Legal Studies Notes
Unit 3 AOS 1, 2 & 3:
AOS: Parliament and the citizen
1 Principles of the Australian parliamentary system: Representative government, responsible government and the separation of powers
1 Representative government
Central to Democracy, because Government is formed by the political party with the majority of seats in the lower house, it represents the views and values of the majority of people. If the Government fails to represent the views of the majority adequately, the electoral process will allow the community to not re-elect that particular political party to office. This ensures that Government policy reflects the majorities views and values, thus Government is forced represent the community, or face electoral back-lash and not be re-elected to office.
• A system of government where members of parliament are democratically elected to create laws that reflect the values and expectations of their constituent.
• Established in the Constitution (s7 & 24)
• The government must embody the concerns, expectations & interests of the people who voted them in last election and protect these interests in their law-making.
• Each electorate votes for a representative for Parliament, who must obtain to majority of votes in that electorate.
• To achieve this, there must be regular elections. This is essential for a democracy, whereby the government consists of representatives chosen by the people.
• Lower House - Represents the people
• Upper House - Represents the states
2 Responsible government
Central to Democracy, ministerial responsibility provides that ministers are accountable to the Parliament through question time, as relevant ministers for Government departments must be able to answer questions relating to that department. Because ministers are accountable to the Parliament, they are thereby accountable to the people. If a minister responsible for a particular Governmental department cannot answer
AOS: Parliament and the citizen
1 Principles of the Australian parliamentary system: Representative government, responsible government and the separation of powers
1 Representative government
Central to Democracy, because Government is formed by the political party with the majority of seats in the lower house, it represents the views and values of the majority of people. If the Government fails to represent the views of the majority adequately, the electoral process will allow the community to not re-elect that particular political party to office. This ensures that Government policy reflects the majorities views and values, thus Government is forced represent the community, or face electoral back-lash and not be re-elected to office.
• A system of government where members of parliament are democratically elected to create laws that reflect the values and expectations of their constituent.
• Established in the Constitution (s7 & 24)
• The government must embody the concerns, expectations & interests of the people who voted them in last election and protect these interests in their law-making.
• Each electorate votes for a representative for Parliament, who must obtain to majority of votes in that electorate.
• To achieve this, there must be regular elections. This is essential for a democracy, whereby the government consists of representatives chosen by the people.
• Lower House - Represents the people
• Upper House - Represents the states
2 Responsible government
Central to Democracy, ministerial responsibility provides that ministers are accountable to the Parliament through question time, as relevant ministers for Government departments must be able to answer questions relating to that department. Because ministers are accountable to the Parliament, they are thereby accountable to the people. If a minister responsible for a particular Governmental department cannot answer