Federation of Australia

Australia became a nation on 1 January 1901 when six British colonies—New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania—united to form the Commonwealth of Australia. This process is known as Federation

## Federation of Australia

The Duke of Cornwall and York opens the first federal Parliament, 9 May 1901.

### Religion

* 43.9% Christianity
* 38.9% no religion
* 3.2% Islam
* 2.7% Hinduism
* 2.4% Buddhism
* 1.7% other
* 7.2% unanswered

### Precced by

Colonized Oceania

The first Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia was opened at noon on 9 May 1901 by the Duke of Cornwall and York (later King George V). The ceremony took place in the Exhibition Building, Melbourne, and was attended by over 12 000 guests.

Members of parliament were sworn-in by the Governor-General and then travelled by foot and horse-drawn carriage to Victoria's Parliament House.

The Victorian Parliament House was the temporary home of the Parliament until 1927, when a new Parliament House opened in Canberra. During this time, the Victorian Parliament met in the Exhibition Building.

The opening of Parliament was marked by two weeks of celebrations. The enthusiasm with which Australians greeted Federation and the first Parliament, demonstrated the nation was eager to unite as 'one people'.

The Australian Capital Territory was formed in 1911, from part of the territory of New South Wales, to provide space for the proposed capital of the Federation — Canberra (Melbourne had been the capital since 1901. until 1927). The Northern Territory was excluded from the control of the Government of South Australia in 1911. handed over to the Commonwealth.

Australia voluntarily participated in the first World War. many Australians regard the defeat of the Australian and New Zealand military forces at Gallipoli as the event in which the Australian nation was born.

The statute of Westminster 1931, which Australia accepted in 1942, formally severed almost all constitutional ties between Australia and the United Kingdom. Shock caused by the defeat of Great Britain in Asia in 1942. and the threat of a Japanese invasion led Australia to turn to the United States as a new ally and protector.

Since 1951, Australia has formally become a military ally of the United States under the ANZUS treaty. After World War II, Australia encouraged mass emigration from Europe;

since the 1970s and the abolition of Australia's White policy, immigration from Asia and other non-European parts of the world has been strengthened. As a result, Australia's demographics, culture and general image have changed dramatically.

The last constitutional ties between Australia and the United Kingdom were broken in 1986, with the passage of the Australian act of 1986, ending Britain's role in the Australian government. In 1999, Australians overwhelmingly rejected a proposal for Australia to become a republic, with a president elected by Parliament. since the election of Vitlam Goff as prime minister in 1972, Australia has been focused on the future within the Asia-Pacific region.

## Modern slavery and sex traffiicking today :

The International Labor Organization and human rights activists have estimated there are 15,000 people being kept in slave like conditions in Australia. Besides women forced into prostitution, this includes forced marriages, as well as workers in factories, cafes or cleaners.  t's hard to say how many people are trafficked to Australia. Research from the Australian Institute of Criminology suggests that for every victim of human trafficking and slavery detected, 4 are undetected. Australia is a known destination and source country for victims of trafficking.

As reported over the past years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Australia, and traffickers exploit victims from Australia abroad.  Traffickers exploit women and men in forced labor and women and girls in sex trafficking.  Traffickers exploit a small number of children, primarily teenage Australian and foreign girls, in sex trafficking within the country.  Some women from Asia and, to a lesser extent, Eastern Europe and Africa migrate to Australia to work legally or illegally in a number of sectors, including commercial sex.

Traffickers attempt to evade authorities by allowing victims to carry their passports while in commercial sex establishments and frequently moving the victims to different locations to prevent them from establishing relationships with civil society or other victims.

Unscrupulous employers and labor agencies exploit some men and women from Asia and several Pacific Islands in forced labor in agriculture, cleaning, construction, hospitality and tourism, and domestic service.

Also some fraudulent foreign contracting companies exploit farm workers in bonded labor.  There are cases of forced labor and other forms of exploitation in the agriculture and horticulture sectors, where victims (often foreign migrants and often from Asia) are threatened against leaving their jobs or seeking help.

Instances of forced labor in domestic service are sometimes undetected or unacknowledged by authorities and thus not captured in official statistics.  Reports indicate some migration agents urge migrant workers to move to Australia under false visa applications, including to engage in the commercial sex industry, increasing migrant workers’ vulnerability to trafficking.  Reports also indicate more than a dozen Australian education providers knowingly help South Korean women enter Australia on false student visas to work in the commercial sex industry, increasing their vulnerability to sex trafficking.

Traffickers exploit men in forced labor in the fishing and maritime industries; some fishing vessels that transit or dock at Australian ports use physical abuse to force men to perform labor.  Victims of domestic servitude in Australia work in extremely isolated circumstances with little to no oversight or regulation.  Asylum-seekers, detained for attempting to reach Australia by sea or waiting in country for application decisions, may have increased vulnerability to forced labor or sex trafficking due to displacement, economic instability, and lack of access to basic resources and community support networks.

The Government of Australia hardly meets the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.