Australia is a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy.

[184]
The country has maintained a stable liberal democratic political
system under its constitution, which is one of the world's oldest,
since Federation in 1901. It is also one of the world's oldest
federations, in which power is divided between the federal and state
and territorial governments. The Australian system of government
combines elements derived from the political systems of the United
Kingdom (a fused executive, constitutional monarchy and strong
party discipline) and the United States (federalism, a written
constitution and strong bicameralism with an elected upper house),
along with distinctive indigenous features.[185][186]

The federal government is separated into three branches:

Legislature: the bicameral Parliament, comprising the monarch

(represented by the governor-general), the Senate, and the House of
Representatives;

Executive: the Federal Executive Council, which in practice gives legal

effect to the decisions of the cabinet, comprising the prime minister
and other ministers of state appointed by the governor-general on
the advice of Parliament;[187]

Judiciary: the High Court of Australia and other federal courts, whose
judges are appointed by the governor-general on advice of
Parliament

Elizabeth II reigns as Queen of Australia and is represented in

Australia by the governor-general at the federal level and by the
governors at the state level, who by convention act on the advice of
her ministers.[188][189] Thus, in practice the governor-general acts
as a legal figurehead for the actions of the prime minister and the
Federal Executive Council. The governor-general does have
extraordinary reserve powers which may be exercised outside the
prime minister's request in rare and limited circumstances, the most
notable exercise of which was the dismissal of the Whitlam
Government in the constitutional crisis of 1975.[190]

Parliament House, Canberra

In the Senate (the upper house), there are 76 senators: twelve each
from the states and two each from the mainland territories (the
Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory).[191] The
House of Representatives (the lower house) has 151 members
elected from single-member electoral divisions, commonly known as
"electorates" or "seats", allocated to states on the basis of
population,[192] with each original state guaranteed a minimum of
five seats.[193] Elections for both chambers are normally held every
three years simultaneously; senators have overlapping six-year terms
except for those from the territories, whose terms are not fixed but
are tied to the electoral cycle for the lower house; thus only 40 of the
76 places in the Senate are put to each election unless the cycle is
interrupted by a double dissolution.[191]

Australia's electoral system uses preferential voting for all lower

house elections with the exception of Tasmania and the ACT which,
along with the Senate and most state upper houses, combine it with
proportional representation in a system known as the single
transferable vote. Voting is compulsory for all enrolled citizens 18
years and over in every jurisdiction,[194] as is enrolment (with the
exception of South Australia).[195] The party with majority support
in the House of Representatives forms the government and its leader
becomes Prime Minister. In cases where no party has majority
support, the Governor-General has the constitutional power to
appoint the Prime Minister and, if necessary, dismiss one that has
lost the confidence of Parliament.[196]

There are two major political groups that usually form government,
federally and in the states: the Australian Labor Party and the
Coalition which is a formal grouping of the Liberal Party and its minor
partner, the National Party.[197][198] Within Australian political
culture, the Coalition is considered centre-right and the Labor Party
is considered centre-left.[199] Independent members and several
minor parties have achieved representation in Australian
parliaments, mostly in upper houses. The Australian Greens are often
considered the "third force" in politics, being the third largest party
by both vote and membership.[200]

The most recent federal election was held on 18 May 2019 and
resulted in the Coalition, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison,
retaining government.