18.3 SkillBuilder activity EVALUATING DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS AND SYSTEMS Working in pairs, visit the Commonwealth Parliament website to investigate a new law that is going through parliament now. a. Briefly describe the law you have found and explain what stage it has reached. b. Describe what will happen next in the stage of the process of your bill passing through parliament. c. Consider whether this proposed law will be changed much on its way through parliament. Justify your opinion. d. Share your findings with another pair of students.
18.3
Exercise
Learning pathways LEVEL1 1, 2, 5
LEVEL2
LEVEL3
3, 4, 6, 8
7, 9, 10
REMEMBER AND UNDERSTAND 1. Identify the correct definition of statute laws. A. Laws that are made by local government B. Laws that are made by the judiciary C. Laws that are made by state and federal parliaments D. Rules that are made at school 2. Select from the following words to complete the sentence below. petition bill slip Act of Parliament Act of law Act of government A _________ is a proposed law and an _________ is the final version of the law. 3. Royal approval / governor-general assent / royal assent / double majority is approval by the ruling monarch of Australia or their representative of a proposed bill. 4. Explain what is meant by the term executive law . 5. Identify the person who is normally responsible for the development of executive laws. Parliament A. The relevant government minister B. The prime minister C. The governor-general D. ANALYSE AND APPLY 6. Use a flow chart to explain how a law is made in parliament. Draw your flow chart using eight boxes joined by arrows. Number each box from step 1 to 8. In each box describe what happens to the proposed law in that step, using no more than ten words. For example: Step 1 — government (in Cabinet) discusses the idea of a new law. 7. a. Describe how a piece of executive law could be overruled. b. Explain what this suggests about the power of parliament compared to the powers of the executive. EVALUATE AND COMMUNICATE 8. In your view, explain whether the process of lawmaking in Australia is fair. In your answer consider whether the people have enough opportunity to have their say when new laws are being made. Justify your answer. 9. Since 1981, no party has had a majority in the Senate, except for three years from 2005 to 2008. This means that a government may have to negotiate with non-government senators to pass legislation. Identify one advantage and one disadvantage of this process. 10. Queensland, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory only have one house of parliament, rather than an upper and a lower house. This means there is no upper house review of legislation. Explain
whether this is a good or a bad thing. Justify your point of view. Answers and sample responses for this topic are available online.
TOPIC18 Laws and citizens 533
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