Government

Question 0

What is the Local Government responsible for?

Answer 0

Managing local services (eg. Rubbish collection)
Town planning
Maintaining local roads
Property rate

Question 1

What are the 3 levels of government?

Answer 1

Local
State
Federal

Question 2

What is the State Government responsible for?

Answer 2

Car registration/licenses
Tourism
Hospitals
Education
Public Transport

Question 3

What is the Federal Government responsible for?

Answer 3

Defence
Foreign affairs
Immigration
Banks/finances
Managing the economy
Taxes (eg. Personal income tax)

Question 4

What is a representative democracy?

Answer 4

Where citizens vote for a politician to represent their views in debates and proposed laws

Question 5

What are the main political parties in Australia?

Answer 5

Labour
Liberal
Greens
Palmer United
Independence

Question 6

What is the House of Representatives?

Answer 6

Also known as the lower house, the House of Representatives consists of a member from each of the 150 electorates in Australia. To form government a party must have majority in the House of Representatives. They also make changes to current laws.

Question 7

What is the Senate?

Answer 7

Also known as the Upper House, the Senate is made up of 12 senators from each state and 2 for each territory. The Senate is responsible for making changes to current laws.

Question 8

How many seats are in the House of Representatives?

Answer 8

150

Question 9

How many seats form the Senate?

Answer 9

76

Question 10

What is the Upper House of the Federal Government called?

Answer 10

Senate

Question 11

What is the Lower House of the Federal Government called?

Answer 11

House of Representatives

Question 12

Who represents the Crown at Federal level?

Answer 12

Governor General

Question 13

Who is the current Governor General?

Answer 13

Peter Cosgrove

Question 14

Who represents the Crown at State level?

Answer 14

Governor

Question 15

Who is Victoria’s current Governor?

Answer 15

Alex Chernov

Question 16

What is the Upper House of the State Government called?

Answer 16

Legislative Council

Question 17

How many seats form the Legislative Council?

Answer 17

40

Question 18

What is the Lower House of the State Government called?

Answer 18

Legislative Assembly

Question 19

How many seats form the Legislative Assembly?

Answer 19

88

Question 20

What is the Legislative Assembly?

Answer 20

The Legislative Assembly is designed to represent areas with roughly the same number of voters. Government can only be formed by the party that wins the majority of seats in the the Legislative Assembly.

Question 21

What is the Legislative Council?

Answer 21

The Legislative Council is intended to represent regional interests-providing rural and urban areas with equal representation.

Question 22

How often does the senate members get reelected?

Answer 22

Territory Senators have a term of 3 years

State Senators have a term of 6 years (every 3 years half of the Senate gets reelected)

Question 23

How often are the House of Representatives reelected?

Answer 23

Every 2 years

Question 24

How often is the Victoria Legislative Assembly reelected?

Answer 24

Every 4 years

Question 25

How often is the Victoria Legislative Council reelected?

Answer 25

Every 4 years

Question 26

What is the Federal voting process called?

Answer 26

Preferential Voting

Question 27

Who can vote?

Answer 27

All Australian citizens over the age of 18 must vote

Question 28

How is government elected?

Answer 28

The political party that wins the majority of seats in the House of Representatives. The party must have 75+1 seats to form majority.

Question 29

What does preferential voting mean?

Answer 29

A system for electing government when voters are required to rank each candidate in order of preference. If the candidate who received the voter's first preference is eliminated during the count because he or she received the lowest number of votes, the vote will then be allocated to the voter's second preference and so on until a party receives 50% +1 then they will form government.

Question 30

What is an electorate?

Answer 30

A geographic area consisting of approximately 80000 voters who vote for a representative.

Question 31

What is simple majority?

Answer 31

A system where the party with the most votes wins

Question 32

Who is the current leader of the federal government?

Answer 32

Tony Abbott | Prime Minister

Question 33

Who is the current leader of the State Government of Victoria?

Answer 33

Dennis Napthine | Premier

Question 34

When did Australia Federate?

Answer 34

January 1, 1901

Question 35

Why did Australia Federate?

Answer 35

They were concerned about foreign affairs, immigration and defence, trade and commerce. A central government is needed to make laws on these issues.

Question 36

What is Federation?

Answer 36

States/colonies joining together for a common purpose.

Question 37

Who is the Head of State at Federal level?

Answer 37

The Queen through the Governor General (Peter Cosgrove)

Question 38

Who is the Head of State at State level?

Answer 38

The Queen through the Governor (Alex Chernov)

Question 39

What is the constitution?

Answer 39

A document that lays out the basic rules for how Australia will be run

Question 40

How many electorates are in Australia?

Answer 40

150

Question 41

Who is the Opposition Leader of Australia?

Answer 41

Bill Shorton (Labour)

Question 42

Who is the Opposition Premier of Victoria?

Answer 42

Daniel Andrews

Question 43

What is a Bill?

Answer 43

A proposed law that must be passed through the Upper and Lower Houses

Question 44

What is a referendum?

Answer 44

A vote to change the Constitution of Australia