How has the Australian government shifted from the UK model of government

“As with many Commonwealth countries such as Canada and New Zealand, the Australian Government is established in the Westminster tradition. the Westminster tradition refers to the collection of legal rules, traditions, cultural expectations and administrative practices that shape the way the public service interacts with ministers and the government of the day. Australia has developed its own Westminster model, consistent with local values, ethics, culture, practice and constitutional arrangements.” (Ahead of the Game: Blueprint for the Reform of Australian Government Administration)

In 1901 Australia came out of six colonies of the Great Britain. These colonies were independent of each other and union the colonies mainly stems out from the need to resolve the issues pertaining to transportation, trade, defence and immigration of people hence a federation was required.

Consequently all the states were brought together by means of a formal written document : “Commonwealth of Australia Constitution” and Australia came into being with the Constitution, the monarch and the Governor-General.

In federalism powers are divided between a central government and several regional governments. Through the constitution, a federal system was created wherein power was divided between the  centre and the governments of the six colonies (renamed as States in the Constitution). Certain areas such as taxation, defence and foreign affairs were given to Commonwealth Government and list of those matters specified in the Section 51 of the Constitution. The states retained power over the matters that occurred within their borders. (Australia.gov.au)

To protect the interests of the states, Senate was formed as one of the two houses in the Parliament  represented by equal number of members from each State.

Following diagram summarizes the structure of Australian Government.