Australian Democracy

Task 1: (Tuning In)

Democracy means different things to different people. Individually, brainstorm and discuss your understanding of Democracy using the following questions as a guide.

• What does "Democracy" mean to me?
• What do I need to know about Democracy?
• What effect does Democracy have on me as an Australian?
• What interests me about Democracy, in particular that of the Australian Government? 

As a class, a unified answer to these above questions will be made available to act as a guide throughout your studies of Australian Democracy.



Task 2: (Finding Out) Complete ALL tasks.

PART A:

Working in pairs and using your answers in Task 1 as a basis, you will now use a well-known symbol of Australia (The Australian Flag) to explore the meaning of Democracy.

• Using a computer, with Internet access, upload the following website into the address bar: http://www.peo.gov.au/kidsview/democracy/freedom.html, and click the 'Continue' button.
  

• Drag and drop the stars and the Union Jack into place on the Australian flag to reveal several different statements about democracy.

• Categorise the statements and provide a basis for the categorisation eg social or political basis.

• Identify what the statements about democracy have in common? How do they differ?

• Drag and drop the stars and Union Jack into place on the Australian flag to play segments of the Australian national anthem.

• Click the stars and Union Jack in the sequence which will play a recognisable rendition of the Australian national anthem.

• Decide which of the eight statements about democracy is most clever and explain why you made this choice.

PART B:

 To be eligible to vote in the colony of New South Wales (Australia) in the 1840s you had to:

    * be male
    * be over the age of 21
    * rent or own property such as a farm, house, shop or land worth £200.

To be eligible to vote in Australia today you must:

    * be over the age of 18
    * be an Australian citizen
    * not be serving a gaol sentence of five years or more
    * be officially registered on the electoral roll.

1a) Look at Figure 1, which shows people in the colony of New South Wales in the 1840s. Use the information below to work out which of the people shown would have been allowed to vote. Then work out which of these people would be allowed to vote today. Structure your answer so that you clearly indicate the people in two columns headed 'Australia in the 1840s' and 'Australia today'. Count the number of people in each column.

1b) Now work out the percentage of these people entitled to vote in Australia in the 1840s and today.

Figure 1 Australia in the 1840s

As you can see, voting for the members of parliament, who then make laws for the country, is central to modern democracy. At some stage in your school life you will have been asked to vote on issues. As you know, the side with the most votes wins. This is democracy in its simplest form. However, being able to vote does not always guarantee democracy. There is also need of a Constitution.


PART C:

Several members of the class are to be nominated as 'Potential Leaders' of the student body. Individually you are to write a application detailing how you would govern the development of a 'New' Australia, taking into  consideration major issues such as currency, attire, culture, transport, education and many other important topics. The applications that best meet such criteria will be nominated for election as Party Leader, toward the end of the Unit.

PART D:

In pairs, define what is meant by the term 'Constitution' using reliable, credible sources. In your search, try answering the following questions:

1.    What is the formal name of our constitution?
2.    How are governments chosen in Australia?
3.    In what year did the Australian Constitution come into place?
4.    According to the Constitution, how many houses of parliament are there?
5.    What is the role of the House of Representatives?
6.    What is the role of the senate?
7.    According to the Constitution, how is the Prime Minister chosen?
8.    What does the Governor General do?
9.    What is the High Court?
10.    What is the only way that changes in the Australian Constitution can be made?
11.    How does a Bill become an Act?
12.    What is the Cabinet?
13.    What is the role of the Prime Minister and Cabinet?
14.    What is the name of the Prime Minster and which house of Parliament do they come from?

TASK 3 (Sorting Out):

In small groups (a maximum of four (4) students), you are in charge of writing a Constitution for Australia. You choose clauses about everything, from who is in charge and how often there are elections to whether the states have taxation powers.

Then when you hit a button, SimCon considers all your choices and tells you what sort of government you've created, as well as how your version of Australia rates in terms of trade, wealth, freedom, stability and militarism.

In SimCon, you can create a tolerant, open democracy, or a ruthless totalitarian dictatorship, or even a multiparty religious monarchy. It's entirely up to you whether your citizens live in prosperous freedom or miserable oppression and poverty.

How to play SimCon:

    1.Choose an area on constitutional responsibility from around the Clockface.

    2. Make a choice from the clauses offered below

    3. Repeat that process as often as you wish around the Clockface. You don't have to choose anything at all, apart from an option from "Legitimacy" ( at 3 o'clock).

    4. Click on That's It (at the top of the clock)

5. The game will tell you what sort of government you've got and also analyse it by a number of variables. If you want to see your final constitution, click on the View button.


FURTHER GAME HINTS:
The game screen has two sections: the Clockface and the Pedestal. The Clockface is where you select the broad area you are dealing with and the Pedestal is where you choose between individual clauses.
 
The Clockface
As you move the cursor around the clockface, you will see that each button chooses a particular subject (which shows up over the Clockface). For example, 1 o'clock covers Federation, 2 o'clock covers how the Constitution is changed and so on. Each clockface button presents you with a number of choices down in the Pedestal ( and sometimes there are a number of clockface buttons for a given area, representing different themes within that broader subject).

As you move your cursor over the Choice buttons, up pops a clause for you to choose. Some offer many choices, some offer only one. Click on the button of the clause you want.

You don't have to make a choice at all , except for the third button (Legitimacy). You must choose an option from the "Legitimacy" area.

When you've finished, click the "That's It!" button at the top of the clock and stand well back.

 
The Results
When the Simcon machinery has digested your choices, a series of flags pop up at the top of the clockface to tell you how your new nation rates in terms of freedom, trade strength, general wealth, political and social stability and militarism (which also covers willingness to get into military disputes with your neighbours). The flags move along a scale which gives you an idea of how you are doing in that area. A description of your nation also pops up on the Pedestal telling you exactly what sort of government system you have managed to put together.

If you want to view your final constitution, composed of all the choices you've made along the way, click on "View"

 
Errors
Sometimes two of the choices you have made will give be incompatible with each other - for example, choosing to allow free elections but also choosing to give all the power to a person who isn't elected. If that happens, a screen will pop up offering another option which might meet your intentions, or letting you dump both clauses.


Upon retrieving the results of your Constitution, be sure to note them down into a word document, emphasisng the type of Government your version of Australia has. Save your word document under the names of students in your group. (i.e. David, Matthew, Liz, Vanessa). This is important as each group's result will be collated and discussed later.


TASK 4 (Going Further): Complete ALL tasks.

PART A:

In the same small groups used to create your Constitutions, answer the following questions by accessing this website: http://www.peo.gov.au/kidsview/lawmaking/playingfair.html, and clicking 'Continue'.

• What is in each of the three spheres that appear on the screen?
• What do they have in common?
  
• Why do you think the pictures are in separate spheres, but are connected to form a triangle?
  
• Why are there people at the heart of the triangle?
  
• What happens when the spheres are pulled out of balance?
• What does this mean?
  
• Why do the people disappear when this happens?
  
• Why do the connecting strings change?
  
  Next, Compare and contrast the three roles of the powers. Present your findings to the class, taking into account your previously made Constitution, and how this would currently effect Australia. 

PART B:

The class will be divided into three groups, with each group to represent one of the three Arms of Governance.  Each group to prepare a short role-play demonstrating their primary responsibility. Role-plays will be delivered to the remaining class, who have a chance to comment. If time permits, roles will be rotated another two times.


TASK 5 (Making Conclusions): Complete ALL Tasks.

The most integral phase of the Parliamentary process.

PART A - The Election Campaign:

One of the earlier tasks was for students to submit an application for nomination of Student Body Leader. All applications are taken into consideration, with the ones best meeting the criteria selected for nomination. The top six(6) applications (at teacher's discretion) will be selected.

These six(6) students will then campaign their governing abilities, using the remaining students as their campaign team. Each successful nominee will be allocated several other students from the remaining cohort of students to work as their 'Campaign Members'.

How each nominee campaigns their governing abilities resonates with their individual Campaign Teams. 


PART B - The Vote for Student Body Leader:

Each of the six(6) nominees will run for election. Much like that of actual Government, the class will take a confidential vote for whom they deem the most suited to the role of 'Student Leader'. The two(2) students with the highest votes will be elected 'Student Leader' and 'Deputy Student Leader' respectively. Remaining nominees and students will act as assistants to the Leaders in their role.


TASK 6: Reflection and Evaluation

Go to the 'Evaluation' tab of this WebQuest and complete the listed tasks fortifying your study of Australian democracy.