Law, Society and Political INvolvement Flashcards
What are the natures of law
Laws protect people and property and provide order to society
Laws regulate individual behaviour and provide a consequence when that conduct is breached.
Laws differ from rules as they can be enforced by police and the courts, and carry more serious penalties if they are violated
Why do we have laws
Prevent anarchy (a state of disorder and chaos caused by the absence of government or laws)
Main roles of law:
Establish boundaries of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour (e.g drink driving)
Protection from the actions of others as well as our own behaviour (e.g laws against assault, murder and robbery)
Freedom to do many things by telling society what people can do (e.g get married or divorced)
Resolving disputes (providing a police force, court says te and correctional centres to enforce and administer the law)
When has laws reformed?
Abortion laws - This law has been removed due to the increase in young pregnancies and unwanted feti. Furthermore, people are becoming more empathetic and understanding to young teenagers who get pregnant and will have a hard time raising a child properly and therefore believe that it will be better for them to abort.
Same-sex marriage - In contemporary times, there has been an increase in awareness of sexuality and more people are coming out as gay and therefore the push for allowing same-sex marriage has increased and now it has become legal.
What are the relationship of laws to values, morals and ethics?
Laws reflect the moral and ethical values that society holds and are influenced by the main social, economic, religious and political factors of the time.
Laws are sometimes seen as being “out of date” because the values of society have Changed.
Even more complicated in multicultural Australia - people from all over the world bringing their own values, ethics and morals with them.
The laws need to reflect society as a whole but it is unrealistic to expect the law to respect everyone’s values.
What is law reform?
The law is a set of dynamic legal rules. This means that new laws develop and old ones are scrapped due to changes in social values, technology and political circumstances. For example, homosexuality was once a criminal offence and opening retail stores on a Sunday was illegal
Changes can arise from:
Political Circumstances - 9/11 terrorist attack sparked major changes to anti-terrorism and security laws (Patriot Act)
New Technology - Mobile Phones with cameras led to new privacy laws
Society - Protests surrounding a particular area (Same-sex marriage)
What are the 3 levels of government?
Federal
State
Local
How is australia’s power divided?
Australia’s system of government operates from a set of rules and structures based on a written document called the Australian Constitution. It came into existence at Federation in 1901 and created three levels of government. Federal Parliament and the state parliaments are two of the levels and the third level of government are local councils and shires.
The division of powers in the Australian Constitution is also often referred to as the three levels of government in which no one level of government can control all the laws and activities in the nation.
Exclusive powers: powers that can only be exercised by the federal parliament (e.g defence, external affairs, currency).
Residual powers: powers that can only be exercised by the state parliament (e.g police,housing, state roads)
Concurrent powers: powers held by both state and federal parliaments (e.g health - federal covers Medicare, state covers hospitals)
What is the Federal Government?
Two houses of Federal Parliament: The Senate (upper house) and the House of Representatives (lower house).
The Prime Minister is the head of government and other ministers are appointed to look after government portfolios
The Cabinet includes the Prime Minister and senior ministers (Minister for Education, Minister for Defence, Minister for Finance…) and makes the key government decisions
The Governor-General represents the British monarch as head of state and usually acts on the advice given by the prime minister and other ministers.
Federal government responsibilities include air travel, currency, defence, foreign affairs, immigration, pensions,taxation, trade and commerce
What is the state government
Two houses of NSW Parliament: the Legislative Council (upper house) and Legislative Assembly (lower house)
The head of government in NSW is the Premier and the head of the state is the Governor of NSW.
State government responsibilities include:
Aboriginal welfare
Agriculture and fishing
Education
Emergency services
Law and order
Public transport
Sport and recreation
What is he local government
Local Councils or Shires
The head of the local government is the Mayor
Local governments operate under state government legislation and can only make rules (by-laws) on local issues.
Responsibilities include dog and cat registration, libraries, parks, rubbish collection and town planning.
Why do we have seperations of power?
The powers and functions of each are seperate and carried out by seperate personnel. No single agency is able to exercise complete authority, each being interdependent on the other.
