Economic Development of Australia

In the year 1788 a fleet of British ships arrived in what is now known as Sydney, New South Whales where they established a penal colony (which was for their prisoners). With the years to follow the British set out in order to do a scientific exploration of the continent's land, and then later established colonies that went on to create the present government. Presently, the continent consists of 6 states that together create the Commonwealth of Australia where each state still retains the power to make their own laws that have to do with any matter not controlled by the "Commonwealth Section 51" in their constitution. However, the laws that effect Australia as a whole are written and passed by 3 groups: the Australian Parliament which consists of a Queen, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. 

Historically, Australia ran mostly on coal and natural gas to power everything but recently they have been making a large move towards green power like wind and solar energy. This has come much easier  for them because of the large percent of citizens that support the switch, which is mainly due to the many laws being passed/have been passed by their government. For instance, the government launched a sustainability program/plan for educating their citizens on how to live sustainably. Another large factor that is helping Australia become more sustainable, is that their are very few Fortune 500 companies (5 to be exact) based there and they are all not very large companies with as much income as some within the United States of America or England. Actually believe it or not, Australia has quite a few more large companies that specializes in green energy than they do Fortune 500 companies that do not. 

Even though Australia sounds like a great country as far as green energy goes, they still have some major problems involving their overall environment. Some of these problems being deforestation, agricultural clearing/overgrazing, overfishing/illegal fishing, pollution, and more. Since Australia is not a newly industrialized country they have had the time to mess up in a few places, involving their environment, like the majority of the world but they are working hard to fix these problems. The only issues with this is that it can get expensive. Although, with all of these factors in mind I believe that Australia is evolving quite fast and well with their many efforts in order to become a more sustainable country and continent.