本平台将致力于为您提供与您在澳洲的投资项目相关的法律信息与服务、同时也会将与中国企业及个人投资者热切关注的产业相关澳洲新闻、最新行业规定等讯息及时传递给您。

澳大利亚是一个独立且稳定的民主国家。

这是一个根据成文宪法组成的联邦。其中包括联邦政府（总部设在堪培拉）、六个州和两个领地。澳大利亚联邦和每个州及领地由按照英国模式建立的议会管辖。澳大利亚联邦议会是通过所有18岁以上澳大利亚公民的强制性投票选举产生的。州和领地议会的选举投票对于所有18岁以上人士也是强制性的。

国家政府（即联邦）的权力是由宪法规定的。其中包括金融、直接税收（例如所得税）、贸易、外交、移民、社会保障、企业、交通、银行和知识产权。各州和领地承担没有在宪法中明确规定属于联邦责任的任何其它政府职能。但是，各州已经将部分权限转移至联邦，包括卫生和教育（包括高等教育）的主要领域。

每个州又细分为由选举产生（同样是强制性选举）的市政厅管理的地方市政区。该市政厅的职责包括城市规划、建设和发展的控制、并对其管辖区域内的居民提供服务。

联邦、州和领地政府遵循“三权分立”的原则。根据这一原则，政府分为三个分支机构：立法（议会）、按法律行事的行政部门（由政府部长管理的公职部门）以及负责解释和执行法律的司法部门（法院）。这一原则确保了政府的任何一个分支机构都没有绝对的权利。

在澳大利亚存在三个主要的政党 - 自由党、国家党与澳大利亚工党（ALP）。另外还有一个比较小的第四政党- 重点关注环境的绿党。在联邦级别（以及大多数州），自由党和国家党是联盟关系（通常称为联盟），其中国家党是少数党，主要代表城乡利益。该联盟被视为政治的保守党，而工党则被认为是左倾的。联盟或工党都有过很长的执政时期。2013年大选中联盟取得了成功并成为了目前联邦政府的执政党，而且通过各州的选举成为了大多数州的执政党。

__________________________________

【专业干货——助您成功投资澳洲业务】

以下是我们将在最近即将为您带来的专题信息：

· 澳大利亚背景篇：包括澳大利亚政府制度、法律制度、企业结构

· 其他常见领域法律与规定：技术与知识产权保护、反垄断和消费者保护法、合同法、公开接管、电子商务、商业移民和雇主担保签证、房地产、环境法、气候变化相关规定

欲查阅之前我们发布的如下【在澳经商基本法律法规】主题系列以及与您生意相关的其他资讯，请进入订阅号点击右上角按钮，选择“查看历史消息”：

· 在澳大利亚注册公司

· 澳大利亚的公司管理规则

· 澳大利亚公司的劳资关系

· 澳大利亚的外商投资基本规则

· 澳大利亚税收政策

（原创文章，欢迎转发，谢谢关注！未经授权，严禁转载！）

A Glance at the Australian Government

【Background Information I】

Australia is an independent and stable democracy.

It is a federation established by a written Constitution. It comprises a federal government (based in Canberra) six states and two territories. The federation of Australia and each of thestates and territories are governed by parliaments based on the British model. The Australian parliament is elected by all Australians over 18 and voting is compulsory. Voting is also compulsory for all people over 18 for the state and territory parliaments.

The powers of the federal government (known as the Commonwealth) are specified in the Constitution. They include finance, direct taxation (suchas income tax), trade, foreign affairs, immigration, social security,corporations, communications, banking and intellectual property. The states and territories remain responsible for any governmental function that is not specified in the Constitution as are sponsibility of the Commonwealth. However, the states have ceded additional powers to the Commonwealth including major areas of health and education (including higher education).

Each state is divided into local council areas which aremanaged by an elected council (again, with compulsory voting). The councils’ responsibilities including townplanning, control of building and development and the provision of services to residentswithin its area.

The federal, state and territory governments all operate on the “separation of powers” principle. Under this principle there are three branches of the government: the legislature (parliament); the executive (the public services directed by government ministers) that administers the laws and the judiciary (courts) that interprets and enforces the laws. This principle ensures that no one branch of government has absolute power.

There are three main political parties in Australia – the Liberal Party; the National Party and the Australian Labour Party (ALP). There is also a smaller fourth party – the Greens whose focus is on the environment. At the federal level (and in most states) the Liberal and National Parties act in coalition (generally called the Coalition) in which the National Party, which represents principally rural interests, is the junior party. The Coalition is regarded as the conservative side of politics while the ALP is regarded as being on the left. Both the Coalition and the ALP have held government for significant periods. The Coalitionwas successful in the 2013 election and is currently in power federally and,through separate elections, in most of the states.

____________________________________

【We provideexcellent, expert advice to businesses wishing to invest in Australia.】

The coming topicsinclude:

· Background information of Australia, includingAustralian government, legal system, and business structures, etc.

· Laws and regulations in various common areas,including protection of technology and intellectual property, anti-trust andconsumer law, contract law, business migration, real property, publictakeovers, and electronic commerce etc.

To view ourprevious news releases for Chinese investors and the following articles of the topic‘Basic legal knowledge on doing business in Australia’, please click the upper-rightbutton on our WeChat platform, and choose ‘view previous information’:

· Setting up in Australia

· Company Administration

· Workplace Relations

· Foreign Investment

· Tax