Holiday Homework

PARLIAMENT The Parliament is the name given to the two houses of Parliament, the House of Representatives and the Senate. It includes all the elected members in both houses from all parties, government and opposition. According to the Australian Constitution, the Australian Parliament also includes the Queen, which we see as the Queen’s Representative Parliament is in charge of making laws

GOVERNMENT The Government comprises the group of ministers, led by the Prime Minister, who form the executive government of the nation. Government is the party within parliament that has won the majority of members in the lower house, and therefore the majority of people have elected to have that party represent them

Why have a system of courts? A system of courts allows for specialisation in certain areas, for example lesser offences are dealt with in lower courts such as the Magistrates Courts, and indictable offences are dealt with in higher courts such as the Supreme Court Eg-family court It also allows for avenues of appeal

What is the importance of law enforcement and the police? To keep the peace and order in the community Bringing before the court people they believe have broken the law

Responsible government The idea of responsible government is also crucial to democracy This principle means that government is answerable to the parliament, and therefore to the people The government is responsible by: Ministers being responsible to parliament Members of government are responsible to the parliament and the people Government is formed from members of parliament The opportunity of public scrutiny Parliament can establish committees

A Written Constitution Defines the responsibilities of the federal government, and set out specific powers that the federal government may make laws upon Doreign relations Trade defence

Parliamentary Sovereignty Refers to the set powers of government (legislative, executive and judiciary) but insists that members of the legislature must also be members of the executive

Frequent Elections National general elections must be held within three years of the first meeting of a new federal parliament In practice, general elections are held when the governor general agrees to a request from the Prime-Minister, who selects the date of the election

Right To Vote In Australia, all citizens over the age of 18 not only have the right to vote, they are required to by law in both federal and state elections Failure to do so results in a fine and/or prosecution

Political Parties Political parties in Australia register and report to the AEC and its state and territory equivalents Australia has four main political parties: Labor party Liberal party National party Greens

Federation Means Australia has a Federal parliament that makes laws at a national level, with State and Territory parliaments that make laws at state and territory levels A federal law overrides any state law not consistent with it However in practice the two levels of government cooperate in many areas such as education, transport and health

Parliamentary system This simply refers to the federal system of government set out in our constitution of 1901, where the powers are distributed between a national government (the Commonwealth) and State and Territory governments

Commonwealth Parliament Consists of the Queen (represented by the governor general), the Upper House (The Senate) and the Lower House (The House of Representative) These make up our Constitutional Monarchy Functions of Parliament: To provide for the formation of government To legislate To provide the funds needed for government To provide a forum for popular representation To scrutinise the actions of government

The Governor General (the Crown) Is appointed by the queen on the advice of the Prime Minister The GG performs a large number of functions defined by the constitution: Constitutional and statutory duties Formal ceremonial duties Non-ceremonial duties

The Senate Is the upper-house of commonwealth parliament The house has 76 Senators- 12 elected for each of the states, and 2 for the ACT and NT State senators are elected for 6 years, Territory senators for 3, with half of the state senators elected every 3 years The senate is “the state’s house” and a “house of review”

The House of Representatives Is the lower house of the Commonwealth Parliament It has 150 members, each representing a separate electoral division Members are elected for a 3 year term The party with the majority of support in this house forms government They are involved in law making committee work and in representing the people who elected them

Executive Government Comprises of all ministers, with the Governor General presiding

Federal Judiciary The constitution specifically provides for the establishment of the High Court of Australia and other such courts as Parliament may create The judges of the high court are appointed by the Governor-General The High Court interprets and applies the law of Australia and decides cases of special federal significance including challenges to the constitutional validity of laws They also hear appeals in special circumstances