CitySky Wallpapers Download: AU

Cricket and football are the predominant sports in Australia during the summer and winter months, respectively. Australia is unique in that it has professional leagues for four football codes. Originating in Melbourne in the 1850s, Australian rules football is the most popular code in all states except New South Wales and Queensland, where rugby league holds sway, followed by rugby union. Soccer, while ranked fourth in popularity and resources, has the highest overall participation rates. Cricket is popular across all borders and has been regarded by many Australians as the national sport. The Australian national cricket team competed against England in the first Test match (1877) and the first One Day International (1971), and against New Zealand in the first Twenty20 International (2004), winning all three games. It has also participated in every edition of the Cricket World Cup, winning the tournament a record five times. Australia is one of five nations to have participated in ever

Most Indigenous Australian groups subsisted on a simple hunter-gatherer diet of native fauna and flora, otherwise called bush tucker. The first settlers introduced British and Irish cuisine to the continent. This influence is seen in the enduring popularity of several British dishes such as fish and chips, and in quintessential Australian dishes such as the Australian meat pie, which is related to the British steak pie. Post-war immigration transformed Australian cuisine. For instance, Southern European migrants helped to build a thriving Australian coffee culture which gave rise to Australian coffee drinks such as the flat white, while East Asian migration led to dishes such as the Cantonese-influenced dim sim and Chiko Roll, as well as a distinct Australian Chinese cuisine. Sausage sizzles, pavlovas, lamingtons, meat pies, Vegemite and Anzac biscuits are regarded as iconic Australian foods. Australia is a leading exporter and consumer of wine. Australian wine is produced mainly in th

The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), the world's first feature-length narrative film, spurred a boom in Australian cinema during the silent film era. After World War I, Hollywood monopolised the industry, and by the 1960s Australian film production had effectively ceased. With the benefit of government support, the Australian New Wave of the 1970s brought provocative and successful films, many exploring themes of national identity, such as Wake in Fright and Gallipoli, while Crocodile Dundee and the Ozploitation movement's Mad Max series became international blockbusters. In a film market flooded with foreign content, Australian films delivered a 7.7% share of the local box office in 2015. The AACTAs are Australia's premier film and television awards, and notable Academy Award winners from Australia include Geoffrey Rush, Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett and Heath Ledger. Australia has two public broadcasters (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the multicultural Specia

Australia has over 100,000 Aboriginal rock art sites, and traditional designs, patterns and stories infuse contemporary Indigenous Australian art, "the last great art movement of the 20th century" according to critic Robert Hughes; its exponents include Emily Kame Kngwarreye. Early colonial artists showed a fascination with the unfamiliar land. The impressionistic works of Arthur Streeton, Tom Roberts and other members of the 19th-century Heidelberg School—the first "distinctively Australian" movement in Western art—gave expression to nationalist sentiments in the lead-up to Federation. While the school remained influential into the 1900s, modernists such as Margaret Preston, and, later, Sidney Nolan, explored new artistic trends. The landscape remained central to the work of Aboriginal watercolourist Albert Namatjira, as well as Fred Williams, Brett Whiteley and other post-war artists whose works, eclectic in style yet uniquely Australian, moved between the figurat

Australia is home to a diversity of cultures, a result of its history of immigration. Since 1788, Australian culture has primarily been a Western culture strongly influenced by early Anglo-Celtic settlers. Other influences include Australian Aboriginal culture, the traditions brought to the country by waves of immigration from around the world, and the culture of the United States. The cultural divergence and evolution that has occurred over the centuries since European settlement has resulted in a distinctive Australian culture.

School attendance, or registration for home schooling, is compulsory throughout Australia. Education is the responsibility of the individual states and territories so the rules vary between states, but in general children are required to attend school from the age of about 5 until about 16. In some states (Western Australia, Northern Territory and New South Wales), children aged 16–17 are required to either attend school or participate in vocational training, such as an apprenticeship.  Australia has an adult literacy rate that was estimated to be 99% in 2003. However, a 2011–2012 report for the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that Tasmania has a literacy and numeracy rate of only 50%. Australia has 37 government-funded universities and three private universities, as well as a number of other specialist institutions that provide approved courses at the higher education level. The OECD places Australia among the most expensive nations to attend university. There is a state-base

Australia's life expectancy of 83 years (81 years for males and 85 years for females), is the fifth-highest in the world. It has the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, while cigarette smoking is the largest preventable cause of death and disease, responsible for 7.8% of the total mortality and disease. Ranked second in preventable causes is hypertension at 7.6%, with obesity third at 7.5%. Australia ranked 35th in the world in 2012 for its proportion of obese women and near the top of developed nations for its proportion of obese adults; 63% of its adult population is either overweight or obese. Australia spent around 9.91% of its total GDP to healthcare in 2021. It introduced universal health care in 1975. Known as Medicare, it is now nominally funded by an income tax surcharge known as the Medicare levy, currently at 2%. The states manage hospitals and attached outpatient services, while the Commonwealth funds the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (subsidising the costs of m

Australia has no state religion; Section 116 of the Australian Constitution prohibits the federal government from making any law to establish any religion, impose any religious observance, or prohibit the free exercise of any religion. At the 2021 Census, 38.9% of the population identified as having "no religion", up from 15.5% in 2001. The largest religion is Christianity (43.9% of the population). The largest Christian denominations are the Roman Catholic Church (20% of the population) and the Anglican Church of Australia (9.8%). Multicultural immigration since the Second World War has led to the growth of non-Christian religions, the largest of which are Islam (3.2%), Hinduism (2.7%), Buddhism (2.4%), Sikhism (0.8%), and Judaism (0.4%). In 2021, just under 8,000 people declared an affiliation with traditional Aboriginal religions. In Australian Aboriginal mythology and the animist framework developed in Aboriginal Australia, the Dreaming is a sacred era in which ancestral

Although Australia has no official language, English is the de facto national language. Australian English is a major variety of the language with a distinctive accent and lexicon, and differs slightly from other varieties of English in grammar and spelling. General Australian serves as the standard dialect. At the 2021 census, English was the only language spoken in the home for 72% of the population. The next most common languages spoken at home are Mandarin (2.7%), Arabic (1.4%), Vietnamese (1.3%), Cantonese (1.2%) and Punjabi (0.9%). Over 250 Australian Aboriginal languages are thought to have existed at the time of first European contact, of which fewer than twenty are still in daily use by all age groups. About 110 others are spoken exclusively by older people. At the time of the 2006 census, 52,000 Indigenous Australians, representing 12% of the Indigenous population, reported that they spoke an Indigenous language at home. Australia has a sign language known as Auslan, which is

Between 1788 and the Second World War, the vast majority of settlers and immigrants came from the British Isles (principally England, Ireland and Scotland), although there was significant immigration from China and Germany during the 19th century. In the decades immediately following the Second World War, Australia received a large wave of immigration from across Europe, with many more immigrants arriving from Southern and Eastern Europe than in previous decades. Since the end of the White Australia policy in 1973, Australia has pursued an official policy of multiculturalism, and there has been a large and continuing wave of immigration from across the world, with Asia being the largest source of immigrants in the 21st century. Today, Australia has the world's eighth-largest immigrant population, with immigrants accounting for 30% of the population, the highest proportion among major Western nations. 160,323 permanent immigrants were admitted to Australia in 2018–2019 (excluding re

Australia has an average population density of 3.4 persons per square kilometre of total land area, which makes it one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. The population is heavily concentrated on the east coast, and in particular in the south-eastern region between South East Queensland to the north-east and Adelaide to the south-west. Australia is highly urbanised, with 67% of the population living in the Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (metropolitan areas of the state and mainland territorial capital cities) in 2018. Metropolitan areas with more than one million inhabitants are Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. In common with many other developed countries, Australia is experiencing a demographic shift towards an older population, with more retirees and fewer people of working age. In 2018 the average age of the Australian population was 38.8 years. In 2015, 2.15% of the Australian population lived overseas, one of the lowest proportions worl

In 2019, Australia spent A$35.6 billion on research and development, allocating about 1.79% of GDP. A recent study by Accenture for the Tech Council shows that the Australian tech sector combined contributes $167 billion a year to the economy and employs 861,000 people. The country's most recognized and important sector of this type is mining, where Australia continues to have the highest penetration of technologies, especially drones, autonomous and remote-controlled vehicles and mine management software. In addition, the Australian recent startup ecosystem is growing annually at rates of 5.8%, and the Sydney and Melbourne ecosystems are already valued at $25 billion. Australia consistently has ranked high in the Global Innovation Index (GII). In 2021, Australia ranked 25th out of the 132 economies featured in the GII 2021, down from being 22nd in 2019. With only 0.3% of the world's population, Australia contributed 4.1% of the world's published research in 2020, making it

In 2003, Australia's energy sources were coal (58.4%), hydropower (19.1%), natural gas (13.5%), liquid/gas fossil fuel-switching plants (5.4%), oil (2.9%), and other renewable resources like wind power, solar energy, and bioenergy (0.7%). During the 21st century, Australia has been trending to generate more energy using renewable resources and less energy using fossil fuels. In 2020, Australia used coal for 62% of all energy (3.6% increase compared to 2013), wind power for 9.9% (9.5% increase), natural gas for 9.9% (3.6% decrease), solar power for 9.9% (9.8% increase), hydropower for 6.4% (12.7% decrease), bioenergy for 1.4% (1.2% increase), and other sources like oil and waste coal mine gas for 0.5%. In August 2009, Australia's government set a goal to achieve 20% of all energy in the country from renewable sources by 2020. They achieved this goal, as renewable resources accounted for 27.7% of Australia's energy in 2020.

Australia's high-income mixed-market economy is rich in natural resources. It is the world's thirteenth-largest by nominal terms, and the 18th-largest by PPP. As of 2021, it has the second-highest amount of wealth per adult, after Luxembourg; and has the thirteenth-highest financial assets per capita. Australia has a labour force of some 13.5 million, with an unemploynment rate of 3.5% as of June 2022. According to the Australian Council of Social Service, the poverty rate of Australia exceeds 13.6% of the population, encompassing 3.2 million. It also estimated that there were 774,000 (17.7%) children under the age of 15 living in relative poverty. The Australian dollar is the national currency, which is also shared with three Island states in the Pacific: Kiribati, Nauru, and Tuvalu. Australian government debt, about $963 billion, exceeds 45.1% of the country's total GDP, and is the world's eighth-highest. Australia had the second-highest level of household debt in the

Australia's armed forces — the Australian Defence Force (ADF) — comprise the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the Australian Army and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), in total numbering 81,214 personnel (including 57,982 regulars and 23,232 reservists) as of November 2015. The titular role of Commander-in-Chief is vested in the Governor-General, who appoints a Chief of the Defence Force from one of the armed services on the advice of the government. In a diarchy, the Chief of the Defence Force serves as co-chairman of the Defence Committee, conjointly with the Secretary of Defence, in the command and control of the Australian Defence Organisation. In the 2016–2017 budget, defence spending comprised 2% of GDP, representing the world's 12th largest defence budget. Australia has been involved in United Nations and regional peacekeeping, disaster relief, as well as armed conflicts from the First World War onwards. HMAS Canberra, a Canberra class landing helicopter dock, and HMAS

Over recent decades, Australia's foreign relations have been driven by a close association with the United States through the ANZUS pact, and by a focus on relationships within the Asia-Pacific region. A regional power, Australia is a member of regional and cultural groupings including the Pacific Islands Forum, the Pacific Community and the Commonwealth of Nations, and is a participant in the ASEAN+6 mechanism and the East Asia Summit. Australia is a member of several defence, intelligence and security groupings including the Five Eyes intelligence alliance with the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand; the ANZUS alliance with the United States and New Zealand; the AUKUS security treaty with the United States and United Kingdom; the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with the United States, India and Japan; the Five Power Defence Arrangements with New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Singapore; and the Reciprocal Access defence and security agreement with Ja

Australia has six states — New South Wales (NSW), Queensland (QLD), South Australia (SA), Tasmania (TAS), Victoria (VIC) and Western Australia (WA) — and three mainland territories—the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), the Northern Territory (NT), and the Jervis Bay Territory (JBT). In most respects, the ACT and NT function as states, except that the Commonwealth Parliament has the power to modify or repeal any legislation passed by the territory parliaments. Under the constitution, the states essentially have plenary legislative power to legislate on any subject, whereas the Commonwealth (federal) Parliament may legislate only within the subject areas enumerated under section 51. For example, state parliaments have the power to legislate with respect to education, criminal law and state police, health, transport, and local government, but the Commonwealth Parliament does not have any specific power to legislate in these areas. However, Commonwealth laws prevail over state laws to th

Australia is a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The country has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system under its constitution, which is one of the world's oldest, since Federation in 1901. It is also one of the world's oldest federations, in which power is divided between the federal and state and territorial governments. The Australian system of government combines elements derived from the political systems of the United Kingdom (a fused executive, constitutional monarchy and strong party discipline) and the United States (federalism, a written constitution and strong bicameralism with an elected upper house), along with distinctive indigenous features. The federal government is separated into three branches: Legislature: the bicameral Parliament, comprising the monarch (represented by the governor-general), the Senate, and the House of Representatives; Executive: the Federal Executive Council, which in practice gives legal effect to the decisio

Although most of Australia is semi-arid or desert, the continent includes a diverse range of habitats from alpine heaths to tropical rainforests. Fungi typify that diversity—an estimated 250,000 species—of which only 5% have been described—occur in Australia. Because of the continent's great age, extremely variable weather patterns, and long-term geographic isolation, much of Australia's biota is unique. About 85% of flowering plants, 84% of mammals, more than 45% of birds, and 89% of in-shore, temperate-zone fish are endemic. Australia has at least 755 species of reptile, more than any other country in the world. Besides Antarctica, Australia is the only continent that developed without feline species. Feral cats may have been introduced in the 17th century by Dutch shipwrecks, and later in the 18th century by European settlers. They are now considered a major factor in the decline and extinction of many vulnerable and endangered native species. Seafaring immigrants from Asia

The climate of Australia is significantly influenced by ocean currents, including the Indian Ocean Dipole and the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, which is correlated with periodic drought, and the seasonal tropical low-pressure system that produces cyclones in northern Australia. These factors cause rainfall to vary markedly from year to year. Much of the northern part of the country has a tropical, predominantly summer-rainfall (monsoon). The south-west corner of the country has a Mediterranean climate. The south-east ranges from oceanic (Tasmania and coastal Victoria) to humid subtropical (upper half of New South Wales), with the highlands featuring alpine and subpolar oceanic climates. The interior is arid to semi-arid. Driven by climate change, average temperatures have risen more than 1°C since 1960. Associated changes in rainfall patterns and climate extremes exacerbate existing issues such as drought and bushfires. 2019 was Australia's warmest recorded year,and the 2019–2020 b

Lying on the Indo-Australian Plate, the mainland of Australia is the lowest and most primordial landmass on Earth with a relatively stable geological history. The landmass includes virtually all known rock types and from all geological time periods spanning over 3.8 billion years of the Earth's history. The Pilbara Craton is one of only two pristine Archaean 3.6–2.7 Ga (billion years ago) crusts identified on the Earth. Having been part of all major supercontinents, the Australian continent began to form after the breakup of Gondwana in the Permian, with the separation of the continental landmass from the African continent and Indian subcontinent. It separated from Antarctica over a prolonged period beginning in the Permian and continuing through to the Cretaceous. When the last glacial period ended in about 10,000 BC, rising sea levels formed Bass Strait, separating Tasmania from the mainland. Then between about 8,000 and 6,500 BC, the lowlands in the north were flooded by the sea

Surrounded by the Indian and Pacific oceans, Australia is separated from Asia by the Arafura and Timor seas, with the Coral Sea lying off the Queensland coast, and the Tasman Sea lying between Australia and New Zealand. The world's smallest continent and sixth largest country by total area, Australia—owing to its size and isolation—is often dubbed the "island continent" and is sometimes considered the world's largest island. Australia has 34,218 km (21,262 mi) of coastline (excluding all offshore islands), and claims an extensive Exclusive Economic Zone of 8,148,250 square kilometres (3,146,060 sq mi). This exclusive economic zone does not include the Australian Antarctic Territory. Mainland Australia lies between latitudes 9° and 44° South, and longitudes 112° and 154° East. Australia's size gives it a wide variety of landscapes, with tropical rainforests in the north-east, mountain ranges in the south-east, south-west and east, and desert in the centre. The dese

In the decades following World War II, Australia enjoyed significant increases in living standards, leisure time and suburban development. Using the slogan "populate or perish", the nation encouraged a large wave of immigration from across Europe, with such immigrants referred to as "New Australians". A member of the Western Bloc during the Cold War, Australia participated in the Korean War and the Malayan Emergency during the 1950s and the Vietnam War from 1962 to 1972. During this time, tensions over communist influence in society led to unsuccessful attempts by the Menzies Government to ban the Communist Party of Australia, and a bitter splitting of the Labor Party in 1955. As a result of a 1967 referendum, the Federal Government received a mandate to implement policies to benefit Aboriginal people, and all Indigenous Australians were included in the Census. Traditional ownership of land ("native title") was recognised in law for the first time when the

On 1 January 1901, federation of the colonies was achieved after a decade of planning, constitutional conventions and referendums, resulting in the establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia as a nation and the entering into force of the Australian Constitution. After the 1907 Imperial Conference, Australia and several other self-governing British settler colonies were given the status of self-governing "dominions" within the British Empire. Australia was one of the founding members of the League of Nations in 1920, and subsequently of the United Nations in 1945.[99] Britain's Statute of Westminster 1931 formally ended most of the constitutional links between Australia and the United Kingdom. Australia adopted it in 1942, but it was backdated to 1939 to confirm the validity of legislation passed by the Australian Parliament during World War II. The Federal Capital Territory (later renamed the Australian Capital Territory) was formed in 1911 as the location for the fut

The British continued to push into other areas of the continent in the early 19th century, initially along the coast. In 1803, a settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land (present-day Tasmania), and in 1813, Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Wentworth crossed the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, opening the interior to European settlement. The British claim extended to the whole Australian continent in 1827 when Major Edmund Lockyer established a settlement on King George Sound (modern-day Albany). The Swan River Colony (present-day Perth) was established in 1829, evolving into the largest Australian colony by area, Western Australia. In accordance with population growth, separate colonies were carved from New South Wales: Tasmania in 1825, South Australia in 1836, New Zealand in 1841, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859. South Australia was founded as a "free province" — it was never a penal colony. Western Australia was also founded "free"

The northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically for trade by Makassan fishermen from what is now Indonesia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, and made landfall on 26 February 1606 at the Pennefather River near the modern town of Weipa on Cape York. Later that year, Spanish explorer Luís Vaz de Torres sailed through and navigated the Torres Strait Islands. The Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent "New Holland" during the 17th century, and although no attempt at settlement was made, a number of shipwrecks left men either stranded or, as in the case of the Batavia in 16

Indigenous Australians comprise two groups - the Aboriginal peoples of the Australian mainland (and surrounding islands including Tasmania), and the Torres Strait Islanders, who are a distinct Melanesian people. Human habitation of the Australian continent is estimated to have begun 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, with the migration of people by land bridges and short sea crossings from what is now Southeast Asia. It is uncertain how many waves of immigration may have contributed to these ancestors of modern Aboriginal Australians. The Madjedbebe rock shelter in Arnhem Land is recognised as the oldest site showing the presence of humans in Australia. The oldest human remains found are the Lake Mungo remains, which have been dated to around 41,000 years ago. Aboriginal Australian culture is one of the oldest continuous cultures on Earth. At the time of first European contact, Aboriginal Australians were complex hunter-gatherers with diverse economies and societies and about 250 different la

The name Australia (pronounced /əˈstreɪliə/ in Australian English) is derived from the Latin Terra Australis ("southern land"), a name used for a hypothetical continent in the Southern Hemisphere since ancient times. Several sixteenth century cartographers used the word Australia on maps, but not to identify modern Australia. When Europeans first began visiting and mapping Australia in the 17th century, the name Terra Australis was naturally applied to the new territories. Until the early 19th century, Australia was best known as New Holland, a name first applied by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1644 (as Nieuw-Holland) and subsequently anglicised. Terra Australis still saw occasional usage, such as in scientific texts. The name Australia was popularised by the explorer Matthew Flinders, who said it was "more agreeable to the ear, and an assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the Earth".The first time that Australia appears to have been official

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of 7,617,930 square kilometres (2,941,300 sq mi), Australia is the largest country by area in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country. Australia is the oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent, with the least fertile soils. It is a megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates, with deserts in the centre, tropical rainforests in the north-east, and mountain ranges in the south-east. The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south east Asia approximately 65,000 years ago, during the last ice age. Arriving by sea, they settled the continent and had formed approximately 250 distinct language groups by the time of European settlement, maintaining some of the longest known continuing artistic and religious traditions in the

澳洲本土劃分為六個州和兩個內部領地。 六州為： 新南威爾斯（New South Wales，簡稱為NSW），面積800,642 km²，首府雪梨（Sydney） 昆士蘭（Queensland，簡稱為QLD），面積1,730,648 km²，首府布里斯本（Brisbane） 南澳（South Australia，簡稱為SA），面積983,482 km²，首府阿得雷德（Adelaide） 塔斯馬尼亞（Tasmania，簡稱為TAS），面積68,401 km²，首府荷巴特（Hobart） 維多利亞（Victoria，簡稱為VIC），面積227,416 km²，首府墨爾本（Melbourne） 西澳（Western Australia，簡稱為WA），面積2,529,875 km²，首府伯斯（Perth） 二領地是： 首都領地（Australian Capital Territory，簡稱為ACT），面積2,358 km²，首府坎培拉（Canberra），連同傑維斯灣領地。 北領地（North Territory，簡稱為NT），面積1,349,129 km²，首府達爾文（Darwin） 澳洲首都位於坎培拉。坎培拉是在兩大城市墨爾本和雪梨相爭20年未果後，以地理位居兩城之中而獲選為首都

澳洲聯邦的國家武裝力量為澳洲國防軍，其中包括澳洲陸軍、澳洲皇家空軍和澳洲皇家海軍，截至2020年7月共有90,070名官兵在役（包括60,330名常規軍和29,740名預備役士兵），其中皇家澳洲海軍配備了柯林斯級潛艇柴電潛艇、紐澳軍團級巡防艦、阿得雷德級巡防艦和荷巴特級驅逐艦等，於1940年代至1980年代亦曾經配置有墨爾本號航空母艦。澳洲國防軍在近期的編制以及架構均保持在防衛性質，鮮有離岸攻擊或者入侵別國的遠期計劃。但在近期美國和北約發起的大型戰爭中，幾乎都可以看到澳軍的身影。國防軍總司令人選經由內閣提出，由總督委任，負責軍隊日常行動。而其他行政上的工作，則由國防部及其部長負責。 澳洲皇家空軍是當今世界上裝備最為精良的空軍力量之一，在與美國等盟友國共同研發了當今世界上最為先進的戰鬥機：F-35閃電II戰鬥機後亦訂購了72架該機型，並將於2018年以後進行裝備。目前皇家空軍裝備有75架F/A-18黃蜂式戰鬥攻擊機、21架P-3獵戶座海上巡邏機等。 澳洲憲法一直將無核化視為其重要國策之一，不僅民用設施，在軍事領域亦禁止任何核動力發展；是到目前為止唯一一個實施這一計劃的西方大國。澳軍曾經參與過的大型戰爭包括第一次世界大戰、第二次世界大戰、韓戰、越南戰爭、波斯灣戰爭、阿富汗戰爭和伊拉克戰爭。 2010年-2011年澳洲的年度軍費開支為257億美元，在全球各國中排名第14位，但是只佔據全球軍費總支出的1.2%。澳洲國防軍在第二次世界大戰後一直有參與聯合國維和部隊在世界各地的救災和各地武裝衝突的維和任務；截止2009年，大約有3,300名澳洲國防軍分佈在包括索羅門群島，阿富汗，東帝汶等12個國家和地區執行維和任務。 2007年澳洲與美國進行的聯合軍事演習，照片攝於澳洲肖爾沃特灣

澳洲政府自1931年後一直採取比較溫和的外交政策，在極力保持同美國、英國等其他西方國家維持盟友關係的同時，亦在1980年代開始後因為地理位置因素積極的拓展同東亞以及東南亞國家的關係，近年來與日本、新加坡、印度尼西亞、馬來西亞、韓國及中國交往密切。而作為大英國協中的主要國家之一，澳洲是大英國協論壇中的主要首腦成員國之一。雖然澳洲與其前宗主國英國一直關係密切，然而到1990年代，澳洲共和運動開始發展，2010年下半年，工黨領袖，時任總理茱莉雅·吉拉德上臺後明確表示，澳洲適宜於英國女王伊莉莎白二世退位後，考慮改為共和制國家。 澳洲政府在其2004年的外交白皮書中表示：其基本外交的政策是重視澳洲與美國之間的關係，並且藉助經貿互動促進與亞太地區國家的關係，即強化美澳同盟的前提下與亞太地區國家發展。近幾十年來，某程度上，澳洲政府一直在致力於推進全球貿易的自由化發展，這亦直接或間接導致了凱恩斯集團和亞太經合組織的形成。澳洲是經濟合作與發展組織以及世界貿易組織創始會員國之一，並與美國簽署了澳美自由貿易協定，此外澳洲亦與紐西蘭簽訂有緊密經濟合作協議。截止到2010年，澳洲政府與日本政府持續進行關於自由貿易和雙邊互信等一系列親密合作夥伴的談判，並且簽訂了多個雙邊自由貿易協議。澳洲在政治，經濟以及軍事上的親密盟友包括北約諸國和日本。 作為聯合國的創始會員國之一，澳洲亦在多年來堅定致力於外交上的多邊主義，在聯合國和多個國際組織的援助計劃下，澳洲曾經援過的開發中國家逾60個，2005年至2006年度的海外援助計劃逾250億美元，但是以國內生產總值比例來計算，這個數字則微不足道。1971年，澳洲與英國、紐西蘭、馬來西亞和新加坡共同簽署五國聯防（FPDA）協定。通過該協定，澳洲與英國以及紐西蘭將在馬來西亞和新加坡任何一方受到軍事滋擾時共同幫助防禦，澳洲通過該協定迅速的擴大了自己在亞太地區的影響力，並且逐漸開始將自己的軍事以及經濟勢力擴展至東南亞地區，成為一個政治以及軍事上的多邊國家。

澳洲在印度洋有多個島嶼，其中有人居住的聖誕島和科科斯（基林）群島組成澳屬印度洋領地，而臨近紐西蘭的諾福克島也有一定的自治權，上述地區和幾個無人島統稱為外部領地（External territories）。

北領地實行高度地方自治，因為澳洲原住民的文化根深蒂固。北領地經濟以旅遊業為主，人口約25萬，首府達爾文有10萬名居民。首都領地則主要為國家公共行政相關的人士所居住與生活。

澳洲聯邦的政體為君主立憲制和議會制。現任澳洲君主是英國國王查爾斯三世，他同時也是英國和其他大英國協王國的國家元首。澳洲總督代表國王行使權力，有權解散國會，但實務上僅在總理建議下為之。歷史上最著名的憲政危機發生在1975年，當時由於執政工黨和在野自由黨聯盟分別控制兩院，在野黨拒絕支持預算案，總督其後突然解除總理的職務。 政府三大體系如下： 立法權：在聯邦議會（Parliament）。由參議院（The Senate）、眾議院（House of Representatives）組成。 行政權：內閣。成員有聯邦總理及各部會首長。澳洲聯邦總督和各州總督由內閣提名。 司法權：在最高法院和其他聯邦法院、州法院。 眾議院目前共151個席位，基本以各個州人口數分配，實行單一選區制，以排序複選制產生。眾議院多數黨組成聯邦內閣，其黨魁為聯邦總理。 參議院具有立法審議權，參議院席位無關人口數，每州各12席，北方領地和首都特區各只2席，共76席。兩院每三年改選一次。眾議員任期三年，參議員任期六年（註：首都和北方領地的參議員任期是三年），故後者每次只改選半數。

  行政區 聯邦 Commonwealth of Australia 維多利亞州 Victoria 新南威爾斯州 New South Wales 昆士蘭州 Queensland 塔斯馬尼亞州 Tasmania 南澳州 South Australia 西澳州 Western Australia 首都領地 Capital Territory 北領地 Northern Territory 執政黨 澳洲工黨 澳洲工黨 自由黨—國家黨聯盟 澳洲工黨 澳洲自由黨 澳洲工黨 澳洲工黨 澳洲工黨 澳洲工黨 反對黨 自由黨—國家黨聯盟 澳洲自由黨 澳洲工黨 自由國家黨 澳洲工黨 澳洲自由黨 自由黨—國家黨聯盟 澳洲自由黨 鄉村自由黨 起始日期 2022年5月 2014年12月 2011年3月 2015年2月 2014年3月 2022年3月 2017年3月 2012年10月 2016年8月