Legal Unit 4 AOS1- Roles of the Crown & Houses of Parliament Flashcards
(27 cards)
Houses of Parliament
- House of representatives (lower house)
- Senate (upper house)
- The crown (king represented by governor general
House of representatives background
- 150 members/seats
- Each seat represents 1 electorate with approx 100 000 voters
- Elected for approx 3 year terms
- 76 voters needed for majority in gov
House of representatives roles
- Initiate and pass laws
- Determine the government
- Control government expenditure
- Represent the people
HoR- Initiate and pass laws
- Main function of this house as most bills introduced in this house
- Process of passing & debating bills is long & considered process
- Often many new laws & amendments to laws occurring to ensure functioning society
- Process involves debating, scrutinising & considering bills by parliamentary members
HoR- Determine the government
- After election political party w most members in HoR forms government
- Most legislation is initiated in this house so gov party’s beliefs reflected in proposed bills
HoR- Control government expenditure
- Only this house can introduced money bills
- Ensures gov’s financial proposals are able to be scrutinised by elected representatives in lower house
HoR- Represent the people
- Plays key role in upholding representative government
- Members elected to reflect the people and must act in a way that represents the majority of the electorate that they represent
Senate background
- 76 members/seats
- Each state elects 12 senators & each territory elects 2 senators
- 6 year terms
- 39 votes needed for a majority
Senate roles
- Act as house of review
- Allow for equal representation of the states
- Scrutinise government administration
Senate- Act as house of review
- Most bills initiated in lower house so house reviews those bills
- Senate may pass bills w/w/o/request amendments or reject it
- Acts as an important check on gov in law-making especially if gov doesn’t have majority in this house
Senate- Allow for equal representation of the states
- Senate has equal rep from each state regardless of its size & population
- Allows interests of smaller states to be protected
Senate- Scrutinise government administration
- Scrutinise legislation or particular gov activites
- Has committees such as Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills who assesses legislative proposals to determine what effect the proposals would have on individual rights, freedoms and obligations, & the rule of law
Victorian parliament houses
- Legislative assembly (lower house)
- Legislative council (upper house)
- Crown (king represented by the governor)
Legislative Assembly background
- 88 members/seats
- Each seat represents 1 electorate w approx 50 000 voters
- Elected for fixed 4 year terms
- 45 votes needed for majority
Legislative Assembly roles
- Initiate and pass laws
- Determine the government
- Control government expenditure
- Represent the people
LA- Initiate & pass laws
- Main function of this house as most bills introduced in this house
- Bills usually introduced by gov minister but any member can
- Process of passing & debating bills is long & considered process
- Often many new laws & amendments to laws occurring to ensure functioning vic society
- Process involves debating, scrutinising & considering bills by members
LA- Determine the government
- After election political party w most members in LA forms government
- Most legislation is initiated in this house so reflects the policies laid down by the Premier of Victoria and senior ministers
LA- Control government expenditure
- Ministers must be members of parliament & expected to be answerable & accountable for their actions
- Ministers can be questioned by opposition members about their policies and proposed legislation during question time
- Gov decisions & legislative proposals are subject to parliamentary scrutiny
LA- Represent the people
- Elected to represent the interests of the people
- Their actions in law-making should reflect the views & values of the people & if not they are at risk of being voted out at the next election
Legislative Council
- 40 members/seats
- 8 regions of Vic elect 5 members each
- Fixed 4 year terms
- 21 votes needed for a majority
Legislative Council roles
- Act as house of review
- Scrutinise government administration
LC- Act as house of review
- Most bills initiated in lower house so house reviews those bills
- LC may pass bills w/w/o/request amendments or reject it
- Acts as an important check on gov in law-making especially if gov doesn’t have majority in this house
LC- Scrutinise government administration
- Ministers who are members of the upper house can be questioned by opposition members about their policies and proposed legislation during question time
- Gov decisions can be scrutinised in the committee process
The Crown background
- Aus still constitutional monarchy
- King represented by 1 gov-general & 6 gov’s
- In practise crown acts on advice of pm/premier