government and law Flashcards
what are the three levels of government
federal
state
local
federal government
FEDERAL- is responsible for the conduct of national affairs including the Australian constitution, forgiven affairs immigration.
state government
STATE- the state responsibilitys are schools, hospitals roads and transport. each state has its own consiituttion setting out its own system of goverment
local government
LOCAL - the local gov is concerned with matters close to our home such as building and developing, local roads and foot paths libraries and playing fields
role of the opposition
the role of the opposition is to comment and debate on the government and to make them accountable for the governments decisions.
parliament
the role of parliament is to represent our views and opinions as well as making laws.
the crown
The Queen is Australia’s head of state, and her authority it known as the Crown. The Governor General is the representative of the Crown in Australia, and is appointed by the Queen on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of Australia.
pressure groups
pressure groups alos know as interest groups they are currently not involved with the government but still want to have a say, there aim is to influence governments, minoritys groups want a voice
representative government
the Australian political system is one where the people elect members of parliament to represent them, hence we have a system of representative goverment. these representatives meet in parliament and perform a number of functions, they decide who will govern , make laws and debate issues
petitions
a petition expresses a point of view, usually on matters of public policy, and contains a request for action, or in some cases, not to take action. The right to petition Parliament has been one of the rights of citizens since Federation.
prime minister
the leader of the political party with a majority in the house of Representatives is summoned to form a Government. This leader then becomes the Prime Minister of Australia.
democracy
Australia is a parliamentary democracy. This means that our political system is based on the idea that Parliament is supreme, or sovereign.
A parliamentary democracy is one in which the people choose representatives at regular elections.
the house of representatives and the senate
the house of representatives, Australia is divided up int electorates, each electorate choose one person to represent that electorate in the house of representatives, different state/ tereitorites elect a different number of representatives depending on the population, however no state can have less than 5. the house of representatives also known as the peoples house because it was designed to represent the interest of people rather than the state, unlike the house of representatives the senate conations and equal number of representatives from each state. the senate was created at the time of fedaration it was designed to protect the interest of the states
house of representatives - Julie Bishop
Julie bishop serves as forgiven minister and deputy leader of the liberal party as well as being a member of the house of representatives
house of representatives voting system
preferential voting is used to elect members to the house of representatives. voters indicate a preference from 1 being placed in box next to voters first choice , 2 in second choice so on. to win the vote you must receive. an absoutle majority, this means to receive 50% or more of the votes, life no candidates receive the absolute majority, the 2cd preferences of the candidate with the lowest votes are distributed, this process is continued until one candidate receives an absolute majority
