A theme of this collection is the way in which a common institutional inheritance has been shaped to suit the preferences of nine political communities. The experience of British imperial and colonial government provided the source for almost all Australian governmental institutions. But this common heritage of British style parliamentary government was substantially modified by each of the Australian colonies during the nineteenth century. It has been further adapted to accommodate federation and the demands put on each political system over the course of the twentieth century. These modifications and the distinctive politics of each political community – Commonwealth, state and territory – have been the concern of the preceding chapters. While common elements have been noted, idiosyncrasy has been the prime focus.

This chapter looks at variations in some of the key components of representative government in the nine political communities which comprise the Australian political system. The goal is both to trace the extent and significance of differences and to stress the common elements which run through all systems This is a task which S.R. Davis addressed in his magisterial essay on state government and politics in 1960 (Davis 1960). He opened his comparative essay with a long quotation from Alfred Deakin in 1903 about the rise of national selfconsciousness as the ‘six little streams of public affairs’ become one (Davis 1960, 559–60). But Davis argued persuasively that the states continued to express the differing political preferences of their client communities.