Swimming Australia adopted a second version of its new constitution with an 8-1 vote after its first version failed to get past first base.

Australia’s Constitution is a product of foreign and domestic political influences. It has become one of the enduring aspects of Australian politics and law, for better and worse.

The authors of the Australian Constitution ensured that the country’s guiding document could never be changed on a whim or for political expediency.

While this assumption generally holds true, a closer examination of the intellectual context of Australian federalism reveals a surprisingly significant German influence on the framers of the ...