factors that affect parliament in law-making

Question 1

What is a bicameral parliament?

Answer 1

when there are 2 houses in the chambers.
the need for bicameral parliament for the commonwealth parliament comes from section 1 of the australian constitution 1990
And the need for the structure in victorian parliament comes from section 15 of the constitution act 1975.

Question 2

what is the composition of the upper house?

Answer 2

the role of the upper house is significant because most government ministers are apart of the lower house (becomes the government).

because all bills are passed through both houses the composition of the upper house becomes important in whether laws are created, specifically:
- if there is no majority of government members in the upper house
- if there is a majority of government members in the upper house

Question 3

composition of the upper house

if it didn’t have majority of government members…

Answer 3

• bills are more easily scrutinised
• keeps the government in check ensuring bills are well thought and reflect values of society.
• government may need to convince crossbenchers to vote in favour
• hostile upper house = when the government doesn’t have majority of seats in the upper house and relies on the support of the opposition or crossbench
• it can severely limit the government from being able to implement law reforms because of thorough debate and members voting against.

Question 4

composition of the upper house

if it had majority of government members…

Answer 4

• if the party in government holds a majority of seats in the upper house = rubber stamp, meaning they will automatically approve any bills from their party without debate or scrutiny, as they have majority.
• can argue it makes law-making more efficient as laws are passed quickly to reflect society’s values. They are kept accountable by the risk of re-election.
• this can prevent the upper house from fulfilling their role as a house of review as debate and scrutiny is needed to make a law fully effective.

Question 5

how are bills passed, whats the process?

Answer 5

1st - house of representative:
1st reading, 2nd reading, house of committee, consideration in detail, 3rd reading, bill passed

2nd - senate
1st reading, 2nd reading, senate committee, committee of the whole, 3rd reading, bill passed

3rd - governor general
royal assent, bill becomes act of parliament

Question 6

what is the law-making process?

Answer 6

• how long a bill takes to go through the process depends on the nature of the bill
• parliament is often criticised for how slow they are to pass laws, this stems from the lengthy law-making process and the limited sitting days in parliament.

Question 7

case study

detail the information from: Victorian Parliament temporarily allows judge-only trials

Answer 7

during the pandemic the government were not able to pass bills due to the pressing nature of the pandemic and the health of the people…

Question 8

what are international pressures?

Answer 8

Australia is a founding member of the UN and is an active member of the global community.

international pressures are demands or forces applied to parliament to presuade them to make laws to address matters of international concern.

Question 9

what are some internation pressures placed on Australia?

Answer 9

• the need to prevent terrorist attacks
• the increased challenges of climate change
• addressing global pandemics, natural disasters, wars (e.g. bush fires, ukraine-russia, palestine-is

Question 10

what are some sources of pressure?

Answer 10

local/national pressure:
- local activist groups who organise petitions
- non-government organisations (e.g. amnesty internation - asylum seeking)

international pressure:
- international activists who gain a large following (e.g. greta thunberg)
- the UN or one of its bodies (e.g. economic and social council)