Civics and citizenship year 9

Democracy

Democracy

• A form of government where any citizen is allowed to vote and stand for election.

• The government is chosen by the people, who participate in free and safe elections every three years.

Electorate

• A geographical area of Australia that represents a member of parliament

• They are determined by population, each area has roughly the same population

Parliament vs. Government

• The Parliament consists of the King, the Senate and the House of representatives.

• The Government consists of the party or coalition of parties with the majority of members elected to the House of Representatives.

The Senate

• Upper house of Australian Parliament

• Consists of 76 members

• New bills can be introduced in the Senate, but it often acts as a ‘house of review’ for bills being introduced in the House of Representatives

• Term of office- 6 years

The House of Representatives

• Lower house of Australian Parliament

• Consist of 151 members

• The government is formed here- number of seats required to form government is 76

• New bills are introduced, debated and voted on

• Term of office- 3 years

Federal government formation

• Formed by the party with the majority of seats in the House of Representatives

Differences between federal and state governments

• The Federal government is based in Canberra, and makes decisions that affect the entire country.

• The Prime Minister is the leader.

• The State governments are based in their capital city and make decisions that affect their state.

• The Premier is the leader.

Political party

• A political party is an organisation that represents a particular group of people or set of ideas.

• It aims to have members elected to Parliament so their ideas can affect the way Australia is governed.
  

Starting a political party

• In order to start a political party, it must officially register with the Australian Electoral Commission.

• It also has to meet certain regulations, such as having a written constitution and at least 500 members who are on the electoral roll.

Coalition

An agreement between two or more parliamentary parties to create a bigger group and strengthen their position.

• The liberal-national coalition

The current leaders of the three major parties (and the Greens)

Labor- Anthony Albanese

Liberal- Peter Dutton

National- David Littleproud

Greens- Adam Bandt

What is unique about independent candidates?

• They don't belong to any political party

• Because of this, they are provided with the freedom to make their own decisions on issues and speak freely about topics that are important to them.

Independent’s role in Federal parliament

• Independent's bills are unlikely to ever succeed, but they can have great voting power, especially in the Senate (where it is often the case that no single party has the majority of seats).

• For example, if there is a deadlock on a bill between the major parties, it is up to the independent candidates to decide which way they will vote, and it will be their votes that decide the outcome.

Teal independants

• Independent candidates who value stronger action on climate change and greater integrity (honesty and strong moral principles) in politics.

Legislative Assembly

• Lower house of the Victorian Parliament

• The government is formed and the Premier of Victoria sits here.

• Consists of 88 members- therefore a political party needs to win 45 seats in an election in order to form government.
  

Legislative Council

• Upper house of the Victorian Parliament

• Acts as a ‘house of review’ and ensures that bills being passed are in the best interest of the state, as they get double-checked here.

• Consists of 40 members- however this house does not determine who forms government, but parties still want to win as any seats as possible.

The key roles of Victorian Parliament

• Introducing bills, which are ideas for new laws or changes to existing ones.

• Develop states based policies, such as plans to encourage local industry and new transport infrastructure

2 similarities and 2 differences between Federal Parliament and Victoria’s State Parliament

Similarities:

• They both consist of an upper and lower house

• Bills go through the same process to become laws

  Differences:

• The senate and house of representatives have more seats than the legislative assembly and legislative council.

• The laws passed in federal parliament affect the whole country, while the laws passed in Victoria’s State Parliament affect the state of Victoria.

The law-making process in Victoria’s State Parliament

1. Laws start off as an idea developed by a minister or member of parliament and it becomes a bill.

2. The bill gets introduced to the first house and gets its first reading.

3. The bill has its second reading and members debate the bill.

4. The bill has its third reading

5. The bill gets introduced to the second house and gets its first reading.

6. The bill has its second reading and members debate the bill.

7. The bill has its third reading

8. Once the bill is passed in both houses, it has to get royal assent by the governor. The bill is now a law.

How has Australia responded to climate change

The Australian Government has responded to climate change by planning to implement laws to:

• Make electric vehicles cheaper with an electric car discount

• Allocate up to $3 billion from Labor’s National Reconstruction Fund to invest in green metals and other clean-energy manufacturing industries

International response to climate change

• The United Nations has held Conferences of the Parties (COP)  attended by most countries, including Australia.

• In these conferences, they have set targets and goals to reduce the impact of climate change.

• Some of these agreements are The Paris Agreement (2016) and the The Kyoto Protocol (1997).

Kyoto protocol

International treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Paris Agreement

A Global pact which aims to limit warming to less than 2°.

COP27

The 27th Conference of the Parties to discuss climate change issues.

What has Australia done in response to climate change?

The current Labor government’s targets to reduce emissions by 47% below 2005 levels. This means that Australia is more likely to be able to hit the limits imposed by the Paris Climate Accord.

Demographics

A demographic is a group within the wider population that have factors such as age, race and gender in common.

Media Influence on public opinion

Media tells us the news and then tells us what to think about that news.

Main types of media in Australia

TV, newspaper, radio and internet

Why has the news media changed over the past 10 years?

I think news media has changed over the past 10 years to accommodate younger demographics, who mainly use social media platforms to view news.

Political spectrum

The political spectrum is a range of political beliefs from left to right, and where various parties belong on this scale, according to their beliefs and values.

Generalisations about the left side of politics

• Left leaning people prioritise social justice, public services and environmental issues.

• Left leaning people are probably from a younger generation, from a low income or working class family and have a high education

Generalisations about the right side of politics

• Right leaning people prioritise traditional values, economic growth and lower taxes.

• Right leaning people are probably from a older generation, from a high income family and have a religious background.

Characteristics of left wing political parties

Left wing parties tend to be more concerned with:

• people

• human rights

• equality

• the environment

• progressive social values

• supporting working class people and unions.

Characteristics of right wing political parties

Right wing parties tend to be more concerned with:

• keeping a strong economy

• lower taxes (esp for upper classes)

• traditional Christian values

• supporting big businesses and banks.

3 ways to create change

Protesting, social media campaigns/online petitions, writing a letter to your MP