Australian Independence


Introduction

When did Australia become an independent and sovereign nation? Many Australians find it difficult to answer this simple question. The question is difficult because there is no single, defining event to which one can point. There was no declaration of independence. There was no nostalgic midnight ceremony with the lowering of one flag and the raising of another. There was no constitutional amendment that established Australia’s independence and national sovereignty. Not even Australia’s national day, 26 January, is an anniversary of independence.

To complicate matters there is some disagreement among those who should know: political scientists, politicians, lawyers and members of the judiciary. For example at one extreme, the late Justice Lionel Murphy of the High Court of Australia argued that Australia became an independent and sovereign nation immediately following federation on 1 January 1901 (Kirmani v Captain Cook Cruises Pty. Ltd. (No. 1) (1985)). At the other extreme, prominent lawyer Malcolm Turnbull has argued, “so long as our Constitution provides that whoever sits on the throne of Great Britain is our head of State, our progress to independence is incomplete”.

In spite of this diversity of opinion, most commentators agree that Australia achieved independence and sovereignty gradually, without a change to the text of the Australian Constitution, in the years following federation. In this page we will consider the details in each step from a self-governing colony to full Australian independence.

Australia’s status immediately following federation

The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia came into effect on 1 January 1901. But Australia was not a new nation. The British Empire was the national unit. All that happened at federation was that six self-governing colonies allocated some functions to a seventh entity, a federal authority. They formed a colonial federation approved by the United Kingdom and established under United Kingdom legislation: the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act. Under section 8 of that Act, Australia remained a self-governing colony within the British Empire. Legally, the Australian States and the new Federal Government were little different to municipal governments within the Empire.

For Australians in 1901, the head of State was the British monarch. The national anthem was the British national anthem: God Save the Queen! The national flag was the British Union Jack. In the popular media of the day, Great Britain was the “mother country” and the British government was the “Home Government”. Unquestionably, they considered themselves British.

Executive

At federation, the Governor-General and State Governors were appointed by the British government, and discharged their duties with an eye to British interests as agents of the British government.

It was accepted that neither the Governor-General nor the State Governors were viceroys. They were unable to act as general agents of the King. They could only exercise the specific royal prerogatives and executive powers delegated to them by the Imperial Parliament (including those specified in the Australian Constitution and the various State Constitutions), the Letters Patent (which constituted their Offices), any Royal Instructions or Royal assignments of power, and their Letters of Commission.

The executive powers exercised by the Governor-General under the Australian Constitution (and therefore the powers available to the executive arm of the Federal government) were construed very narrowly. In 1901 it was generally agreed that they excluded:

  • the power to declare war;
  • the power to enter into treaties;
  • the right of legation (diplomatic and consular representation including the appointment of ambassadors and high commissioners);
  • the power to acquire territory; and
  • the prerogative of honours.

The above powers in respect of Australia remained with the monarch and could be exercised only on advice from the British government. As a consequence, Australia had no overseas diplomatic posts. Australia’s foreign affairs were managed by Whitehall and Westminster who dealt with Australia until 1928 through the office of the Secretary of State for the Colonies and the Governor-General. While land defence was an Australian responsibility, defence of the nearby seas was jointly managed with the British Admiralty; and further a field Australian defence was wholly the responsibility of the British. When Britain declared war on Germany in 1914, the Empire was at war; no one doubted that Australia was automatically at war too.

The quasi-ambassadorial role of Governors-General also gave them influence over matters of less-than-Constitutional significance. Lucy (1993) notes “Governor-General Northcote successfully blocked a recommendation for a knighthood for the Victorian Premier by pointing out, among other things, that the Premier had blown his nose on a table napkin at a Government House dinner”.

Legislature

The British parliament had supremacy over Australian Federal and State parliaments and both the Commonwealth and State parliaments were subject to the Imperial Colonial Laws Validity Act 1865. Furthermore, in spite of the external affairs power in section 51(xxix) of the Constitution, it was generally believed that the Commonwealth Parliament did not have the legislative competence to pass extra-territorial laws.

The Commonwealth Constitution and other Imperial laws provided mechanisms whereby the Governor-General and State Governors could reserve bills for the Queen to give Royal assent (thus allowing the British government to formally consider the proposed law). They also enabled the Queen (on the advice of the British government) to disallow any Australian legislation within one or two years of enactment.

According to Lucy (1993) the Customs Tariff (British Preference) Bill was reserved for the King’s assent (and therefore consideration by the British government) on 12 October 1906; however, Hudson and Sharp (1988) noted that this was at the request of the Federal Government and not the Imperial Government. Although not reserved, in 1901 the Governor-General communicated with Imperial authorities and subsequently got the Australian Parliament to amend the Immigration Restriction Bill before he gave it Royal assent. Imperial instructions to the Governor-General in 1905 to reserve a bill on Asians were withdrawn after Prime Minister Deakin protested. Similarly in 1907, when it looked like the Imperial Government would seek to reserve a bill limiting some forms of appeals from the High Court to the Privy Council, they backed down after Deakin protested. According to Sawer (1988), no Federal, State or colonial law has been disallowed since 1880.

Judiciary

The Commonwealth Constitution created the High Court of Australia. However, the Constitution made the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London the ultimate court of appeal for Australia.

Independence for the Commonwealth executive

At the 1907 Imperial Conference, the self-governing colonies (including Australia) were officially termed Dominions. However, this term did not represent a change in colonial status. At the 1911 Imperial Conference, Prime Minister Fisher was given the understanding that the Dominions would be consulted on Empire foreign policy. Previously foreign policy was the exclusive preserve of London. The 1917 Imperial War Conference resolved that the Dominions should be recognised as autonomous nations of an Imperial Commonwealth. The Conference agreed that the Dominions should have an adequate voice in foreign policy and in foreign relations, and they should be continuously consulted in all-important matters of common Imperial concern.

At the conclusion of the First World War the Australian and Canadian Prime Ministers sought an independent voice - distinct from Britain - at the Paris peace discussions prior to the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. Millar (1991) notes that “when it came to signature of the Treaty, the Dominions and India signed as a group within the British Empire, not alphabetically within the whole roll of countries”. Australia’s signature on the Treaty (along with the other Dominions) and its full membership of the League of Nations in its own right established the notion of the divisibility of the Crown. Rather than being the indivisible head of a single constitutional unit (the British Empire), the British monarch could potentially act in conflicting ways on the advice of the different Dominions (including Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) each with their own responsible government.

Some argue that the Washington Naval Treaties, signed in 1922, were Australia’s first treaties with foreign nations. However, the United States did not agree to separate Dominion representation at the preceding Washington Naval Conference. The Dominions sent representatives to the Conference as members of the Empire delegation, and not as delegates of independent powers, which they would have preferred. The United States only allowed Australia (and the other Dominions) to sign the treaties because the US accepted that the British Empire as a whole would only be committed to treaties that all its component members had signed. Although Australia signed the treaties, it was not a formal party to the treaties. With each of the Washington Naval Treaties, the formal party was the British Empire.

At the 1923 Imperial Conference it was agreed that Dominions could conclude treaties and agreements with foreign powers. Similarly, Dominions were given authority to manage their own military defence, if they so desired. Evatt noted years later that it was an “amazing paradox” that independence came first to the dominions in foreign affairs while their internal sovereignty was still limited. Even so, the treaty making power remained with the King, and advice to the King on treaties was at that time communicated through the Imperial government in London.

The doctrine of the divisibility of the Crown was formally developed via the Imperial Conferences of 1926 and 1930. The 1926 Conference established a committee under Lord Balfour to investigate all questions affecting “Inter-Imperial Relations” between Great Britain and the self-governing Dominions. The Committee concluded and the Imperial Conference agreed:

“They [Great Britain and the self-governing Dominions] are autonomous Communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations.”

In respect of the Governor-General, the 1926 Imperial Conference agreed that the,

“Governor-General of a Dominion is the representative of the Crown, holding in all essential respects the same position in relation to the administration of public affairs in the Dominion as is held by His Majesty the King in Great Britain, and that he is not the representative or agent of His Majesty’s Government in Great Britain or of any Department of that Government.”

The 1930 Imperial Conference agreed that Governors-General should be appointed on the advice of Dominion governments (and not the British government). In 1930, and against the wishes of both the British government and King George V, the first Australian born Governor-General (Isaacs) was appointed on the advice of a Federal Labor Government. Two British-born appointments followed Isaacs. McKell was the next Australian appointment. He was followed by three more from Britain. Since Casey’s appointment in 1965, every appointment has been an Australian, and this practice will almost certainly continue.

As a result of the royal proclamations following the 1926 and 1930 Imperial Conferences, confirmed in Imperial law by the Statute of Westminster 1931, the executive arm of the Australian Commonwealth Government acquired independence. While the British monarch is still the head of State, at law the Crown in respect of Australia is now a separate legal entity to the Crown in respect of Great Britain. In respect of the Commonwealth of Australia, the monarch can only act on the advice of the Australian Government. The Governor-General ceased to be an agent of the British government.

Hudson and Sharp (1988) argue that the Statute of Westminster established Australia and the other dominions as separate kingdoms apart from the United Kingdom. The British Commonwealth became a collection of kingdoms, each equal in status with the other, with the same person as king (what is called in dynastic terms a personal union). After the Statute of Westminster there was one king but with many crowns piled on his head. However, it was not until 1953 that the divisibility of the crown was formally recognised in the monarch’s title. Imperial legislation in 1953 added, “Head of the Commonwealth” to the long list of Imperial royal titles that she possesses. Inter-governmental agreement at this time also enabled Commonwealth nations to legislate their own royal style and title for their Crown. Under Australian legislation, the Queen was first styled as the “Queen of Australia” in 1953; and the reference to the “United Kingdom” was removed from her Australian Title in 1973. (Of note, paragraph 51(xxix) of the Constitution - the external affairs power - provides the constitutional authority or head of power for the 1953 and 1973 Royal Style and Titles Acts).

Since 1926 all of the royal prerogatives are exercised, in respect of the Commonwealth, by the Crown on the direct advice of her Federal Australian government. Following the enactment of the Statute of Westminster, they could not be exercised in respect of the Commonwealth on the advice of the British government. Furthermore, on the advice of the Federal Government, these prerogatives could also be delegated to the Governor-General under section 2 of the Constitution to exercise as the Crown’s representative in the Commonwealth. In 1941 the King issued a special power enabling the Governor-General to declare war on Finland, Hungary, Romania and Japan. In 1954, the Queen assigned additional powers to the Governor-General, including the power to appoint certain diplomatic officers and consuls and to grant an exequatur in respect of a foreign consular representative. In 1973, the Queen assigned further powers to the Governor-General in respect of the appointment and withdrawal of ambassadors and high commissioners. In 1987, the Queen assigned powers to the Governor-General relating to charters of incorporation. In 1987 the Queen also revoked the assignments of 1954 and 1973, as it was now accepted that these powers came within the executive powers exercisable by the Governor-General under section 61 of the Australian Constitution and did not require specific delegation under section 2 of the Constitution.

The Constitutional provisions for the reservation of Commonwealth bills and the disallowance of Commonwealth laws (sections 58-60, and 74) now operate on the advice of the Federal government. Therefore, they no longer present a threat to Australian sovereignty. Other than proposed laws in respect of appeals to the Privy Council, which must be reserved under section 74 of the Constitution, the only bills which have been reserved since 1926 have been done so for sentimental reasons on the advice of the Australian Government.

Following the Imperial Statute of Westminster 1931, any remaining Federal links with Britain were largely in the minds of Australians. Still, Australia did not have a government department of external (foreign) affairs until 1935, and even after that date foreign policy was largely still determined in London. Australia’s first diplomatic mission other than to London was established as late as 1939. Also in 1939 the then Australian Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, thought Australia was at war simply because Britain had declared war. Following the War, the Australian government donated some £35 million to Britain and agreed to sell to her for a time the entire Australian gold output to ease Britain’s currency shortage.

The mentality of “Empire” remained healthy into the 1950s, and was still alive in the 1980s. With the exception of Isaacs and McKell, all Governors-General prior to 1965 were British. In the 1960s, Australians were still travelling overseas with a passport that had the words “British Passport” stamped on the front. In 1974, the Queensland Parliament unsuccessfully sought to retain the reference to the United Kingdom in the Queen’s titles with a separate Queensland title for the Queen, “Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God Queen of the United Kingdom, Australia, Queensland and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth”. The royal insignia “EIIR” was removed from post boxes in 1975. “God save the Queen” remained the national anthem until 1984. The royal family was on hand for the national celebrations of both the Cook Bicentenary (1970) and the Australian Bicentenary (1988). Even today, the Queen’s head is found on Australia’s coinage.

However, while the Imperial Conferences of 1926 and 1930 and the Imperial Statute of Westminster 1931 gave the Federal executive independence, they did not apply to the Australian, state governments. Whereas the Federal Prime Minister could advise the Queen directly, up until 1986 the channel for communication between State governments and Queen remained the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary, a minister in the British government. Between 1931 and 1986 we had the bizarre situation in which the federation, the Commonwealth government, was a sovereign polity that was independent of the United Kingdom while its component parts, the States, remained colonies of the United Kingdom.

Independence for the Commonwealth legislature

Legislative independence for the Federal parliament was largely achieved when it adopted the Statute of Westminster in 1942, backdated to the beginning of World War II in 1939. After the ratification of the Statute of Westminster, the British Parliament could only override Australian Acts of Parliament by request. The Statute of Westminster gave the Australian Parliament power to make laws repugnant to the United Kingdom, and to enact laws with extra-territorial effect.

As noted above, the Imperial Statute of Westminster did not extend to State parliaments. They, therefore, remained subject to the Imperial Colonial Laws Validity Act 1865 until the Australia Act 1986 came into effect.

Independence for the Judiciary

The Privy Council (Limitation of Appeals) Act 1968 (Cth) made the High Court the final arbiter in Constitutional and Federal matters (with the exception of inter se constitutional matters which can only go to the Privy Council if the High Court grants a certificate under section 74 of the Constitution).

The Privy Council (Appeals from the High Court) Act 1975 (Cth) abolished appeals from the High Court to the Privy Council in State and common law matters. Thus almost all appeals from the High Court to the Privy Council were abolished. However, direct appeals to the Privy Council from State Supreme Courts remained possible until the Australia Acts abolished them in 1986. (Indeed, at the time it was often possible to choose to appeal a State Supreme Court decision on a matter of State law to either the High Court or the Privy Council. As a result, the system of legal precedent threatened to become chaotic.)

In 1978, all seven justices of the High Court of Australia decided unanimously that the High Court would not regard itself as bound by decisions of the Privy Council (Viro v The Queen (1978)). Since then, the Privy Council is not superior to the High Court of Australia. The Privy Council could no longer correct decisions of the High Court.

In spite of the Australia Act, an appeal to the Privy Council under section 74 of the Constitution, pursuant to a certificate granted by the High Court, is still theoretically possible in respect of certain constitutional matters. However, in Kirmani v Captain Cook Cruises Pty Ltd [No 2], the High Court said:

“Although the jurisdiction to grant a certificate stands in the Constitution, such limited purpose as it had has long since been spent. The march of events and the legislative changes that have been effected - to say nothing of national sentiment - have made the jurisdiction obsolete.”

Independence for the States

Neither the Imperial Conferences of 1926 or 1930, nor the Imperial Statute of Westminster 1931 covered the States. Therefore, in spite of the nationhood achieved by the Federal government, State governments essentially retained the status of colonies under the British Crown until the passage of the Australia Act 1986. Zines (1991) has identified a number of manifestations of the colonial status of the Australian States prior to 1986:

  • The appointment of State Governors, their instructions, and the reservation and disallowance of State legislation were British responsibilities.
  • It was the British government and not the State Government who formally advised the Queen on the issue of proclamations and the making or orders under Imperial legislation in respect of the States.
  • State governments were subject to a range of Imperial legislation that they could not amend or repeal. To make matters worse, in most cases modern British amendments to former Imperial legislation were not extended to the States. However, in Kirmani v Captain Cook Cruises Pty Ltd (No 1) (1985) the High Court held that the Statute of Westminster had vested the Commonwealth Parliament with the power to repeal certain types of Imperial legislation applying to States.
  • In 1933 when Western Australia sought to secede from the Commonwealth following a two thirds majority vote in favour of secession at referendum, a Joint Committee of the House of Lords and the House of Commons advised the Imperial Parliament that the petition of the Western Australian Government to amend the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act should not be received unless supported by the Federal Government. (It was not supported).
  • From 1934 to 1947 Western Australia had no Governor because the British government refused to recommend the appointment of an Australian, as desired by the Government of that State.
  • In 1974 the British government refused to recommend an extension of the term of a Queensland State Governor, which although desired by the State was opposed by the Commonwealth.
  • In 1979 it was accepted that the laws of the Australian States were invalid if they were inconsistent with Imperial legislation (China Ocean Shipping Co, v South Australia).
  • As late as 1981, a British Foreign and Commonwealth Office memorandum to the House of Commons was able to describe the Australian States as “self-governing dependencies of the British Crown”.

The passage of the Australia Act 1986 removed the colonial status of the States. Following consent and request legislation enacted by each State parliament, the Federal and Imperial parliaments enacted Australia Acts in essentially the same form. The long title of these Acts is “An Act to bring constitutional arrangements affecting the Commonwealth and the States into conformity with the status of the Commonwealth of Australia as a sovereign, independent and federal nation”. As a result of the Australia Acts, on 3 March 1986, among other things:

  • The power of the British parliament to legislate for Australia is terminated.
  • State parliaments may make any laws for the peace, order and good government of the State that might have been exercised by the United Kingdom parliament.
  • The States are given powers to make laws repugnant to Imperial legislation, and the application of the Colonial Laws Validity Act is terminated.
  • The above extension of powers does not affect the operation of the Constitution Act, the Constitution, or the Statute of Westminster.
  • State Governors have the exercise of all of the powers and functions of the Queen except the power to appoint and terminate the appointments of Governors. However, the Queen is not precluded from exercising any of her powers when she is present personally in a State.
  • Only the State Premier can tender Advice to the Queen (in respect of a State).
  • Provisions for the reservation and disallowance of State legislation are abolished.
  • It is declared, “Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom shall have no responsibility for the government of any State”.
  • Appeals to the Privy Council are abolished (with the exception of those provided for under section 74 of the Australian Constitution, as noted above).
  • Sections 4, 9(2), 9(3), and 10(2) of the Statute of Westminster in their application to Australia are abolished.

It is interesting to note that, according to Zines (1992), section 15 of the Australia Acts only has effect in Australian law because of the (pre 1986) supremacy of the British parliament.

National independence and sovereignty achieved

By any measure, Australia is now a sovereign and independent nation. There is little question that Australian governments have the full capacity to set their own arrangements; albeit sometimes subject to the rigours of the referendum requirements in section 128 of the Constitution, or the legislative consent and request mechanisms in section 51(xxxviii) of the Constitution and section 15 of the Australia Act 1986.

Even if the British parliament repealed the Statute of Westminster or its Australia Act, or if it amended the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, such British actions would have no effect in Australian law. The British parliament is no longer supreme over the Australian parliament in Australian law.

If Australia chooses to become a republic and sever its last remaining tie with the British monarchy, it will do this without reference to, or the possibility of hindrance from, the British government.

The British government has no place in the operation of State governments, nor the executive or legislative arms of the Federal Government. In respect of the judiciary, the High Court is hardly likely to issue another certificate enabling a Constitutional appeal to the Privy Council under section 74 of the Constitution. No other avenue of appeal to the Privy Council exists.

Australia has thus completed its evolution from colony to a sovereign and independent nation. It is, as Justice Gibbs put it in Southern Centre of Theosophy inc. v South Australia (1979), “the result of an orderly development - not … the result of a revolution”. As a consequence of this evolution, in Sue v Hill (1999), the High Court said that Great Britain is now a foreign nation, even though we share in the same person as head of State.

One last contention: a break in sovereignty

One last contention that must be addressed in any discussion about the date of Australian independence is the argument that Australia became a sovereign and independent nation accidentally or inadvertently when she signed the Treaty of Versailles and became a foundation member of the League of Nations.

On 28th June 1919, Prime Minister William Morris Hughes and Sir Joseph Cook, with the consent of the British Government, signed the (peace) Treaty of Versailles on behalf of Australia (both as an independent nation and as a member of the British Empire). The Commonwealth Parliament ratified Australia’s signature with the Treaty of Peace (Germany) Act 1919, which received Royal Assent on 28 October 1919.

The Treaty was the basis for the League of Nations (and the International Labor Organization) and became part of International Law on 10 January 1920. Under Article X of the League’s Covenant, “the Members of the League undertake to respect and preserve against external aggression the territorial integrity and existing political independence of all Members of the League”.

By implication, it is argued that British law (including the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act) ceased to have effect in the Australia and Australia ceased to be a colony from this time. The contention is that by signing the Treaty of Versailles, and/or by ratifying its signature in Parliament, and/or by becoming a foundation member of the League of Nations, Australia achieved her independence from the United Kingdom. Consequently, the laws of one sovereign nation (the United Kingdom) cannot apply to another sovereign nation (Australia). Therefore all Imperial law ceased to have any effect in Australia from sometime between 28 June 1919 and 10 January 1920.

However, few Australian commentators seriously accept the argument that the Australian Constitution ceased to exist on or before 10 January 1920; or that subsequent legislation is invalid. The central flaw in the argument is that League membership was not taken by the international community necessarily to indicate sovereign independence. According to Hudson and Sharp (1988), “Precisely to accommodate curiosities like dominions, League membership was made available to ‘any fully self-governing State, Dominion or Colony”. This accommodation is explicit in the text of the treaty. Article I of the Covenant of the League of Nations says,

“… Any [other] fully self-governing State, Dominion, or Colony not named in the Annex may become a Member of the League …”

At the time, it was accepted that Australia’s membership of the League as a dominion of the British Empire in 1919 was consistent with the requirements for “political independence” in Article X.

In Joosse v Australian Securities and Investment Commission (1998) and Ex parte Joosse (1999), the High Court rejected the argument that as a result of signing the Treaty of Versailles and enacting the Treaty of Peace (Germany) Act 1919, Australia became an independent and sovereign nation by virtue of Article 10 of the treaty. Our legislative and Constitutional framework as well as the British legislative and Constitutional arrangements had to be changed before legal sovereignty could become a fact in Australian law and practice. These changes were only achieved through the Imperial Conferences of 1926 and 1930; the Imperial passage and the Australian adoption of the Statute of Westminster 1931; and, ultimately, the passage of the Australia Acts in 1986.

Conclusion

Most commentators agree that Australia achieved independence and sovereignty gradually, without a change to the text of the Australian Constitution, along the following lines:

  • Immediately following federation in 1901 Australia was not an independent nation. It was a self-governing colony within the nation of the British Empire. Britain still had control over Australia’s international relations, and Australian parliaments could not make laws repugnant to Britain. Australians were British subjects. The Governor-General and State Governors were agents of the British government. In respect of Australia, the Queen only acted on the advice of the British government. Neither the Australian Prime Minister, nor State Premiers, could offer direct advice to the Queen.
  • Independence for the executive arm of the Commonwealth Government was achieved through the Imperial Conferences of 1926 and 1930 and confirmed by the Imperial Statute of Westminster 1931.
  • Independence for the Commonwealth Parliament was largely achieved through the Imperial Statute of Westminster 1931; however, it was only adopted formally in Australia in 1942, backdated to 3 September 1939, via the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942.
  • Although the precise date is unclear, Australian nationhood was achieved (that is to say, Australia became recognised by the international community as a nation apart from the British Empire) some time between the end of the First World War and the end of the Second World War.
  • Independence for the judiciary in respect of Federal matters was largely achieved in 1968 through the Privy Council (Limitation of Appeals) Act 1968. In 1975, all appeals from the High Court to the Privy Council were abolished, with one very minor exception, via the Privy Council (Appeals from the High Court) Act 1975. Although appeals to the Privy Council from State Supreme Courts continued until 1986, since 1978 the decisions of the Privy Council in these matters were not binding on the High Court of Australia.
  • Independence for the six State governments was achieved on 3 March 1986 via the Australia Act 1986. Ironically, the Australian Federation ceased to be a colony decades before the States as a result of the Statute of Westminster.

Australia is now a fully sovereign and independent nation. It can run its own internal affairs through its own governments operating under its own Constitution. It is recognised by other nations in the international community and is a party to many international treaties. While there is some argument about the actual date of Australia’s complete sovereignty, there can be no doubt that it has been fully achieved since 3 March 1986 when Royal Assent was given to the Australia Acts.

Want to find out more?

  • There are a number of High Court cases that discuss Australia’s path to independence, available from www.austlii.edu.au, including:
    • Kirmani v Captain Cook Cruises Pty. Ltd. (No. 1) (1985)
    • Viro v The Queen (1978)
    • Southern Centre of Theosophy inc. v South Australia (1979)
    • Nationwide News Pty Ltd v Wills (1992)
    • Sue v Hill (1999)
    • Joosse v Australian Securities and Investment Commission (1998)