Australia's Law-Making Process

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Laws are formal rules which society uses to define how people and organisations are expected to behave. Australia is a representative democracy, which means people are elected to Parliament to represent Australians and make laws on their behalf. Section 51 of the Australian Constitution gives the federal Parliament the 'power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth' in relation to certain matters . Each of the six state parliaments are permitted to pass laws related to any matter that is not controlled by the Commonwealth under Section 51 of the Australian Constitution .
The law-making process used in the Australian Parliament is derived from the British Parliament and its practices, developed over many centuries.