Most Australians are governed by three levels of government - local, state and f ederal.

For instance, a family living in Sydney would have the Sydney City Council (local) looking aft er such things as garbage collection, park maintenance and dog controls. Australians pay their loc al government by paying "rates" - paid according to the area and position of any land that you ow n. They would then be governed by the New South Wales Government, which would look after such thing s as roads, and the police force. Finally, they are governed by the Australian (Federal) Gov ernment, which is involved with trade, foreign affairs and the national treasury. Both the State a nd Federal Governments are paid through income tax. Australian governments at a State and Federal level are run according to the Wes tminster System, used in England. This means that there are two houses of Parliament, a lower hou se (The House Of Representatives) and an upper house (The Senate). Decisions put forward and appr oved in the House of Representatives must then be approved a second time by the Senate. The only exception to this is the Queensland Government, which has only a House of Representatives. Local governments are stationed in centre of the town or city that they provide to. State governments are run from the state capitals, while the Federal Government sits i n Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory. There are six states, and two major territories in Australia. The states are: Qu eensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia. The two territ ories are the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. Australia also has a nu mber of areas run by the Federal Government (dependent areas). These include the Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Christmas Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, the Coral Sea Islands, Heard Isla nd, the McDonald Islands and Norfolk Island. Britain originally ruled Australia as a penal colony after it was discovery in 1 788. However, on January 1st, 1901, Australia's six states were unified ("federated") into one na tion, formally known (and still known) as the Commonwealth Of Australia. Australia was originally gov erned from Melbourne, however in 1907 the Federal Parliament moved to Canberra, where it ha s been ever since. The biggest political debate at the moment in Australia is whether or not Austra lia should become a republic. This means that Australia would be (in official terms) completely sepa rated from its mother

country, England, and would have an Australian Head Of State. This change to a r epublic could occur as early as the year 2001, exactly one hundred years after Federation.