society becomes more complex, the reader can therefore see the value in the drafting and enacting of certain legislation which limits or binds interaction between various constituents of a society. However, trust is more indiscernible in meaning especially in this day and age where the common saying is "trust no-one but yourself". The very fact that this statement exists is indicative, and rightly so in a predatorial world where consumerism is all the rage, that people are focused more within themselves in a negative manner. The better alternative is being self-focused with respect to others. I say negative in the former because such "self trust" is at odds with the Pay It Forward principle. It limits interaction only with the self. Remember the Pay it Forward principle encourages the exploration of self in relation to your interaction with other people and fosters an environment of growth for all concerned.  The former does not or at least predisposes good principles to being negated. Compromises should be sought in lieu of conflict, for good deeds are often returned several-fold.

Because money is a token of exchange in our everyday life, its very existence as a means to facilitate such exchanges predisposes us to place more emphasis on it than other people in other societies who perhaps do not rely on it as much or perhaps employ a system of barter. The term "money can't buy you happiness" is a timely reminder of the reverse. Somewhere down the line on the road of life and truth, a balance should be formed between one's survival instinct and the wanting to be happy. Somewhere in between these two is the Mystery and the Learning. It also encompasses why the Pay It Forward Principle is good for us and for others.

Trust in relation to government is another thing altogether. Trust denotes an exchange of many things which either creates money or saves money. For both sides, something has to be given at a loss in order gain. Because government budgets are created from taxpayers money, there tends to be a critical mass of how the money is spent. Because money is our choice of token exchange (and often the misplaced source for which happiness may be pursued) and when cheque books and emotions (kerbed or otherwise) run high, trust becomes paramount. [In contrast to that line of thought, how is it that when when we finally get what we want, it no longer becomes something we desire and we thus we seek the next happiness fix? Ed.] Trust ensures that an agreed outcome is achieved which mutually benefits both sides.  Something is lost for something gained. Because government is seen as acting on behalf of the general public, public trust therefore is either gained or lost when the majority decides that it is so.

Complex societies require complex support mechanisms. Everything scales up in such a society, including legislation. Theoretically the more complex a society, the greater the tendency it is to evolve towards a society that robs previously good principles. What was once seen to be conformed to now has become the norm. The problem is that public trust therefore becomes harder to maintain, especially when an informed minority or an individual has an important issue of contention. It may be the case that the minority or the individual is more aware of a certain issue than the general public at large and wishes the government to heed the matter.  The government however, for whatever reason may not see it with the same sense of urgency.

At this point there exists a huge potential for the faltering of ideals and the breaking of down public trust for that section of the community or individual. Ideally the government should respond in a manner that is conducive to all concerned, even the individual. A lot of factors come into play here when dealing with the logistics of minor issues.

It may very well be that the issue in contention is a truth that the larger community or the government is unawares. Also there is the fact that truths are accepted by one's cognitive acceptance to the various flows of information that the individual allows themselves to be privy too. Overwhelming so, it is money that forces our objectivity into submission when dealing with information flows. As a result this may cause a conflict of interest between various constituents in a society. What then is the method of repair and to what degree is the law enforced or not enforced? When should unwritten principle take precedence over written protocol? And when should protocol take over principle?

We know that man made law, unlike universal law, is not absolute. Protocol in this sense or statute law written into our existence is dynamic and forever changing and can never hope to account for all variables in a complex society. In most cases, the written law does it best, but not always, depending on whose wills and consents have been violated. That still leaves the unwritten law and therefore our conscious/conscience which tells us the difference between right and wrong unaccounted for.

Section 116 of the Australian Constitution recognises this paradox and seeks to restore balance between the effected parties. In cases such as these, for justice to be served, the greater in physical power must allow precedence to the lesser. Like wise, in retrospect, the greater Universal law must take precedence over the lesser physical law.

To put S.116 into perspective, please read the 3 page document entitled:-
Functions of Government as prepared by Play It Forward. I put forward that there is no differentiation to be made between following one’s own conscience and following one’s own religion. The degree of maturity and value of any religion, especially when observed by others, is based on the quality of our conscience.

Constitutional Resources

• Australian Politics: Overview of the Constitution
• Parliament of Australia Education: Parliament An Overview
• Common Law Courses with Malcolm McClure of UPMART & VOICE of Australia - A must for anyone interested in developing a basics for the legal system and learning about self-representation and Constitutional empowerment.
  
  Note: A beautiful 1008 page leather-bound edition entitled "The Annotated Constitution of the Australian Commonwealth" by Quick and Garran¹ is available from UPMART for a price of $270.00. Every Australian should own a copy. A bound Butterworth Australian Legal Dictionary, 1344 pages, $210.00 is also available. See website for more information.
• SaveOZ - A good website for Constitutional information.
• The Australian Federal Constitution: A Guide to Net Resources

¹ Several referendums which have altered the Constitution since the Federation have not been included in these original copies. See list below. There have been other attempts to change the Constitution but have so far been unsuccessful. These attempts are listed at the bottom of the page. (work in progress)
 

Successful alterations of the Constitution.

Unsuccessful alterations of the Constitution. (coming soon).