The Commonwealth of Australia occupies the island continent of Australia and its offshore islands. Australia has strong links with many Asian countries and has played an increasingly active role in Pacific island affairs. The declared supreme power is vested in the British monarch. In 1993 Parliament approved the Native Title Act, granting Aboriginal people the right to claim title to their traditional lands. In February 2008 Prime Minister Kevin Rudd issued a formal apology for the suffering inflicted upon indigenous people by successive governments; a parliamentary motion received unanimous approval.

The Commonwealth of Australia occupies the whole of the island continent of Australia, lying between the Indian and Pacific Oceans and its offshore islands, principally Tasmania to the south-east. Australia’s nearest neighbours are Timor-Leste (formerly East Timor) and Papua New Guinea, to the north. In the summer (November–February) there are tropical monsoons in the northern part of the continent (except for the Queensland coast), but the winters (July–August) are dry. Both the north-west and north-east coasts are liable to experience tropical cyclones between December and April.