topic 1 Flashcards
2 houcese in parliment
Lower House
House of Representatives (Cwth)
Legislative Assembly (VIC)
Can introduce new bills, amend
existing acts
Politicians elected for
3 years (Cwth)
4 years (Vic)
- 151 members (Cwth)
- 88 members (Vic)
upper house
Senate (Cwth)
Legislative Council (Vic)
Can introduce new bills, amend
existing acts
Politicians elected
- 6 years (Cwth)
- 4 years (Vic)
- 76 members (Cwth)
- 40 members (Vic)
kings representative
Called the Governor General (Cwth) or Governor (Vic)
The GG/G is not elected by voters but rather is appointed
by the King.
The GG/G cannot introduce new bills, but they must give their assent (consent, approval) before any new laws passed by Parliament become law – this is called Royal Assent
how law is made first house
first house
first reading- The clerk reads out the title of the bill. This is very short - takes a few
seconds. No discussion - no vote
second reading- The member introducing the bill gives a speech where they outline the need for and key features of
the bill. Other members, who by now have read the bill, get to give a speech and give their opinion on the bill.
Consideration in detail: During this stage the bill is looked at clause by clause. So rather than people making speeches about the
bill, they actually go through it word by word to make sure they are happy with every part of it. Amendments or changes may be
suggested, debated and recommended. Any changes will be reported back to the house.
third reading- After all of the words have been debated and
agreed, it goes back to the house. There is no
debate but there is one last vote on the bill.
how a law is made second house
Once it passes the first house, normally
(but not always) the Lower House, the
bill goes through exactly the same
stages in the second House.
If the bill is amended in any way at all
(eg even just adding an extra comma!!)
by the second House, it must be
returned to the first house to be voted
on again
If passed, it soon becomes law – but only
after it receives Royal Assent from the
King’s Representative
royal assent
If the bill is passed in the second
house, it is presented to the Governor
in Executive Council for royal assent.
If the Governor signs it, the bill then
becomes an Act of Parliament.
why laws need to be changed
-Response to change in the world (eg technology, economic circumstances, criminal
activity)
-Response to pressure from groups outside of parliament
The process for changing an existing law is exactly the
same as the process when a new law is made……..
balance of power
Balance of power refers to the position held by minor parties or individual members
of parliament when their vote is necessary for bills or motions to be passed.
Such minor parties or independents are said to hold the balance of power – without
their support, the government cannot get enough votes to pass bills
advantges of blance of power
advantages
It is a good thing that the party in charge of
government does not hold the balance of
power as
-government does not have
too much power
-views of more members of the
community and members of parliament
are represented
disadvantages of balance of power
It is not such a good thing that the party in
charge of government does not hold the
balance of power as
-Even though the party in charge of the
government got the most votes and seats
and has the support of most voters, they
might not be able to do what they want
-not very democratic
demonstrations
Gathering of a group of people to try to influence
government policy/legislation
There might be speeches, marches, chanting
Demonstrations can exert influence on government in two
ways
by showing the elected politicians how much existing
support there is for their cause, how many people want
change
by attracting new support among other members of the
public for the relevant cause – people saw/read/heard
about the protest and changed their opinion
strengths of demonstrations
Strengths
-Easy and cheap to organise,
especially online
Can attract a lot of media attention
– which can help to
-influence politicians; and
-attract new supporters
-If well organised, can attract new
support
weakness of demonstrations
Weaknesses
-Hard to attract a lot of people –
people have to make an effort to
actually physically attend
-If it gets out of hand/violent, will
get negative attention – this can
lead to a loss of support
-Parliament can easily ignore,
especially if you do not get many
people attending (this can indicate
that not many voters actually
support the relevant cause)
role of VLRC
-Make recommendations to Parliament on major areas of law reform referred to
them by the Attorney-General
-Make recommendations to Parliament on minor areas of law reform
powers of the VLRC
-It can ask the VLRC to investigate the topic and make recommendations
-the VLRC cannot change the law – it can only make
recommendations to Parliament about how the law should change
