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State government
 
 
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A state government (provincial
Province

A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state....
 government in Canada) is the government
Government

Government is the body within any organization that has the authority to make and the power to enforce laws, regulations, or rules. Typically, the government refers to a civil government -- local, provincial, or national -- but commercial, academic, religious, or other formal organizations are also administered by governing bodies....
 of a subnational entity in state
State

A state is a political Social contract with effective sovereignty over a geographic area and representing a population. These may be nation states, State or multinational states....
s with federal
Federation

A federation is a Political union comprising a number of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government. In a federation, the self-governing status of the state is typically constitutionally entrenched and may not be altered by a Unilateralism decision of the central government....
 forms of government
Form of government

A form of government is a term that refers to the set of political institutions by which a government of a state is organized in order to exert its powers over a body politic....
, which shares political power
Political power

Political power is a type of power held by a political organization in a society which allows administration of some or all of public resources, including labour, and wealth....
 with the federal
Federal government

A federal government is the common government of a federation.The structure of federal governments vary from institution to institution based on a broad definition of federation....
 or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or be subject to the direct control of the federal government. This relationship may be defined by a constitution
Constitution

A constitution is a system for government — often codified as a written document — that establishes the rules and principles of an autonomous political entity....
.

The reference to "state" denotes subnational entities which are officially or widely known as "states", and should not be confused with "State".






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A state government (provincial
Province

A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state....
 government in Canada) is the government
Government

Government is the body within any organization that has the authority to make and the power to enforce laws, regulations, or rules. Typically, the government refers to a civil government -- local, provincial, or national -- but commercial, academic, religious, or other formal organizations are also administered by governing bodies....
 of a subnational entity in state
State

A state is a political Social contract with effective sovereignty over a geographic area and representing a population. These may be nation states, State or multinational states....
s with federal
Federation

A federation is a Political union comprising a number of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government. In a federation, the self-governing status of the state is typically constitutionally entrenched and may not be altered by a Unilateralism decision of the central government....
 forms of government
Form of government

A form of government is a term that refers to the set of political institutions by which a government of a state is organized in order to exert its powers over a body politic....
, which shares political power
Political power

Political power is a type of power held by a political organization in a society which allows administration of some or all of public resources, including labour, and wealth....
 with the federal
Federal government

A federal government is the common government of a federation.The structure of federal governments vary from institution to institution based on a broad definition of federation....
 or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or be subject to the direct control of the federal government. This relationship may be defined by a constitution
Constitution

A constitution is a system for government — often codified as a written document — that establishes the rules and principles of an autonomous political entity....
.

The reference to "state" denotes subnational entities which are officially or widely known as "states", and should not be confused with "State". Provinces are usually divisions of unitary States. Their governments, which are also provincial governments, are not the subject of this article.

The United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 and Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
 are the main examples of federal
Federation

A federation is a Political union comprising a number of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government. In a federation, the self-governing status of the state is typically constitutionally entrenched and may not be altered by a Unilateralism decision of the central government....
 systems in which the term "state" is used for the subnational components of the federation. In addition, the Canadian provinces fulfil a similar role. The term for subnational units in non-English-speaking federal countries may also often be translated as "state", e.g. States of Germany
States of Germany

Germany is a federation consisting of sixteen states, known in German language as L?nder . Since Land is the literal German word for "country", the term Bundesl?nder is commonly used colloquially, as it is more specific, though technically incorrect within the corpus of German law....
 (German Länder).

Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal
Federation

A federation is a Political union comprising a number of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government. In a federation, the self-governing status of the state is typically constitutionally entrenched and may not be altered by a Unilateralism decision of the central government....
 nation with six states (and two mainland territories). Section 51 of the Australian Constitution
Section 51 of the Australian Constitution

Section 51 of the Constitution of Australia grants legislative powers to the Parliament of Australia. When the six Australian colonies joined together in federation of Australia in 1901, they became the original States and territories of Australia and ceded some of their powers to the new Commonwealth Parliament....
 sets out the division of legislative
Legislature

Legislature is a type of representative deliberative assembly with the power to create and change laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law....
 power between the states and the Commonwealth government. The Commonwealth government is given a variety of legislative powers, including control of foreign affairs
Foreign Affairs

Foreign Affairs is an United States journal on international relations published by the Council on Foreign Relations six times annually. The CFR is a private-sector group established in New York City in 1921, with the mission of promoting understanding of foreign policy and America?s role in the world....
, taxation (although this cannot discriminate between states or parts of states), and regulation of interstate commerce
Commerce

Commerce is a division of trade or production, costs, and pricing which deals with the Trade of goods and service from production, costs, and pricing to final consumer....
 and corporations. Since the original ratification of the constitution, the High Court of Australia
High Court of Australia

The High Court of Australia is the final court of appeal in Australia, the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy. It has both original and appellate jurisdiction, has the power of judicial review over laws passed by the Parliament of Australia and the parliaments of the States and territories of Australia, and interprets the Const...
 has settled a number of disputes concerning the extent of the Commonwealth's legislative powers, some of which have been controversial and extensively criticised; these included a dispute in 1982 over whether the Commonwealth was entitled to designate land for national heritage purposes under United Nations
United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, Social change, human rights and achieving world peace....
 agreements, as well as numerous disputes over the extent of the Commonwealth's power over trade union
Trade union

A trade union or labor union is an organization run by and for workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas such as wages, hours, and working conditions....
 and industrial relations legislation.

One difference between the Australian and United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 models of federalism is that, in Australia, the Commonwealth Parliament has explicit constitutional power over marriage
Marriage

Marriage is a social, spirituality, or law union of individuals. This union may also be called matrimony, while the ceremony that marks its beginning is usually called a wedding and the married status created is sometimes called wedlock....
 legislation; this has been a focal point for recent controversies over same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriage and gay marriage are terms for a Law or socially recognized marriage between two people of the same sex. While state-sanctioned same-sex marriage is a relatively new phenomenon in the modern world, same-sex unions have been documented throughout human history....
.

Government structure


Each state of Australia has a Governor
Governors of the Australian states

The Governors of the Australian states are the representatives in the six states of Australia of Australia's monarch, Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom....
, who represents the Queen of Australia (currently Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

Elizabeth II is the queen regnant of sixteen independent states known as the Commonwealth realms: Monarchy of the United Kingdom, Monarchy of Canada, Monarchy of Australia, Monarchy of New Zealand, Monarchy of Jamaica, Monarchy of Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Monarchy of the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Sain...
) and performs the ceremonial duties of a head of state
Head of State

Head of state is the generic term for the individual or collective office that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchic or republican nation-state, federation, commonwealth or any other political state....
. Every state also has a parliament
Parliaments of the Australian states and territories

The Parliaments of the Australian states and territories are legislative bodies within the federal framework of the Australia. Before the formation of the Commonwealth in 1901, the six Australian colonies were self-governing, with parliaments which had come into existence at various times between 1825, when the New South Wales Legislative Cou...
; most states have a bicameral parliament, except for Queensland
Queensland

Queensland is a States and territories of Australia of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south....
, where the upper chamber (the Legislative Council
Legislative Council

A Legislative Council is the name given to the legislatures, or one of the chambers of the legislature of many nations and colonies.A member of the Legislative Council is commonly referred to as an MLC....
) was abolished in 1922. Unlike their United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 counterparts, Australian states have a Westminster system
Westminster System

The Westminster system is a Democracy parliamentary system of government modelled after the British government . The term comes from the Palace of Westminster, the seat of the UK Parliament....
 of parliamentary government; the head of government, known in each state as a Premier
Premiers of the Australian states

The Premiers of the Australian states are the de facto heads of the executive governments in the six states of the Australia. They perform the same function at the state level as the Prime Minister of Australia performs at the national level....
, is drawn from the state parliament.

India

In India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
, the state governments are the level of government below the central government.

United States

Under the 10th Amendment
Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, which is part of the United States Bill of Rights, was ratified on December 15, 1791. The Tenth Amendment restates the Constitution's principle of Federalism by providing that powers not granted to the National government nor prohibited to the states are reserved to the states and to the...
 to the U.S. Constitution
United States Constitution

The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the United States. It is the foundation and source of the legal authority underlying the existence of the United States of America; the Federal Government of the United States; and all the State & local governments and Territorial Administrative bodies contained therein....
, all governmental powers not granted to the federal government
Federal government of the United States

The Federal Government of the United States is the central current reigning United States governmental body, established by the United States Constitution....
 by the Constitution are reserved for the states. The governments of the 13 colonies
Thirteen Colonies

The Thirteen Colonies were part of what became known as British America, a name that was used by Great Britain until the Treaty of Paris recognized the independence of the original thirteen United States of America in 1783....
 which formed the original union under the Constitution trace their history back to the royal charters which established them during the years of colonialism
Colonialism

Colonialism is the extension of a nation's sovereignty over Territory beyond its borders by the establishment of either settler or exploitation colony in which Indigenous people populations are direct rule, Population transfers, or Genocide....
.

See also

  • State (sub-national)
  • Subnational entity
  • List of U.S. state legislatures
    List of U.S. state legislatures

    Each United States state in the United States has a legislative branch as part of its form of civil government. Most of the fundamental details of the legislature are specified in the state constitution....