Democracy: Political Parties Flashcards
Democracy
When people have the freedom and power to participate in decision making that influences their lives.
Vote
Citizens elect representatives to govern their community.
Constitution
Sets out the principles by which the state is governed by. It’s a book of rules that we as the majority have to follow.
Parliament
Is the place where laws are made and where issues of national importance are debated and dealt with. It consists of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The Senate
- Is apart of the Australian Parliament
- Consists of 76 members, 12 from the 6 Australian states and 2 from each of the mainland territories
- Role is to decide matters of national interest and represent the interest of the citizens in their state also debates and votes on bills
House of Representatives
- Members of this house are elected by the community
- Known as the lower house
- Is apart of the Australian Parliament
Federation
Is the joining together of individual states for a common purpose.
Different Governments in Australia
Federal, Local, State
Federal Government
Responsible for issues that affect all Australians, including things such as post, telephones and the internet. As well as Australia’s defence, money and immigration management.
State/territory Government
Responsible for issues that affect people in that state. Such as the Victorian Government only affects Victorian citizens. Includes things such as public transport, hospitals, school and public housing.
Local Government
Responsible for issues that affect those in that local community. They are responsible for doing things such as collecting rubbish and recycling, parks in the area and sports fields.
The Crown
Is another word used for the governing authority of Australia at both federal and state and territory levels. The crown has such powers as:
- Approving laws made through parliament
- Appointing session times
- Acts as commander in chief of defence force
- Approving election dates
Political Parties in Australia
- Greens
- Labour
- Liberal/nationals = the coalition
Greens
Focuses on environmental and renewable resources but are unreliable
Labour
Focuses on the workers and industry along with education, health care and partly the environment
Coalition
Liberal and nationals
Combination of liberal and nationals. Liberal focuses on the economy as well as big and small businesses where as the nationals focus on farming resources. They aren’t so environmentally friendly
What is a political party?
Is an organisation that represents a particular group of people or set of ideas. They aim to improve how Australia is governed
Preferential voting system
- Number boxes in order of preference with your first choice as 1
- All the number 1 votes are counted
- If a candidate gets over half the votes they are elected
- If no one had half the votes the lowest candidate is eliminated
- The votes for the eliminated candidate are distributed to the second preference of the voter
- If no candidate still has half the votes the candidate with the lowest vote is excluded and their votes transferred to their next preference
- This process continues until someone has more than half the majority
- That party is then elected
