In the case of the Australian Commonwealth, it is the powers of the Central Parliament that are strictly defined and restricted, contrary to the course followed in the Canadian Constitution. As an indication of the powers left to the State Parliaments it may be well to specify the powers of the Central Parliament as set forth in the Constitution Act, Paragraphs 51 and 52:
Trade and commerce with other countries, and among the States; taxation; bounties; borrowing money; postal, telegraphic, telephonic, and other like services; naval and military defence; lighthouses, &c.; astronomical and meteorological observations; quarantine, fisheries, census and statistics; currency, coinage and legal tender; banking, other than State banking; insurance; weights and measures; bills of exchange and promissory notes; bankruptcy and insolvency; copyright, patents and trade marks; naturalisation and aliens; foreign corporations, and trading or financial corporations within the Commonwealth; marriage and divorce; invalid and old-age pensions; the service and execution throughout the Commonwealth of the civil and criminal process, and the judgments of the courts of the States; the recognition throughout the Commonwealth of the laws and judicial proceedings of the States; immigration and emigration; the influx of criminals; external affairs; control of railways for naval and military transport; [pg 418] the acquisition, with the consent of a State, of railways of the State; railway construction and extension; conciliation and arbitration in industrial disputes extending beyond the limits of any State; etc.
Paragraph 107 provides that every power of the Parliament of a Colony shall, unless exclusively vested in the Parliament of the Commonwealth, or withdrawn from the Parliament of the State, continue as before. Paragraph 109 stipulates, however, that when a State law is inconsistent with the law of the Commonwealth, the latter shall prevail, and the former shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be invalid.
Certain powers specifically granted to the State Parliaments are set forth in the following paragraphs, which are of sufficient interest to be cited textually:
“112. After uniform duties of customs have been imposed, a State may levy on imports or exports, or on goods passing into or out of the State, such charges as may be necessary for executing the inspection laws of the State; but the net produce of all charges so levied shall be for the use of the Commonwealth; and any such inspection laws may be annulled by the Parliament of the Commonwealth.
“113. All fermented, distilled, or other intoxicating liquids passing into any State or remaining therein for use, consumption, sale, or storage, shall be subject to the laws of the State as if such liquids had been produced in the State.
“114. A State shall not, without the consent of the Parliament of the Commonwealth, raise or maintain any naval or military force, or impose any tax on property of any kind belonging to the Commonwealth, nor shall the Commonwealth impose any tax on property of any kind belonging to a State.
“115. A State shall not coin money, nor make anything but gold and silver coin a legal tender in payment of debts.
“117. A subject of the Queen, resident in any State, shall not be subject in any other State to any disability or discrimination which would not be equally applicable to him if he were a subject of the Queen resident in such other State.
“118. Full faith and credit shall be given, throughout the Commonwealth to the laws, the Public Acts and records, and the judicial proceedings of every State.