on 1 january 1901, when the australian colonies and the province of south australia joined together to form a new nation, the constitution of the commonwealth of australia gave federal governments power to make laws with respect to specifically defined areas (section 51). in particular, paragraph 51(v) explicitly identified "postal, telegraphic, telephonic, and other like services". while there was no stated specific power in respect of the press, it was considered that such power fell within the scope of paragraph 51(i) "trade and commerce with other countries and among the states", among others.