Chapter 10: Government and You

Question 0

Define aspects of State Government.

Answer 0

There is a governor also a cabinet/ministry which consists of a premier along with other ministers the state government has two houses the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly.

Question 1

Define aspects of Federal government

Answer 1

The Federal government has a governor-general also federal public service and a cabinet which consists of the prime minister and other ministers they also have two houses including the senate and the House of Representatives.

Question 2

Define aspects of Local Government.

Answer 2

Has either a mayor or shire chairperson and also has committees along with permanent staff and chief executive officer, the local government consists of all elected members of council.

Question 3

Define democracy.

Answer 3

A system of government by the people in which representatives are elected (democracy comes from the ancient Greeks and is derived from the words “demos” meaning ‘the people’ and the word “kratia” meaning ‘to rule’) democracy pretty much means a system of government in which the people/citizens have a direct say in what laws are passed and what decisions are made by the government.

Question 4

Define constitution.

Answer 4

Is the fundamental law which governs a nation or state it is a written statement outlining the basic structure of laws and government. It provides a framework for the operation of the government (The Australian Constitution is the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act which was passed in 1900 and came into force in Australia in 1901 and to be more specific January 1st when Australia federated and is when the separate colonies joined together to make one nation called the commonwealth of Australia).

Question 5

What are the levels of responsibility/functions of the Government?

Answer 5

Executive function: Administering the rules developed for the benefit of the whole community this includes developing new laws to present the body of responsibility and law making.
Legislative function: making the rules
Judicial function: judging of the rules have been broken and what should happen to those who break the rules.

Question 6

What are the responsibilities of the Federal Government?

Answer 6

Responsibilities include defence, currency, trade, social services, postal system, telecommunications and immigration

Question 7

What are the responsibilities of the State Government?

Answer 7

Responsibilities include education, transportation, hospitals, road laws, public works and local government.

Question 8

What are the responsibilities of the Local Government?

Answer 8

Responsibilities include health centres, health regulations, rubbish collection, rubbish disposal and also parks and gardens.

Question 9

What is a political party?

Answer 9

Is a group of individuals representing a political view. The aim of a political party is to have members of its group elected to parliament in order to represent the party’s views. Examples of political parties include the Australian Labor Party, Liberal Party, The Nationals and The Australian Greens.

Question 10

Who can vote?

Answer 10

Anyone over 18 and over who is an Australian citizen, and by law all Australian citizens who are 18 and over must enrol to vote.

Question 11

Define federation.

Answer 11

Federation is the jointing of Australia’s separate colonies into one nation this occurred in 1901 on January 1st when the constitution was passed and came into force.

Question 12

What are the parliament houses for both federal and state?

Answer 12

parliament consists of 2 houses over federal and state they both have two houses each consisting of the senate and and the house representatives for the federal government and the legislative council and legislative assembly for the State government.

Question 13

What is the role of the Governor-General?

Answer 13

Queen Elizabeth II is Australia’s head of state, and her authority is known as the crown. The governor-general is the representative of the crown in Australia because the queen can only be at one place at any given time. the governor-general powers include: appointing session times in parliament, act as the commander-in-chief of the defence forces, grant pardons or remit fines for offences against the laws of the commonwealth and represent the queen just to name a few.

Question 14

describe the voting system.

Answer 14

Well firstly the Australian voting system has a rule which states that it is a requirement for everyone who is an Australian citizen and the age of 18 or over to attend a polling booth on the day of an election. On the day of the election you are given a ballot paper and you number your desired candidates in order of preference and these candidates are running for positions in the House of Representatives.

Question 15

Define referendum and how it works.

Answer 15

A referendum is referring to the electorate proposed changes to the Australian Constitution for approval or rejection. Under the Australian Constitution, for a referendum to succeed there must be a ‘yes’ vote by the majority of voters in a majority of States. (since 1909, only 8 out of 44 referenda have succeeded).

Question 16

What is a majority rule?

Answer 16

The power to rule of govern by agreement of the great proportion if voters (example: there is a total of 30 votes and 5 people running for class president Emily gets 10, Daniel gets 7, Owen gets 5, Sara gets 4 and Will gets 4. Emily seems to have the most votes but there is in fact more against her then for her she has 10 people who voted for her but 20 others who didn’t want her as class president so that is where majority rule comes in unless a party or in this case a student gets 50% +1 of the votes no one wins).

Question 17

Describe the Senate.

Answer 17

The Senate is the upper house of Federal Parliamen which is red and has 76 seats

Question 18

Describe the House of Representatives.

Answer 18

The House of Representatives is the lower house of federal Parliament which is green and has 150 seats

Question 19

Describe the Legislative Council.

Answer 19

The Legislative Council is the upper house of the State Parliament which is red and has 40 seats.

Question 20

Describe the Legislative Assembly.

Answer 20

The Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the State Parliament which is green and has 88 seats.

Question 21

What is an electorate?

Answer 21

An Electorate is a geographic area consisting of approximately 80,000 voters who vote for one representative. there are currently 150 electorates all around Australia, voters choose one person to represent that electorate in the House of Representatives. (Different states and territories elect different numbers of representatives to the federal lower house, this occurs because electorates are decided according to population not geographic size).

Question 22

Who are important people that run the country?

Answer 22

a important people that run the country include the Governor-general, Executive government (the branch of government that carries the law into force), the prime minister (leader if the commonwealth government), and ministers (other members of the political party with a moja rot in the House of Representatives will be appointed as ministers).

Question 23

Describe elections.

Answer 23

Federal elections must be held at least once every three years. this means that every three years, voters in each electorate are given the opportunity to elect people to represent that electorate in the House of Representatives. You can vote from the age of 18.

Question 24

What is a bill?

Answer 24

A bill is a proposed law which in order to be passed needs to be accepted by both the upper and lower houses of either state or federal government.

Question 25

Define representative democracy.

Answer 25

this means that the government is representative of the people. in other words, the politicians who make up the government are elected from members of the community, by members of the community. to represent the views and wishes oft he people in that community

Question 26

What are the main political parties in Australia?

Answer 26

. Liberal party
. Labour Party
. The nationals
. The Australian Greens party

Question 27

What is the difference between the House of Representatives and the senate?

Answer 27

Not only do they these two houses have different colours the senate in red and the House of Representatives in green they are also different because the senate contains an equal number of representatives whilst the House of Representatives does not because it’s number of representatives is determined by population. The House of Representatives has elections every 3 years whilst the Senates elections are held every 6 years

Question 28

What does preferential voting mean?

Answer 28

It is a system of voting in which votes are allocated to candidates in order of preference.

Question 29

What does the concept of simple majority voting mean?

Answer 29

the power to rule or govern by the agreement of the great proportion of voters

Question 30

Who are the main leaders in our government?

Answer 30

Prime minister: Tony Abbott
Governor-general: Peter Cosgrove
Treasurer: Joe Hockey 
(Vic) Minister: Denis Napthine 
(Vic) Governor: Alex Chernov 
Dunkley electorate representative: Bruce Billson

Question 31

What is a referendum?

Answer 31

a referendum is referring to the electorate proposed changes to the Australian constitution which is out up for approval or rejection. Approval is only met when the majority of voters have said yes.

Question 32

What is the liberal party about?

Answer 32

. privatisation of selling selected governments enterprises (this includes power and water)
. services they have to provide including welfare, hospital (public health system), taxes, public transport,
. and is seen as representing the interests of business and private enterprise

Question 33

What is the Labour Party about?

Answer 33

. strong emphasis on equality and opportunity (particularly for women and indigenous people)
. along with full employment,
not only that, they also have the ideal of democratic socialism including social security and universal healthcare, redistribution of income, wealth and economic power

Question 34

What is the Australian greens party about?

Answer 34

. ecological sustainability
. social and economic justice
. peace and non violence
. grassroots democracy

Question 35

What is the nationals party about?

Answer 35

. represents the interests of regional Australians

. at a federal level the national party works with the liberal party to form a coalition

Question 36

What is a government?

Answer 36

The system of political rule and administration over a society

Question 37

What are the three levels of government?

Answer 37

. federal
. state
. local

Question 38

What is a bicameral parliament?

Answer 38

a parliament consisting of two houses or chambers.

Question 39

What is federal parliament?

Answer 39

Has two houses, being the senate and the House of Representatives and is located in Canberra. They overlook defence, currency, trade, social services, post, telecommunications and immigration.

Question 40

What is state parliament?

Answer 40

Has two houses being the legislative assembly and the legislative council and is located in every states/territories capital. They overlook education, transport, hospitals, road laws, public works and local government.