Parliament
How many seats are in the House of Representatives?
151
Where is the High Court of Australia?
Canberra
What section outlines the process to change the constitution?
s128
Who has residual powers?
States
Who is the prime minister?
Anthony Albanese
Identify 1 role the Senate has
House of Review
Initiate Bills
Represent the states' interests
Explain the role of the High Court of Australia
They are to ensure that law-making in parliament is constitutional. They can declare legislation ultra vires if legislation made is outside what parliament can make.
What happened in the 1967 referendum?
90% of people voted Yes to Aboriginal people being counted in the census, and that the Commonwealth can make laws on behalf of Aboriginal people
List 3 exclusive powers
e.g.
Minting money
Taxation
Money
Military
Foreign Affairs
How is the government of Australia determined?
A majority of seats in the lower house (75) with preference to one party
Explain the role of the Governor-General
Royal Assent - the GG will provide royal assent for a bill to become legislation
List 3 high court cases that were significant
Roach v AEC
Australian Capital Television v Commonwealth
R v Brislan
Tasmania Dams
etc
Which states are counted as part of the double majority process?
VIC, TAS, NSW, SA, WA, QLD
Explain the significance of s109 of the Australian Constitution
Section 109 of the Australian Constitution provides that: ‘when a law of a State is inconsistent with a law of the Commonwealth, the latter shall prevail, and the former shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be invalid’
List 2 express rights
The Constitution defines and protects express rights in relation to freedom of religion, discrimination between the States, the right of Australian citizens to trial by jury, free trade among the States and the acquisition of property.
Discuss weaknesses in parliament in law-making if both houses in parliament have a majority of the same party
Lawmaking would be streamlined,
however, there is no proper review or scrutiny as the upper house will essentially "rubber stamp" laws created in the lower house as both houses are controlled by the same party
Discuss the role of the High Court on parliament as a check
The High Court of Australia ensures that legislation that is passed is constitutional and will interpret legislation when an issue arises,
However, the High Court are not proactive in their approach as an issue needs to go to the High Court first to be resolved, which may intimidate people due to costs being potentially too high.
Outline the process in s128 of the Australian Constitution
To change the constitution, the process for s128 outlines a double majority requirement, meaning that at least 4/6 states have at least 50% voting yes, and 50% of Australia as a whole voting yes. If only one of these requirements are met, the referendum will not pass.
Distinguish between exclusive powers and concurrent powers.
Exclusive powers are powers that are exclusively the federal government, where concurrent powers are powers both federal and state parliaments can make laws on.
Discuss the separation of powers as a check on parliament in law-making
Under this principle, the power to govern should be distributed between the Parliament, the Executive and the Judiciary to avoid any group having all the power. Each group should work within defined areas of responsibility to keep a check on the actions of the others.
Australia does not have a complete separation of powers because some of the roles of the Parliament, the Executive and the Judiciary overlap. For example, the Prime Minister and ministers are part of the Executive and the Parliament. High Court judges, the Prime Minister and ministers are officially appointed by the Governor-General, who is part of the Parliament and the Executive.
Evaluate the bicameral system as a check on parliament in law-making
This allows for representative government as people who are elected represent an electorate, and will represent the views of their communities. If they do not represent the views of the communities, they will be voted out as this provides MPs with a level of accountability.
However, the members of parliament can also be bound by party views, which may conflict with good-lawmaking in Australia, and the views of their community.
If Senate is controlled by an upper house, this could cause a hostile upper house, and legislation will not pass.
Evaluate the High Court's ability to interpret s7 and 24 of the Australian Constitution, referring to one case study
The Constitution does not clearly outline that voting in Australia is a right for citizens. In Roach v AEC, firstly an assumption is made that "chosen by the people" means that elections are held, and the people include Australian adults. The Commonwealth made amendments to legislation that all prisoners cannot vote, where Roach argued that "people" included prisoners. The High Court rolled back legislation as a result and prisoners serving up to a 3 year sentence were able to vote, meaning that amendments to legislation were unconstitutional from the interpretations made by the court.
Evaluate the significance of s128 and it's ability for the Australian people to protect or change the constitution
The referendum process allows the Australian people to be consulted before a change in the constitution occurs,
However, the double majority requirement may be considered too stringent as only 4 proposed changes out of 44 have been implemented.
Evaluate the R v Brislan case and the significance of the High Court in interpreting the constitution and law making in Australia
Discuss the significance of the High Court Interpretation of s51(xxix) in the Tasmania dams case for law-making in Australia and the states
Australia entered into an international agreement declaring the Franklin River area as a protected area with the UNESCO World Heritage Protected site, which Australia passed the World Heritage Properties Conservation Act 1983 (Cth). Tasmania believed that Australia did not have powers to create legislation as they wanted to clear the river area to create a Dam. They disputed whether Australia had the constitutional power to create this legislation, however Australia argued that they had the power to create legislation based on external affairs power in s51(xxix). The High Court's interpretation meant that Australia is able to create legislation based on international treaties it enters into. Theoretically, Australia can create legislation based on any residual power and can expand their power through the external affairs power.