Australia is both a country and a continent. It is located in the south of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, in the southeast of the Indian Ocean. New Zealand is to its east and most of the Indian Ocean is to its west. To the south of Australia is Antarctica. Mainland Australia consists of the mainland and the island of Tasmania, which is located in the southern part of the continent and straddles the Bass Strait. It also includes many smaller islands such as Kangaroo Island, Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Island. Australia is the smallest continent in the world, although it is also the sixth largest country in the world. The total land area of Australia is 7,682,300 square kilometres.
What makes Australia a continent?
Defining a continent can be tricky. In fact, there are even disagreements about how many continents there are in the world. For example, many in Russia, the rest of Eastern Europe, and Japan believe that Europe and Asia are one continent known as Eurasia. In some countries, North and South America are considered one continent, while Europe and Asia are separated. It has even been argued that Europe, Asia and Africa should be seen as a unified continent because they are all connected by land. However, the most popular view at the moment is that there are seven continents in the world, one of which is Australia, which is why it is called Australia.
There is also a widely accepted view of what a continent is. This view defines a continent as a large, continuous, unique block of continent, preferably separated by a large body of water. This definition is problematic because many continents today are not separated by vast waters. In fact, all continents are connected to at least one other continent via land, with one exception, and that is Australia, which is surrounded by water on all sides. Thus, one could argue that Australia fits the general definition of a continent more than most other continents.
What makes Australia a country?
In addition to being a continent, Australia is also a country, and its official name is the Commonwealth of Australia. The country was formally established in 1901 when the British Parliament allowed six independent British colonies on the mainland to be unified into one self-governing territory. Australia was an autonomous territory of the British Empire, and although its foreign policy was still determined by the British government, australia's internal affairs remained its own from then on. However, in 1931, the British government approved the Statute of Westminster, granting control over foreign policy to Australia and other self-governing territories of the British Empire, although the law was not formally adopted by Australia until 1942. As a result, Australia became a fully sovereign state.
01 Administrative divisions
Today's Australian Commonwealth is a constitutional monarchy, which means that the British monarch is the head of state but only acts as a ceremonial one, while the real power is in the hands of the Australian people and their elected representatives. Australia is a commonwealth, similar to the structure of the United States. The Commonwealth of Australia consists of 6 entities known as states and 10 entities known as territories. These states include New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. Under the Australian Constitution, these states have specific powers, while other powers are the exclusive domain of the Australian Federal Government. The federal government is headquartered in Canberra, Australia.
By contrast, these territories either had varying degrees of autonomy or were under the direct control of the federal government. Canberra's Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and the Northern Territory are granted limited autonomy by the federal government. The Australian Federal Government website notes that due to the large populations of these two regions, they are largely considered states. Norfolk Island once had autonomy but was stripped of much of it by the federal government in 2015. Australia's other 8 territories are under the direct control of the Federal Government.
02 Federal Government
The Australian Federal Government has an executive branch, with the Prime Minister leading the Cabinet. The legislative branch of the Australian government is called Parliament. It is a bicameral legislature, which means it has two legislatures or the House of Representatives. The House of Commons is known as the House of Representatives. The Upper House is called the Senate. Like the House of Representatives in the United States, Australia's House of Representatives is also population representative, meaning that more populous areas have more representation than less populous areas. The Australian Senate is also similar to the United States Senate. Each state in Australia elects 12 senators, and the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory elect two senators each. In addition, the Australian judiciary operates very similarly to the U.S. federal judiciary. The High Court of Australia is the equivalent of the Supreme Court of the United States. Australia's state government is largely similar to the structure of the federal government. As a result, they have their own executive, legislative and judicial branches.
03 Economy
As a sovereign nation, Australia not only has its own government, but also its own economy. This includes its own currency, the Australian dollar. With an economic value of about $1.323 trillion, Australia is the 13th largest economy in the world and one of the richest in the Asia-Pacific region. According to the Economic Freedom Index 2021, Australia's economy is also ranked as the third freest economy in the world. In addition, Australia has signed free trade agreements with 15 countries, including the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
04 National identity
What else makes Australia a country? Of course it is the people. More than 25 million people make Australia home. Because of its location in the southern hemisphere, Australia is often jokingly referred to as "The Land Down Under", and it has its own national identity. This identity is usually popular in movies and television, but it is much more common than it appears on large or small screens. Australians are often known for their egalitarian views, which means they are very supportive of concepts such as universal health care and publicly funded education. Australians are also very diverse, with a wide variety of demographic groups, from the indigenous people who came to the country thousands of years ago with Europeans, to a growing number of Asians and Africans. So Australia is more than just kangaroos, boomerangs and Foster beers.
Source: https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/is-australia-a-country-or-a-continent.html