Responsible and Representative Government Flashcards
What is Representative Government?
a democratic model in which the community elects people to represent them in the decision making process.
What are the features of Representative Government?
A universal franchise: all adults should have the right to vote regardless of age, sex, gender or ethnicity.
Regular elections: holds the members of parliament accountable to the community for their actions.
What is Responsible Government?
a principle that relates to the formation of government.
a basic principle of governance where the government is formed by the party whom wins majority of the seats in the lower house of parliament and is directly accountable to the parliament for the executive decisions it makes.
What are the features of Responsible Government?
Government ministers must be members of parliament
Question time and parliamentary debates allow for scrutiny of the ministers and the Government
Ministers are responsible for the administration of government departments and the enforcing of relevant statutes.
Outline two conventions of the British Westminster system of government that would be applied after an election.
The party who wins majority of the seats in the lower house forms the government.
The leader of the party that won majority of the seats in the HOR will be sworn in by the Governor General as Prime Minister.
