As a federation, Australia is known as the Commonwealth of Australia, and the primary governing body is the Parliament of Australia consisting of the Queen, represented by the Governor-General and two Houses — the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Commonwealth Government is also known as the Australian Government or the Federal Government.

The Australian Parliament

You vote at federal elections to elect people to represent you in the House of Representatives (Lower House) and the Senate (Upper House). The Australian Constitution itemises areas in which the Australian Parliament is entitled to make laws relating to matters of national interest such as:

• trade and commerce
• communications
• foreign relations
• taxation
• higher education
• fisheries
• currency
• copyright
• marriage
• immigration
• defence

The House of Representatives or Lower House

Each member of the House of Representatives is elected to represent an electoral division/electorate. There are currently 150 electorates with about equal numbers of registered electors in each. Members are elected by a system known as preferential voting, under which voters rank candidates in order of their preference. At each federal election, NSW voters elect 50 out of 150 representatives to serve for three years.

The Senate or Upper House

The Senate has 76 Senators, 12 from each of the six states and 2 from each of the mainland territories. Senators are elected by the Single Transferable Vote (STV) variant of preferential proportional representation. At each federal election, NSW voters elect six of the 12 NSW Senators to serve for six years.

Federal elections

Federal elections are independently conducted by the Australian Electoral Commission. The last federal election was held on Saturday, 24 November 2007. The federal parliamentary term expires three years from the first meeting of the House of Representatives, but it can be dissolved earlier. The election must be held on a Saturday, not more than 68 days after the expiry and it is usual for House of Representatives and half Senate elections to be held at the same time.

The Council of Australian Governments' (COAG) is the peak intergovernmental forum in Australia, comprising the Prime Minister, State Premiers, Territory Chief Ministers and the President of the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA).