The Australian
Constitution is the founding document of the nation, which
provides the basic rules of how government is formed and the
processes by which it should govern.
The fundamental law within it, however, differs starkly to the
reality of how the nation's governing body operates on the
ground.
The difference between the
governing rules within the Constitution, which was established
via a
1900 Act of British Parliament, and how government actually
functions is attributable to the use of conventions: unwritten
rules, not laws, which are an accepted way of doing something.
The scandal that erupted last year around former PM Scott
Morrison having had the governor general David Hurley secretly
swear him in as the dual administrator of
five ministries that weren't his own, exposed the pitfalls
of operating under such conventions, which can easily be
corrupted.
