Australian Constitutions Act 1850

The act was a response to the demands of the Port Phillip and Moreton Bay settlers, who felt inadequately represented in the New South Wales Legislative Council and who resented their taxes being channelled to New South Wales. == The act ==

The act named the colony and set out its provisional constitution, Earl Grey, the British Secretary of State for War from 1846 to 1852, helped the passage of the bill through Parliament, as he wished to promote free trade and federal system of government in the colonies. The act also provided for similar constitutions to be applied to Van Diemen's Land and South Australia, enabling the creation of new Australian colonies with a similar form of government to New South Wales, whose constitution it also altered. It changed the qualifications for franchise for the New South Wales Legislative Council, and enabled this body, together with the Governor of New South Wales, to establish a bicameral parliament. The act, thus, had significant impact on the four colonies that were already established. The Colony of Western Australia had just started receiving convicts, making it the last remaining penal colony, and the act included special provisions which limited the rights of its citizens to participate in government. == Response ==

In April 1851, William Wentworth established a committee to formulate a motion against the perceived inadequacies of the act. The "Declaration and Remonstrance" declared, among other things, that "the Imperial Parliament has not, nor of right ought to have any power to tax the people of this Colony", and that "plenary powers of legislation should be conferred upon and exercised by the Colonial Legislature ... [and] no bills should be reserved" for the Imperial Parliament unless they affected the Empire. Sir Henry Parkes later wrote of Wentworth that "His Declaration and Remonstrance is so important as one of the foundation-stones of the fabric of our constitutional liberties." == Footnotes ==