Commerce Yearly - All (Notes)

Employment and Work Futures

Financial benefits of work: earning money, contributing money to super, improving living standards

Non-financial benefits of work: helping others, contributing to Australian economy, using and developing skills or abilities

Major participants in the workplace: governments, employers, trade unions, employees and contractors

Paid work: performing services for at least an hour per week in return for receiving money or income

Full-time employment: ongoing, at least 38 hours per week, fixed hours and a range of entitlements

Part-time employment: ongoing, less than 38 hours per week, fixed or variable hours, pro-rata entitlements

Casual employment: employed on an “as-needed” basis, variable shifts and hours, loading

Pro-rata: proportional basis, e.g. someone who works 3/5 of the week is entitled to 3/5 of the entitlements

Loading: extra pay given to casual workers to compensate for lack of benefits

Volunteers receive: no financial payment

Forms of income: wages, salaries, commissions, profits and dividends

Wages are paid per: hour, week or month

Salaries include: super, leave and bonus payments

Commission: percentage of sales executed

Self-employed workers earn: profit

Profits=: revenue - expenses

Dividend: sum of money paid to shareholders out of profits or reserves

Five industries: primary, second, tertiary, quaternary, quinary

Primary industry: produces raw materials sourced from nature

Secondary industry: transforms raw materials into finished or semi-finished products

Tertiary industry: provides services to others

The quarternary and quinary industries are a part of the: tertiary industry

Quarternary industry: service industries that process information and knowledge

Example of work in the quarternary industry: financial advisor or network specialist

Quinary industry: domestic services

Three elements of an employment contract: offer, acceptance and consideration

Consideration: the benefits both the employer and employee will receive from labour

Main types of employment contracts: award, enterprise agreement and common law contract

Award: legally enforceable minimum terms and conditions that apply to a business

Penalty rates: a higher pay rate when working very early or late, public holidays, weekends, overtime, etc.

Enterprise agreement: a negotiated agreement about pay and conditions made at a workplace level between an employer and either a group of employees or a union

Common law contract: covers employees who are not under any award or enterprise agreements

Employers are responsible for: paying and collecting taxes, contributing to superannuation, providing paid parental leave and a safe, discrimination-free work environment

Under the Work Health and Safety Act 2010, employers must ensure: their workplace is safe, machinery is regularly inspected and maintained, protective clothing and adequate training are provided, committees have been set up to enforce the WH&S rules and there it a written WH&S policy

Under the Work Health and Safety Act 2010, employees must: comply with safety instructions, report any dangerous situations and cooperate in the investigation of any accidents

An employee can be dismissed through: summary dismissal (serious breach of contract), dismissal ‘by notice’ (failure to perform the job adequately) and redundancy or retrenchment (services no longer needed)

If an employee believes they have been unfairly dismissed: they can contact the Fair Work Commission

Law, Society and Political Involvement

Main roles of laws: establish boundaries, protection, freedom and resolving disputes

Court hierarchy (lowest to highest): local, district, supreme and high courts

Courts with no jury: local and high courts

Magistrate: hears the cases in a local call

A magistrate can imprison an offender for up to: two years per offence, or a maximum of five years

The local court deals with: minor civil disputes, minor criminal matters, bail applications, arrest/search warrants, apprehended violence orders, committal hearings with indictable offences (not enough evidence for trial)

The local court is on the same level as the: children’s and coroner’s courts

Cases in the NSW district court are heard by: judges

The district court deals with: more serious civil cases, all motor vehicle accident cases and serious criminal matters such as armed robbery and manslaughter

The district court sometimes has a: jury to determine whether the accused is guilty or innocent

The district court hears appeals from the: local court

Highest court in NSW: supreme court

The supreme court deals with: serious criminal cases, such as murder, reasons and serious sexual assault, and the most serious civil cases

The supreme court is headed by the: supreme justice

The supreme court deals with appeals from: the local and district courts

The judgements of the supreme court are: binding on all lower courts

The high court deals with appeals from the: state of territory supreme sourts

The high court also hears cases concerning the: interpretation of the constitution

The high court creates laws that than affect: the powers of governments

The decisions of the high court are: final:

The high court is a: federal court

The high court consists of seven judges: the chief justice and six justices

The most important cases heard by the high court are determined by a full bench of: seven justices

All cases in the high court are dealt with by at least: two justices

The children’s court deals with cases: involving the care and protection of and criminal cases concerning young people under 18 who have committed offences

The children’s court is closed off to the: public and media

The coroner’s court is a special local court that: investigates deaths by unnatural causes in order to determine the identity of the deceased and the circumstances of their death.

Coroners also investigate the cause and origins of: fires or explosions

The family court is a specialised court that assists Australians to: resolve more complex family law matters such as divorce, parenting disputes and the division of property when couples separate

The only ground need for divorce in Australia is: the couple being separated for over 12 months

The drug court of NSW aims to: provide long-term solutions for offenders who have been caught up in the cycle of drug use and crime

Trial method used in Australia: adversarial system

Adversarial system: two opposing sides will prevent their arguments to an independent umpire, a judge or a magistrate

Jurys are used in less than: 5 percent of all legal cases

Civil trials require a jury to decide whether the defendant is liable on the: balance of probabilities

Criminal trials require a jury to decide whether the defendant is liable: beyond reasonable doubt

Balance of probabilities: more likely than unlikely

Beyond reasonable doubt: without a reasonable doubt in mind

Two ways of making laws: common and statue

Statute laws: laws written down beforehand

Statue laws are also known as: Acts of Parliament

Common laws: laws developed piece by piece by judges as they come across new problems in cases they hear

If there is no existing law that regulates a case: the judge must make a decision

Law reports: books that record legal precedents set by judges in past cases

Laws created by the Australian parliament: have the highest status and must be obeyed by all people

Statute law will always succeed over: common law

Constitution: a document that outlines the powers of the parliament and any restrictions to its law-making authority

Australian constitution limits the powers of the: Federal government

Federal & state constitutions restrict: the state’s government

Commonwealth law always succeeds over: state law

Step one of making a law: discussion in cabinet

Step two of making a law: a bill is drafted of an Act of Parliament

Step three of making a law: the House of Representatives read the proposed law

Step four of making a law: the responsible minister describes the bill to the House of Representatives in a second reading, and a debate takes place. If a vote results in a majority favour, the bill moves on

Step five of making a law: the bill is again debated, bit by bit, and any necessary changes to the bill are made

Step six of making a law: the changed bill goes through a third reading, and if a majority is in favour during a vote, the bill passes through to the senate

Step seven: steps three to six reoccur in the Senate, if the senate decides to change something, it is sent back to the House of Representatives for another debate and vote. If the vote is approved by the Senate, it is sent to the Governor-General

Step eight of making a law: if a Governor-General approves and signs the bill, it becomes an Act of Parliament

Two branches of law: public and private law

Private law: how individuals interact with others as well as the rights and duties people have towards each other

Public law: regulates people’s behaviour within society as a whole and protects the freedom of individuals

Civil law is a part of: private law

Civil law deals with: non-criminal matters

The law of tort includes: negligence, defamation, nuisance and trespass

Age of criminal responsibility: ten years old

Serious crimes are known as: indictable offences

Indictable offences are heard in the: district and supreme courts

Indictable offences are determined by: a judge and jury

First piece of Australian legislation act that recognised customary law: The Native Title Act of 1993

Three levels of Australian government: federal, state and local

Houses of Australian Federal Parliament: the Senate (upper house) and the House of Representatives (lower house)

Houses of NSW State Parliament: the Legislative Council (upper) and the Legislative Assembly (lower)

Local governments operate under: state government legislation

Local governments can only make rules (by-laws) on: local issues

For a referendum to be successful, it must have a double majority: a majority of all votes as well as a majority in at least four out of six states

Three arms of government: legislative, executive and judicial arms

Leglislative arm: parliament

Executive arm: sector of government with the responsibility of putting laws into action

Judicial arm: judiciary and the courts

Promoting & Selling

Product differentiation: when products that are the same or similar are made to appear different from or better than those of their competitors

Factors that differentiate products: customer service, convenience, value for money, quality, social, ethical and environmental considerations

Social considerations: goals and strategies that will benefit the community and achieve financial goals

Corporate social responsibility: manages or owners of a business taking steps to ensure that the broader social welfare is taken into consideration when conducting business dealings

Environmental considerations: goals and strategies that will benefit the physical environment

Green marketing: the process of selling products based on their environmental benefits

It is expected that green marketing incorporates: modifying the product and production process to ensure it is more sustainable, changing packaging to be recyclable and modifying wasteful adversitses practices

Customers look favourability upon: environmentally friendly initiatives

Ethical considerations: ensuring products do not exploit workers, producers or the environment

Role of promotion: inform, persuade and remind consumers about the products of a business

The promotion mix includes: advertising, personal selling, relationship marketing, opinion leaders, publicity, public relations and sales promotion

Advertising: paid, non-personal messages communicated through a mass medium

Main advantage of advertising: provides businesses with the flexibility to either reach an extremely large audience or focus on a small aspect of the population

Advertising media: mass marketing, direct marketing catalogues, telemarketing, e-marketing, social media advertising and billboards

Personal selling: the activities of a sales representative directed to a customer in an attempt to make a sale

Main advantage of personal selling: sales consultant can modify the message to suit the circumstances of individuals, which can create long-term consumer relationships

Relationship marketing: long-term relationships with individual customers

Examples of relationship marketing: customer care, after-sales service and loyalty programs

Opinion leader: a person who influences other

Marget segmentation: when the total market is subdivided into groups who share common characteristics

Main features used to segment the total market: age, gender, income, education, location, lifestyle, family

Aim of market segmentation: increase sales and profits by better understanding and responding to the desires of the target customers

Target market: the group of customers to which a business intends to sell its product

Primary target market: customers who are loyal to a particular business and make repeat purchases

Secondary target market: an alternative in case there is a loss of customers from the primary target market

Strategies to target young people: building brand loyalty, advertising on the internet and social media, pester power and buzz marketing

Buzz marketing: creating interest in a product or service by maximising word-of-mouth

Under the Code of Avertising & Marketing Communications to Children, advertising must not: portray images that show unsafe use of a product or encourage dangerous activities, be misleading or deceptive towards children, include sexual or frightening images, use popular personalities where the nature of the content is unclear or promote unhealthy eating and drinking habits

Purpose of The Competition and Consumer Act 2010: protect consumers against undesirable practices, such as misrepresenting the contents of products or their place of production, and misleading and deceptive advertising

Under the Competition and Consumer Act: false and misleading advertising is illegal

Examples of deceptive and misleading advertising: fine print, before and after advertisements, tests and surveys, packaging, special offer and bait advertising

Ethics: standards that define what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour

Unethical marketing strategies: untruthful advertising, children’s advertising, invasions of privacy, creation of needs (materialism) and product placement

Technology used in selling techniques: artificial intelligence, webpages (e.g. review websites), mobile phone and SMS marketing, location-based marketing and push notifications

Towards Independence

Main reasons for leaving home: further education, begin employment, establish an independent lifestyle or disagreements with family

Identification needed when moving towards independence: birth certificate, photo id (e.g. driver’s licence or NSW photo card), medicare card

Three types of support organisations for independents: government, religious and community

Government support organisations: department of social services, Centrelink, department of communities and justice

Religious support organisations: Anglicare, Jewish care NSW and Muslim care Australia

Community support organisations: youth refuges, community housing/centres and Lifeline

Some individuals may choose to continue living at home to: save money for future purchases

lease: a contract by which one party conveys property to another for a specified time, in return for a periodic payment.

Types of accommodation: sharing an apartment or house, entering a university college

Major costs involved in independent living: establishment and ongoing costs

Establishment costs: one-off costs that are involved in setting up a new place

Establishment cost examples: rental bond, internet connection, furniture

Ongoing costs: recurring costs

Ongoing cost examples: rent, electricity, gas, other bills

Superannuation: a compulsory savings scheme where your employer contributes part of your wage or salary into a special type of investment account known as a superannuation fund

Key elements of a budget: fixed and variable expenses, expected income and amount saved

Fixed expenses: costs that are the same amount and due on a regular basis

Fixed expenses examples: rent, mobile phone plan

Variable expenses: costs that change over time and do not occur on a regular basis

Variable expenses examples: concert, computer