Glossary


 * Glossary:**


 * above the line voting:** Is a way to cast a Senate vote. This is completed by placing a single '1' in one box above the line. The rest of the ballot paper is left blank. The Above the Line voting system gives the parties direct controlof how perferences are allocated. This system is also known as 'Group Ticket Voting'.


 * accountability:** The government must remain responsibe and answerable to the law and the people.This is completed by fair,free and requent elections, free media, independent Judiciary, Question Time etc.


 * Act (of Parliament)**: A law made by parliament. A billl that has passed through three readings in each House and haseen given Royal Assent


 * ALP:**Australian Labour Party. Prime Minister Julia Gillard is an ALP member, and the ALP is the party in government (albeit a minority government)


 * Amendment (of an Act of Parliament):** A change to an existing Act of Parliament using a legal procedure. The procedure requires Parliament to vote on each change or amendment. Ammendments are used to correct faults, omissions and other problems in existing Acts and to update, existing Acts.


 * Appropriation:** A bill, that if passed through Parliament, allows the Executive (government) to spend money it has gathered from the community through taxes and charges, on government services. For example, this money could be used for services such as roads, schools and security.


 * Australian Constitution:** The ‘basic law’ of the Australian system of government. It is a written document that outlines the powers of each arm of government and the relationship between the states and the Commonwealth. It also includes the processes required to change the Constitution itself.


 * Australian Electoral Commission:** An independent statutory authority that conducts elections fairly according to the requirements of the constitution and parliamentary rules. The AEC also undertakes the processes of electorate redistribution, voter enrolment and education. Many attribute the strength ofAustralia’s democracy to the AEC.


 * Backbencher:** A MP who does not have an executive role or a shadowing role on the opposition side of Parliament. In addition to representing their electorate, backbenchers may serve on committees. They sit behind the front bench in each chamber.


 * Ballot:** To select by secret vote. Elections are conducted by a secret ballot to ensure that no-one votes under duress. The ballot paper contains the names of those who are running for an electorate. The elector marks their choice on the ballot paper.


 * Below the line voting:** An optional method for voting for Senators. A voter must number, in order of preference for every candidate in the party and group lists that appear below the line on the ballot paper. In some states, there may be more than 60 candidates on the ballot paper. The ballot paper will be considered an ‘informal vote’ unless all the boxes are numbered correctly.


 * Bi-cameral system:** The division of Parliament into two chambers (houses).Australia has a bi-cameral system that is composed of the House of Representatives and the Senate.


 * Bill:** A proposal for a new law or to modify an existing law to Parliament. The Bill’s title refers to the content and the year of the bill.

that do not include a Bill of Rights.
 * Bill of Rights:** An Act of Parliament or part of a nation’s constitution that state the basic rights of the people of a country. Australian rights are protected by other mechanisms


 * Bob Brown:** The leader of the Australian Greens and a Senator.


 * Bob Carr:** A Labor Senator who assumed the seat vacated by Mark Arbib, after his resignation. Bob Carr, was appointed asAustralia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs after Kevin Rudd’s resignation.


 * Branch Stacking:** The act of recruiting members for a local branch of a political party in order to influence the outcome of internal pre-selections of candidates for public office.


 * Bureaucracy:** The non-elected officials in the Executive arm, who provide advice to the elected Executive and carry out the policies of the Executive. Also known as, the public service, or public servants.


 * By-election:** The process where an election is held in a single electorate outside of a general election in order to replace a retiring or deceased member. By-elections also indicate changers in voter sentiment towards government. This was demonstrated in 2001, by the defeat of the Liberal candidate in the safe Liberal seat of Ryan.

**Cabinet:** main decision-making and policy body of the Westminster elected executive. Comprised of group of senior ministers appointed by the governor-general, and headed by the Prime Minister. Cabinet decisions are binding on all Cabinet members. Also refers to president’s key group of secretaries of state.

**Caucus:** members of political party who sit in parliament. (Note: different meaning to U.S. politics.)

**Charter of Rights:** A section of the Constitution which clearly defines the basic rights of citizens. Eg. Canadian Charter of Rights, Victorian Charter of rights

**Citizen**: native or naturalized member of a nation-state who owes allegiance to its government and is entitled to its protection

**COAG**: Abrv for Council of Australian Governments. An organization consisting of Australian governments at federal and state levels and the Australian Local Governments Association. Aimed to debate and coordinate government activities affecting or between the different levels of government.

**Coalition**: two or more political parties join together to campaign in an election or to form government. Also refers to long-standing Liberal and National Party Coalition.

**Collective ministerial responsibility**: Westminster convention in which all members of the Cabinet must publicly support all cabinet decision. The government as a whole must take responsibility for any failures of administration. According to this convention any gross failure of the government should lead to the resignation of he government, and the calling for new elections. In practice, this convention is rarely upheld.

**Committees**: Groups of MPs aiming to scrutinize either proposed legislation, activities of the elected government, or other issues of interest to the parliament. They are important feature of operation of parliament. Three main types of committees: (1) standing committee (permanent) such as H.O.R Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander affairs. (2) select committees (usually temporary), created to investigate and report on a specific issue, Eg. 2010 Committee on issue of cyber safety. (3) joint committees have member from both Senate and H.O.R. eg. Joint committee on Electoral Matters which investigated the 2010 election. The Senate committee system is more elaborate mainly because of lack of government majorities in the Senate for most of the last 35 years.

**Commonwealth**: a group of sovereign states and their dependencies associated by their own choice and linked with common objectives and interests: //the British Commonwealth.//

**Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918**: piece of legislation that defined who was allowed to vote in Australia (men and women over 21 years, excluding full suffrage for Aboriginal people), introduced preferential voting as opposed to first-past-the-post voting, compulsory voting is outlined in this act and also includes a provision to protect citizens from prosecution for failing to enroll to vote.

**Commonwealth Human Rights Framework**: launched by Attorney-General in April 2010, it outlines a range of key measures to further protect and promote human rights in Australia. It is based on the values of education, engagement, scrutiny and practical application of human rights protection. It outlines a number of key commitments of the government. Eg. requiring that each new Bill introduced into Parliament is accompanied by a statement of compatibility with our international human rights obligations, establishing a new Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights to provide greater scrutiny of legislation for compliance with our international human rights obligations

**Commonwealth Parliament**: or Federal Parliament of Australia. Bicameral legislative branch of Australian government that has both the Westminster attributes of conventions and fused legislature and executive, as wel0l as attributes of trias politica or the American system of government, with the federal Senate and independent judiciary.

**compulsory voting**: Australian citizens above the age of 18 must enroll to the electoral role, as outlined as a civic duty in the Commonwealth Electoral Act. It is a key feature of Australian electoral system, that has supporters and critics based democratic values of participation, representation and free choice.

**concurrent powers:** powers shared between federal and state governments that may be exercised at the time and concerning the same body of citizens. Egs. the power to tax, build roads, establish bankruptcy laws, and create lower courts.

c**onscience vote:** is a type of vote in a legislative body where legislators are allowed to vote according to their own personal conscience rather than according to an official line set down by their political party. Eg. ALP conscience vote on issue of legislated same-sex marriage.

**Constitutional Crisis of 1975:** A.K.A the Whitlam Dismissal. It culminated on 11 November 1975 with the removal of the [|Prime Minister], [|Gough Whitlam] of the [|Australian Labor Party] (ALP), by [|Governor-General] Sir [|John Kerr]. Kerr then appointed the [|Leader of the Opposition], [|Malcolm Fraser] , as [|caretaker] Prime Minister. (still need to write up a summary.)

**Constitutional monarchy**: a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a Constitution. Eg. United Kingdom

**Conventions:** Key feature of Australian and Westminster governments, where many institutions and practices are traditional, “uncodified” rules of politics. Eg. PM should be a MHR; Governor-General acts on advice of the PM.

**cooperative federalism**: concept of federalism in which national, state and local governments interact cooperatively and collectively to solve common problems, rather than making policies separately and with equal weight, or clashing over policies made by a dominant national government.

democracy: A system of government in which power is vested in the people who make decisions collectively or through their representatives in a spirit of social equality

Department: An administrative division of government which is run by a minister eg. Dept of foreign affairs

Departmental secretary: Head of Australian gov department who reports directly to government minister responsible for that department

Distribution of preferences: Feature of preferential voting in which if no candidate has more than half of the votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is excluded. This candidate's votes are then transferred to the other candidates according to the second preferences shown by voters on the ballot papers for the excluded candidate. Donkey vote: When a voter votes straight down the ballot from top to bottom. It is a valid formal vote.

Dorothy Dix: A planned question asked in parliament by a government backbencher to a minister in their party in order to promote that minister and the work of the government. eg 'My question is to the Prime Minister. How is the government managing the economy in the interests of working people and getting things done for the many, not the few?' (22 March 2012)

Double majority: The type of majority required for a referendum to pass. Since it requires both a national majority and a majority of the states voting yes.

Electoral Act 2006: A bill passed by the Howard government which removed which removed voting rights from some prisoners held in Australian jails.

electoral funding: Elections are funded by the AEC and A candidate or Senate group is eligible for election funding if they obtain at least 4% of the first preference vote in the division or the state or territory they contested.

elections: The selection of government by the population through voting for candidates.

electorate: Geographically defined areas represented by a single elected member of parliament

entrenched Bill or Rights: A charter of rights and freedoms included in the constitution

Executive: The branch of government with the power to rule or govern. eg control of revenue spending

expressed rights: rights clearly stated in the constitution. Rodd Wise lists them on page 63. first past the post voting: the candidate that gets the most votes in a election. however that does not mean the candidate has the majority.


 * franchise**: referring to the right to vote. Australia has universal franchise e.g australia!


 * Franklin River Dams case (1983)**: project that proposed a dam on the Gordon River in Tasmania, which was never constructed. The enviornmental movement that eventually led to the project's cancellation became one of most significant environmental campaigns in Australian history. the enviornmental movement helped bring down the government of Malcolm Fraser at the 1983 election. A legal battle between the federal government and Tasmanian state government followed, resulting in a landmark High Court ruling in the federal government's favour.


 * 1902 Franchise Act:** an that Act granted Australian women the right to vote at a national level, and to stand for election to the Parliament. however it still eculded aborigianls, and other ethnicities from voting.


 * Front bench:** the positon in which enior ministers of the cabinet sit on the front bench in parliament e.g Wayne swan is a front bencher for being a treasurer


 * gerrymander**: the deliberate manipulation of political borders, specifically the "electoral district boundaries" for short-term electoral advantage


 * Gillard government:** the current goverenmnt in power under the leadership of julia gillard, who is the leader of the labour party:)


 * governance**: description of the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented or not implemented.


 * governance procedures**: procedures in which government is managed e.g standing orders in parliament


 * Governor General:** the constitutional representative of the queen as head of state of the Australian commonwealth. the governor general's powers are outlined in the constitution and by convention mainly acts on the advice off the prime minister. e.g Quentin Bryce.


 * Greens Party**:a political enviornmentalist party that advocates social justice, conservation, and peace.they are furthest to the left on the political spectrum


 * High Court:** the supreme court in the Australian court hierarchy and the final court of appeal in Australia . It has both original and appellate jurisdiction, has the power of judicial review over laws passed by the Parliament and interprets the Constitution

Hostile house:


 * Hostile Senate:** A hostile senate is one in which the Opposition holds the power, thus making it difficult for the Government's bills and legislation to be pase.g the current senate does not have a labour majority.


 * House of Representatives**: The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of Australia’s Commonwealth Parliament. There are 150 representatives elected by the Australian people. The House of Representatives is the house in which government is formed.


 * hung election:** when there is no outright majority of votes in the election results. e.g 2010 federal eleciton


 * hung parliament**: a hung parliament occurs when neither major political party (or bloc of allied parties) has an absolute majority of seats in the parliament e.g the current gillard govement


 * implied rights**: civil and political freedoms that underlie the actual words of the constitution but are not themselves specifically stated in the constitution. It is therefore the job of the High Court to identify these rights, implied by the text and struture of the constitution. e.g freedom of communication on political matters.


 * independent member/Independents:** members of the House of Representative or Senate that do not belong to any political party and can therefore truly represent their electorates by expressing their views and presenting their suggestions more freely than members bound by party discipline. If the Government does not have a majority of seats in the House of Representatives or the Senate, they may need the votes of Independents to pass bills, as is the case with the current Gillard minority Government. Independents can introduce private bills into the House of Representatives, though they need the support of the Government for it to be passed as legislation. An example of a current independent is Rob Oakshott MP.


 * informal vote**: a ballot paper that has not been correctly filled in or not filled in at all. Informal votes are set aside and not counted towards any candidate. (Fact: In Melbourne Ports in 2012, 3.3% of votes cast were informal)


 * judiciary:** The branch of government that interprets and administeres the law.


 * Langer vote**: A langer-style vote is typically numbered so that, at a point chosen by the elector, the preferences stop or begin to repeat. Initially, this styled vote was classified as valid but was made invalid by the ammendments to the Commonwealth Electoral Act of 1998.


 * Legislation**: A proposed or enacted law or group of laws


 * legislature:** The branch of government which debates and makes laws.


 * legislative branch**: The legislative branch includes the two houses of the Australian Commonwealth Parliament, the House of Representatives (150 seats) and the Senate (76 seats).

Liberal Party: The Liberal Party currently serves as the Oppostiont under the leadership of Tony Abbott, the Federal Member for Warringah. It was established by Robert Menzies in 1944 and as the pary of the middle classes, belives in theinalienable rights and freedoms of all peoples, of working towards a lean government that minimises interference in our daily lives and maximises individual and private sector initiative. It is currently in a coalition with the Nationals party and together they hold 73 seats in the House of Representatives.

Malaysian solution: Using Howard's ammendments to the Migration Act of 2001, Gillard proposed an immigration policy wherein Australia would elect Malaysia as a 3rd country to which illegal boat arrivals could be sent (under section 198). According to the policy, Australia would receive 4000 UNHCR (UN High Commision for Refugees) approved refugees in exchange for Malaysia receiving 600 illegal asylum seekers. However, this policy was deemed unconctitutional by the High Court since Malaysia has no domestic laws for refugees and has not signed the UN Convention of Refugees.

mandate: A command or an authorisation given by a political electorate to its representative.

marginal seat: A seat held by a political party by a very narrow margin and so at risk of being lost.

majority rule: The principle that the greater number should exercise greater power.

media ownership: Media ownership refers to the number of individuals or parties that own, influence or control the media. Media ownership in Australia is distributed amongst commercial, national public broadcasters and not-for-profit community broadcasters. It is described as one of the most concentrated media ownership in the world since, for example 11 of the 12 capital city daily papers are owned by either Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation or by John Fairfax Holdings. minor party: a political party whose electoral strength is so weak that it has little chance of gaining control of a government. They play a smaller role than that of major parties in a country's politics and elections. An example ofa minor party is the Greens.

MHR: an abbreviation for a Member of the House of Representatives.

Member of Parliament: an elected member of the Australian Commonwealth Parliament, either of the Senate or of the House of Representatives.

Minister: a member of the governing party, drawn from either the Senate or the House of Representatives, selected to take charge of a particular area of government administration. Each specific area of administration is called a 'porfolio'.

Ministerial advisor: an individual with media, political or policy expertise whose duty is to assist and advise a government minister.

Ministerial code of conduct: the standards that ministerial staff, who are employed under the //Members of Parliament (Staff) Act of 1984//, are expected to meet in the performance of their duties. For example, staff must act honestly and with integrity during their employment and perform their duties diligently and with care.

Ministerial responsibility: The responsibility to the parliament for actions taken by a minsiter on a minister's behalf and is the doctrine that ministers in a government, individually or collectively, depend for their continuance on maintaining the support of the Parliament.

minority government: a government in which the governing party does not have enough seats to govern in their own right and relies on the support of other parties or independents. Multi-member electorate: an electorate that elects more than one member to represent it in parliament. The Senate exmplifies this since each State is one electorate with a total of 12 senators elected from each. minor parties: There are two categories of minor parties. Major minor parties are parties which have a realistic chance of having members elected to either state or federal parliaments (eg: Greens). Minor or micro parties have little realistic chance of winning parliamentary seats but hope to publicise their views and gain some power via preference deals with the major parties (eg: Australian Sex Party). MP: An abbreviation for a Member of Parliament (either a member of the House of Representatives or the Senate). multi-member electorate: an electorate that elects more than one member to represent them in parliament (eg: a State in the Senate) National Party: Lead by Warren Truss, the Federal Member for Wide Bay, the Nationals Party amalgamates with the Liberlas to form the Colition, the current Oppostion in Parliament. Founded in 1920 and originally known as the Country Party, it shares many basic philosophical beliefs with the Liberal Party yet, most of their activity concerns intersts of rural and regional Australia since it wants government to act in the interests of rural and provincial Australia. Despite being considered a minor party, it has a large membership base. Their philosophy largely reflects principles of free enterprise and initiative and opposition to government interference.

New Paradigm: The written agreement (official named the Agreement for a Better Parliament) reached between the independents adn both the major parties, following the 2010 election which established a new way of conducting parliament. The changes seemed to present a real opportunity to enhance parliament's role in holding the government accountable yet proved to be of limited success. (examples of changes: more opportunities and serious considerations of Private Members' Bills see p. 53 of Wise for more).

Nexus provision: Despite the Parliament being able to determine the number of members in the House of Representatives, the size of the parliament is determined by the size of Australian population. Therefore, section 24 of the consitution (referred to as the 'nexus') states that the HOR should be approximately twice the size of the Senate.

No confidence motion: a parliamentary motion whose passing would demonstrate to the head of state that the elected parliament no longer has confidence in the appointed government.


 * Opposition:** The party with views opposing those of the current government. E.g: Liberal vs. Labour


 * Opposition Spokesperson:** The leader of the opposition party


 * Paired Voting:** A system that ensures that the same amount of votes are placed from both parties. So if one member of a pair is unable to vote, the other will abstain as well.


 * Parliament:** The legislature of a democratic government. In Australia, our parliament is a bicameral system, which means there are two houses, the Sentae and the House of Representatives, which provides for a more democratic government, as both states and individuals are represented.


 * Parliamentary Secretary:** A Member of Parliament who assists a senior minister.


 * Participation:** A key democratic value that gives citizens the capacity to involve themselves at any level of government, including standing for election, joining political parties and social movements and voting in elections.


 * Party Discipline:** This refers to the practice in Australia of requiring elected members of the major political parties to follow the decisions of the parliamentary leaders and rules.


 * Political Communication (and the Constitution):** The right to freedom of political communication is the only implied right provided in the Constitution under Sections 7 and 24.


 * Policy:** A principle or rule designed as a guideline to achieve outcomes. In politics, political parties employ policies to set their values and beliefs.


 * Political Donations:** Political donations are gifts given to a politician, party, or campaign. In Australia, most gifts are financial from large companies that go towards funding campaigns.


 * Polls:** Polls are a system of tallying votes for analysis.


 * Popular Sovereignty:** The principle that the legitimacy of the state is created and sustained by the will or consent of its people, who are the source of all political power.


 * Possible Parliamentary Questions (PPQ’s):** Predictions of questions that could be asked during question time in Parliament, done so that the party can prepare its response.


 * Preferential Voting:** A system of voting used in the Australian House of Representatives to elect representatives in single member electorates. The winning candidate must achieve an absolute majority of more than 50% of all formal votes cast in a process whereby voters complete ballot papers in order of their preference for candidates. E.g: the seat of McEwen, which appeared to be won by the liberal party with 50.01% of all formal votes in the 2007 elections.


 * Premier:** The de facto heads of the executive governments in the six states of the Commonwealth of Australia. They perform the same functions at State level as the Prime Minister does at Federal level.


 * Pre-Selection:** The process by which a candidate is selected as the representative of a political party.


 * President of the Senate:** The presiding officer or main speaker of the Senate. Currently, John Hogg (A member of labour) is the President, and has been since 2008.


 * Prime Minister:** The most senior minister of cabinet in the executive of Parliament. It is one of the most powerful positions in Australian government. Currently, the Prime Minister is Julia Gillard.


 * Proportional Representation:** A system of voting that attempts to fairly distribute the impact of voting when electing an assembly or council. It means that the amount of seats given is proportional to the amount of votes received.


 * Question Time: ** 1 hour every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday that parliament is sitting. It is the time where members and senators (the legislature) are able to scrutinise and question the Prime Minister and Cabinet (the executive). This occurs in the HOR and Senate


 * Quota:** the share or proportional part of a total that is required from a particular group of people e.g. proportional voting requires an individual to receive a certain quota of votes to win.


 * Redistribution:** The redistribution of votes occurs in both proportional voting and preferential voting. In proportional voting redistribution occurs when an individual has received the required quota and there is a surplus, the surplus is then redistributed. In preferential voting redistribution occurs with the second preference votes of the individual with the least amount of primary votes.


 * Referendum:** A referendum is the complex process through which Australia is able to amend, alter or change the Constitution. It can only be achieved through a double majority, meaning a majority of the population (50% + 1 or more) and a majority of states (at least 4/6). It is an extremely difficult procedure and only 8 out of the 44 referendums have been successful. E.g. The Senate vacancies referendum in 1977 which was successful and the referendum for Australia to become a republic in 1999 which was not successful


 * Referral of powers:** This occurs when a body of parliament hands over their legislative power, usually in a limited context, to another body of parliament which would not usually be able to legislate in this area. This is, at times, necessary in order to create laws which benefit society. E.g. Murray Darling Basin- the Commonwealth parliament is not able to legislate in matter concerning water, as it is a residual power; therefore they had to ask permission from all the states involved- subsequently causing them to engage in a referral of power. However one state did not hand over their power and therefore nothing happened.


 * Representative function of Parliament:** The representative function of parliament is apparent through elections. Because the Upper House and the Lower House of parliament are both made up of elected MP’s the principle of direct democracy is achieved and the MP’s are supposed to make decisions on behalf of their electorate with national interest in mind. However nowadays it is more likely for a member to make decisions according to party policy.


 * Reserve powers:** These are powers held by the Governor-General; however they are generally not exercised and therefore are held in reserve. They act as an accountability function on parliament. E.g. the power to dismiss the government of the day and call for a general election- this occurred in the Whitlam government (YAY NOA!) when Governor-General Kir dismissed the government in 1975.


 * Residual powers:** These are powers that are not explicitly stated in the Constitution and therefore lie with the states. The Commonwealth parliament is not able to legislate in these areas. E.g. education, crime, water


 * Responsible government:** This refers to a government which is accountable to the people and to the parliament for their actions. Responsible government is achieved through several methods such as Question Time and the Electoral process which ensures that if they are not achieving the desired results they will not be re-elected.


 * Roach vs The Electoral Commission 2007:** This was the case of Vicki Lee Roach who took the Commonwealth parliament and the Electoral Commission to the High Court in 2007 on the grounds that prisoners should have the right to vote. She won the case and now prisoners who are serving a term of less than 3 years are able to vote. This is an example of the democratic principle of rule of law and political and legal equality for all citizens.


 * Royal assent:** This is the last, necessary stage a bill has to go through in order to become a law. It occurs by the Governor-General giving their approval of the proposed bill. The Governor-General is able to withhold assent however that is considered a reserve power and is not exercised regularly. In state level royal assent is compulsory.


 * Rudd government:** This was the Labor government led by Kevin Rudd in 2007-10. It was dismantled on the 24th of June 2010 when Rudd stood down from the leadership and handed it over to Julia Gillard, his deputy Prime Minister.


 * Safe seat:** Safe seat in parliament is a seat which is undoubtedly going to win the vote of one particular political party. Therefore whoever is put in that seat will definitely win if they are in the party which the electorate is known to always vote for. The system of putting a person in that seat is called ‘parachuting’ because the seat is guaranteed.


 * Section 109 of the Constitution:** This is in relevance to the status of a concurrent power. It states: when a Federal and State law conflict, to the extent of the inconsistency, the Federal law prevails.


 * Section 128 of the Constitution:** This section discusses the way of altering, amending and changing the Constitution (the referendum process) and outlines the means by which we should achieve a double majority.


 * Section 51 of the Constitution:** This section outlines the specific, exclusive law making powers of the Federal parliament. (Specific meaning it is explicitly stated and exclusive meaning that the power lies with the Commonwealth parliament alone e.g. immigration)


 * Section 52 of the Constitution:** This section outlines the specific exclusive and concurrent law making powers of the Federal and State parliaments. (Concurrent meaning the law-making power resides with both the Federal and State parliament, e.g. taxation)


 * Senate:** This is the Upper House of the bicameral system of parliament at Federal level. Its main function is to act as a State’s House and a House of Review, it contains 76 Senators.


 * Senator:** A Senator is a member of the Senate


 * Separation of powers:** Separation of powers is an important principle of democracy which provides the Australian people with structural protection against an abuse of power by any on body of parliament. It involves keeping the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary bodies completely separate from one another. In Australia there is a slight overlap between the Executive and Legislature because the Executive sits IN the Legislature.


 * Single member electorate:** This describes the system in which only one person can hold the seat of an electorate. This occurs in the Lower House, the House of Representatives, where there is one to one ratio of one member in charge of one electorate.


 * Peter Slipper:** Peter Slipper is the controversial MP who holds the seat of Fisher in Queensland. He was originally a member of the Liberal Party however after being appointed as Speaker of the House in 2011 he became an independent and forfeited his vote.


 * Speaker of the House of Representatives:** The speaker is elected and can be dismissed by the members of the HOR. It is their task to preside over meetings, ensure that standing orders are maintained and that parliamentary practice is correctly followed. The speaker also calls upon any MP who wishes to speak before the house and attempts to make sure those things don’t get out of hand during parliamentary debate. In addition, the speaker holds the casting vote in the event that numbers are equal.


 * States:** These are sub-divisions of federal Australia that came together in 1901 to create one big country. Each has its own parliamentary system, closely modelled off of the federal system. Although federal government holds most of the power today, states still retain control in certain areas such as most of the health and education portfolios. All states have equal representation in senate (12 senators each)


 * Standing Orders:** This essentially refers to the ‘rule book’ of how parliamentary proceedings are run, including such things as: how the speaker is elected, the rules of parliamentary debate.


 * Statute:** This refers to a formal piece of legislature that is NOT entrenched in the constitution, for example victorias charter of human rights is a statutory document


 * Statutory Charter of Rights:** A bill of rights that is NOT entrenched in the constitution but is an independent piece of legislature (see statute)


 * Suffrage:** The right to vote in an election. The word can also be used when speaking of the right to run for political office. Women’s suffrage was a movement that fought for women’s rights to vote.


 * Territories:** (see states) while most things remain the same between states and territories, the latter are represented with only two senators each in the house of review.


 * Trias Politica:** (AKA –Separation of Powers) this is the idea of three separate branches of government; executive, legislative and judiciary all working independently of each other to provide a system of accountability on the power each holds, as well as to ensure that no one body of government gains too much power. Australia’s system is clearly at fault in that their executive is drawn from within the legislature and the two branches work closely on most issues- defeating the entire purpose of having three separate branches.


 * Two-party Preferred Vote:** This is the result of an election expressed as a contest between the two major parties. It is calculated by distributing out all the preference of other candidates so that only ALP and the Coalition remain. The result of the 2010 two-party preferred vote for the HOR was ALP 50.12% Coalition 49.88%


 * Uniform Tax Case (1942):** This was a case where the Federal Government was challenged by South Australia (with the support of Victoria and Queensland) regarding the bill passed (//The Income Tax Act of 1942)// prohibiting states from imposing income tax, in order to allow the Commonwealth Government to raise the federal income taxes in the interest of war efforts. A number of accompanying acts were passed with the original tax act including the //State Grants Act// which would essentially pay the states back the money they would lose in not being able to impose income taxes. All the acts were found to be valid according to section 51 of The Constitution as in this case of taxation Federal Parliament has the right to law making powers, and therefore can overrule any previous laws enforced by the states.

====**Party Whip:** This is a party official whose job it is to enforce party discipline. The job mainly includes ensuring members of each party not only vote according to party lines and party policy on legislature introduced in parliament, but also do not abstain, often through use of threats of punishments. The whips also ensure MPs attend any and all important votes in parliament.====


 * Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities:** This is a statutory document outlining the rights and responsibilities of all citizens of Victoria. The document is based off of the [|International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights] . I was officially implemented in 2008 and all legislation since hs had to specifically comply with this charter in order to pass.


 * Wastage of Votes:** This occurs mainly in HOR elections in electorates that are considered to be ‘safe’ for either majority party. The votes received by the representative are far more than required to win and thus many of the votes are effectively going to waste. The senate prevent wastage of votes by distributing the surplus proportional votes amongst candidates using a preference system predetermined by each party.


 * Westminster Principles of Representative and Responsible Government:** These are essentially the principles of popular sovereignty – the right of government to rule as expressed through elections and mandates, and Government accountability and constraints on government power. These are kept in check using such mechanisms elections, an effective opposition, and an independent judiciary.


 * World Audit:** An independent organisation that ranks the nations of the world in order of strength of democracy, based on the democratic principles. Australia s ranked ninth, Finland is first.


 * Writs:** Formal Orders issued by a body within administrative or judicial jurisdiction; generally a court. Common forms of writs are warrants, subpoenas, or prerogative writs but there are many others as well.