LESSON 12.7 How do Australia’s institutions protect our democratic freedoms?
LEARNING INTENTION By the end of this lesson you should be able to: • explain key democratic freedoms in Australia • analyse how institutions protect these freedoms • evaluate how well our systems protect democratic values • account for limits on freedoms. Tune in Democratic freedoms are important and apply to all Australians. 1. What rights do you have in the classroom? 2. What rights do you think your teacher has in the classroom? 3. If you had to make rules for your class, what would be your top three rules for the teacher and students? 4. Who has the responsibility to ensure these rules are maintained and followed?
FIGURE1 What rules and rights exist in a typical Year 7 classroom?
12.7.1
The creation of our Constitution
In the 1890s, many people wanted the six Australian colonies to join and become one united country. This ‘new country’ would need a national government, but the states would still have their own parliaments. After the 1850s gold rush, the colonies’ populations grew quickly. By 1890, there were about 3 million people, and most were born in Australia. People started to feel more loyal to their colony than their parents’ home countries. In the 1890s, colony representatives met to write a constitution . These men, called the ‘founding fathers’, decided how power would be shared between the states and a central government. Women were not allowed to take part in this process. When states join and share some powers with a central government, it’s called a ‘federation’. The Australian Constitution was made to show which powers the states would keep, and which powers
FIGURE2 Leaders from the colonies met several times to write a constitution for Australia’s planned federation.
the central government would have. For example, before Federation, each colony had its own money and army. After Federation, it made sense to have one national currency and one defence force for the whole country.
464 Jacaranda Humanities Alive 7 Victorian Curriculum Third Edition
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