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Game on!

Federal Election August 2010

Jan Kiernan

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Game on! Federal Election August 2010 Revised edition New material Jan Kiernan Editor Damian Bester Thanks to: Christine Kilpatrick (The Daily Telegraph) Martina Simos (The Advertiser) and Poppy Masselos (The Courier Mail) Charmaine Matthews (Herald Sun) Published 2010. Copyright News Ltd. Fair copying of this publication is permitted for the purposes of teaching, review or research Inquiries: Damian Bester Education Services Manager Davies Brothers Pty Ltd GPO Box 334 Hobart TAS 7001 Phone: 03 6230 0736 Fax: 03 6230 0776 Email: nie@dbl.newsltd.com.au Mercury Newspapers in Education website: www.mercurynie.com.au Mercury news website: www.themercury.com.au Herald Sun Newspapers in Education website: www.heraldsun.com.au/learn Herald Sun news website: www.heraldsun.com.au Daily Telegraph Newspapers in Education website: www.dailytelegraph.com.au/classmate Daily Telegraph news website: www.dailytelegraph.com.au Courier Mail Newspapers in Education website: www.couriermail.com.au/headstart Courier Mail news website: www.couriermail.com.au The Advertiser Newspapers in Education website: www2.advertiser.com.au/nie/ The Advertiser news website: www2.advertiser.com.au

3 Are my views represented? 102

Contents

For the teacher 4

Investigations with the newspaper 6

Key websites 7 Who’s Who in Parliament? 8

Introduction 9

The Senate 10 My Senators 11 Above or below the line? 12

House of Representatives 13 My MHR 14

Australian Prime Ministers 15 Meet our Prime Ministers 16 What do you know 18 Leaving office 19 Losing favour 20

A federated nation 21 A closer look 22 Yes, Minister 23 Scramble! 24 Shadow Ministry 25

Profile the Prime Minister 26 Profile the Opposition leader 27 Profile a H of R candidate 28 Profile a Senate candidate 29

Female leaders 30 Australia’s Female Premiers 31

Your opinion—the leaders 32

Voting in Australia 33 Terms and meanings 34 The polling place 35 Compulsory voting 36 Fill it out properly 37 Election definitions 38 Election talk 40 Elections in other countries 41 Electoral divisions 42 Borderlines 43 Election dictionary 44 Election decoding 45 Name game 46

What is a political party? 47 Party coverage 48 Slogans—the Liberals 49 Slogans—the ALP 50 Slogans—the others 51 Opinion polls 52 Minor parties & independents 53

Election issues 55 Election issues–part 2 56 Important issues 57 Issues 58 Controversial issues sheet 59 Weighing up points of view 60

Election reporting 61 Election reporting-part 2 62 Election-day reporter 63 A news report 64 Sub-editing 65 Day in the life 66

Political photographs 67 Around the country 68 Most powerful photo 69 Speech bubbles 70 Positives and negatives 71 How much of the page 72 Interview a candidate 73

Election cartoons 74 Reversing the process 76 Compare cartoonists 77 Letters to the editor 78 Sample cartoons 79

All you ever wanted to know 84 Bumper stickers 85 Crossword 86 Word search 87 Multimedia approach 88 Personal attacks 89 Graphics and graphs 90 Classified politics 91 Position vacant 92 Design a politician 94 Graffiti wall 95 Attitudes to politicians 96 Campaign calculating 97 Your word search 98

Election results 99 The Prime Minister 100 Important issues 101

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For the teacher The Statements of Learning for Civics and Citizenship

(2006) provide a comprehensive rationale detailing the importance of studies in this area.

“Civics and Citizenship is concerned with the development of students as informed and active citizens of Australia. The Statements of Learning and the professional elaborations have been written in the context of the following aims that guide the Civics and Citizenship aspects of curriculums in Australia, and seek to provide students with the opportunity to develop:

• an understanding of, and commitment to, Australia’s democratic system of government, law and civic life

• the capacity to clarify and critically examine values and principles that underpin Australia’s democracy and the ways in which these contribute to a fair and just society and a sustainable future

• the knowledge, skills and values that support active citizenship and the capacity to act as informed and responsible citizens

• an appreciation of the local, state, national, regional and global rights and responsibilities of citizenship and civic life

• an appreciation of the experiences and heritage of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their influence on Australian civic identity and society

• an appreciation of the uniqueness and diversity of Australia as a multicultural society and a commitment to supporting intercultural understandings within the context of Australian democracy

• an understanding of the ways in which citizens and governments contribute to environmental sustainability in local to global contexts and a commitment to adopting values, behaviour and lifestyles required for a sustainable future

• an appreciation of the influence of media and information and communication technologies on the views and actions of citizens and governments

• an understanding of historical perspectives on Australia’s development as a democratic nation

• an understanding of the ways in which governance structures from other countries are similar to or differ from democracy in Australia.”

www.mceetya.edu.au/verve/_resources/SOL_CivicsCitizenship.pdf Particularly relevant to investigations concerning the 2010 Federal Election are the sections of the Statements of learning for Civics and Citizenship around “Government and Law”. It is concerned with the principles and values underpinning our democracy, its role in society, democratic decision-making, the electoral process and responsibilities and the importance of Australia’s legal system. This key document goes on to indicate what learnings are appropriate at years 3, 5, 7 and 9. These statements are backed up with Professional Elaborations that provide guidance as to the types of inquiries appropriate to students working at these levels of schooling. Teachers should access this document for contextual information to assist in planning further investigations and assessment opportunities.

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John Kilner, former Education Editor, The Age Education Unit, writing for the Civics and Citizenship website details the role of newspapers in education. “Newspapers are best used in providing insights into the moral dimension of democratic politics. Are politicians being honest if they avoid mentioning private matters in their autobiographies? Are governments behaving with integrity in the way they present issues for public debate? Because they are seeking to answer questions and scrutinise policy, newspapers are also great for expressing opinion and canvassing policy options. On the day I write this article, the letters section contains a letter from two women appealing to the Prime Minister’s wife to join them in ‘offering an alternative point of view to the prevailing attitude of war mongering and violence’. Letters and comment deal often with the ‘what if’ and ‘how can we’ aspect of politics. “It also shows the daily events of a democratic society – people agitating for changes in policy, budget discussions, calls for government to protect the rights of suspected terrorists and so on. These everyday events are a reflection of our society; not a perfect reflection, but a reflection nonetheless. The nature of political news is about policy and its development, political change, conflict, how personalities shape policy. News can often seem negative to children. Why show a photograph of a politician kissing a baby? Why another report of a policy announcement? Teachers need to be conscious of talking through the context to what is reported and read. Critical reading skills are required. Why this story? How have the newspapers treated this story?” Newspapers and their role in teaching civics in the classroom Source: Civics and Citizenship Education www.civicsandcitizenship.edu.au/cce/default.asp?id=9342

Cartoonist Warren Brown’s impression of Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott trying to outdo one another on the issue

of asylum seekers. Daily Telegraph, July 5, 2010

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Investigations focused on the 2010 Federal Election

that begin with your daily newspaper There are many ways to introduce students to studies and investigations using the newspaper. 1. Mapping activity—using a road map of your state or territory:

• locate the places that candidates are visiting • add to your map on a daily basis.

2. Creating headline collages or mobiles— ask students to:

• cut out headlines focused on the elections and prepare collages or mobiles on recurrent themes e.g. health, education, transport, employment …

3. Profiling personalities—ask students to:

• find articles in the newspaper about a candidate running for election • find further information about them from other sources e.g. the web,

electronic media … • present their information as a profile of the individual.

4. Creating data boxes on particular political parties, individual candidates or issues.

Ask students to: • label boxes • contribute cuttings from the newspaper and other sources to the boxes on

a regular basis 5. Creating infographics—ask students to work in groups to:

• select a suitable article or photo from the newspaper • provide data for the infographic e.g. a graph, drawing, map, timeline,

cross section, voice bubble, fact box … • combine their data to form an infographic.

6. Developing vox pops—ask students to work in groups to:

• select an article or photo dealing with the election • interview classmates about their views on the issue to make a vox pops feature.

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Key websites Parliament of Australia www.aph.gov.au

Australian Electoral Commission www.aec.gov.au www.aec.gov.au/elections www.aec.gov.au/education

Newspaper election pages Tasmania: www.themercury.com.au/in-depth/election.html Victoria: www.heraldsun.com.au/news/special-reports/federal-election-2010 New South Wales: www.dailytelegraph.com.au/election Queensland: www.couriermail.com.au/news/national/election South Australia: www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/in-depth/australian-federal-election-2010-south-australia-seats

Newspapers and their role in teaching civics in the classroom Source: Civics and Citizenship Education www.civicsandcitizenship.edu.au/cce/default.asp?id=9342

Key terms www1.curriculum.edu.au/ddunits/key/keyterms_alpha.htm

A Guide to Government and Law in Australia www1.curriculum.edu.au/ddunits/guide/guide.htm

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Who’s Who in Parliament?

The Parliament of Australia website www.aph.gov.au is a must for anyone wishing to access information about the Federal Government, House of Representatives, Senate and the role of the Governor General. In particular the Who’s Who in Parliament is an excellent resource. www.aph.gov.au/whoswho/index.htm Some of the very useful information on the Who’s Who in Parliament webpage includes:

Don't know who your local member is? Check the AEC website’s electorate search to find out: http://apps.aec.gov.au/esearch/

How to address a Member of Parliament: www.aph.gov.au/Library/TUTORIAL/address.htm The Governor-General Her Excellency, Ms Quentin Bryce: www.gg.gov.au Role of the Governor-General: www.aph.gov.au/library/gov/ggrole.htm The Senate President of the Senate: www.aph.gov.au/senate/pubs/briefs/brief06.htm Ministers in the Senate: www.aph.gov.au/senate/senators/contacts/ministerial_rep.htm Senators: www.aph.gov.au/senate/senators/index.htm House of Representatives Speaker of the House of Representatives: www.aph.gov.au/house/info/infosheets/is03.pdf Members of the House of Representatives: www.aph.gov.au/house/members/index.htm Prime Minister’s website: www.pm.gov.au Leader of the Opposition’s website: www.tonyabbott.com.au/ Department of the Senate: www.aph.gov.au/senate/index.htm Department of the House of Representatives: www.aph.gov.au/house/index.htm Department of Parliamentary Services: www.aph.gov.au/DPS/index.htm Previous Parliaments: www.aph.gov.au/library/handbook/index.htm

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Introduction Two Houses make up Australia’s Federal Parliament in Canberra. The House of Representatives: the “People’s House” or Lower House. This is the national equivalent of the House of Assembly in Tasmania and South Australia, and the Legislative Assembly in Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia, Queensland, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory.

Eligible Australians cast their votes to elect 150 Members of the House of Representatives - one from each of the 150 electoral divisions. Elections for the House of Representatives are held every three years.

Did you know: Australia also has a number of “external territories”. One of these—Norfolk Island—has its own Lower House, called the Norfolk Legislative Assembly. The Senate: the “States’ House” or Upper House. This is the equivalent of the Legislative Councils of Tasmania, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia. Queensland abolished its Upper House in 1922 and the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory have never had their own Upper House.

The Senate has 76 members, 12 from each state and two from each (internal) territory. Senators are elected for six-years terms, with half elected at a time. This can, however, be changed if the Parliament is not working effectively. In this case a “double dissolution” can occur and all Senators face an election— along with all Members of the House of Representatives. In 2010 a half-Senate election will be held as part of the Federal Election. For Senate elections, each state is like one large electoral division and all voters select from the candidates seeking election.

Parliament House, Canberra

News Ltd

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The Senate

Using the information provided and further research, answer the following questions.

How many Senators are elected from each state?

How many Senators are there for the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory?

How long is the term that each Senator has in Parliament?

What is a half-Senate election?

What system of voting is used in electing Senators?

Explain how this system works.

News Ltd

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My Senators Access the website below to find the current Senators and when each one’s term of office expires. Using this source locate names, images and information about the Senators for your state or territory. Indicate which ones are up for re-election and if any are retiring. www.aph.gov.au/senate/senators/index.htm

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Above or below the line? When voting for the election of Senators, voters have the opportunity to choose between two ways of indicating their preference. They can vote:

• Above the line, or

• Below the line

Source: www.aec.gov.au/Voting/How_to_vote/Voting_Senate.htm

Above the line If you decide to vote for a particular political party or group, all you need to do is place a 1 in one of the boxes above the line. You do not put any other marks on the paper. Your vote will then be distributed according to the preferences that that particular party or group have indicated to the Australian Electoral Commission before the election. Electors wishing to vote “Above the line” can check how their party has determined the way they will distribute their preferences. An example of a group vote can be found at www.aec.gov.au/Voting/How_to_vote/Voting_Senate.htm Below the line If an elector decides to vote “Below the line” they vote by placing the number 1 in the box of their first-choice candidate, then the number 2 next to their second-choice candidate and so on—until all the boxes are numbered. This way the voter decides their own preferences. TASKS:

1. Access the Australian Electoral Commission website to find information about the ways a vote can be considered “informal” and be set aside.

2. Prepare a “How to make your Senate vote count – don’t vote informal” poster or pamphlet.

3. Write a newspaper editorial or “leader” that sets out your ideas about the advantage of voting either “Above the line” or “Below the line”.

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House of Representatives

How many Members of the House of Representatives are elected in total?

How many Members of the House of Representatives are returned by your state?

How long is the term each MHR has in Parliament?

What colour is used to represent the lower house of Parliament?

What system of voting is used in electing MHRs?

Explain how this system works.

News Ltd

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My MHR

House of Representatives elections One candidate from each Division will be elected to the House of Representatives using a preferential voting system. The successful candidate must win a majority of the votes. For example, in the 2007 election in the Division of Denison there were 63,970 formal votes so the successful candidate needed 31,986 to be elected (half plus one). Labor’s long-serving Duncan Kerr received 31,001 first preference votes. When the candidates that received least votes were “eliminated”, Mr Kerr received 41,982 votes compared to the nearest candidate on 21,988 votes. Successful candidates will be elected for a term of up to three years. Complete the following chart, using details relevant to your own Federal Electoral Division.

Name and map of my electorate

Description of my electorate

Sitting Member (MHR)

Candidates at 2010 election

Successful candidate

Notes: • Your daily newspaper and its website will contain information

on the sitting members. • As the nominations listing the candidates running for election

are announced, add their names to the fourth column. • After the Election results have been announced, add the names

of the successful candidates.

Key dates for the 2010 Federal Election

Issue of writs Monday, July 19 Close of electoral rolls 8pm, Monday, July 19 Close of nominations Noon, Thursday, July 22 Declaration of nominations Noon, Friday, July 23 Election day Saturday, August 21 Return of writ (latest date) Wednesday, October 27

How to vote http://results.aec.gov.au/12246/voting.htm#types

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Australian Prime Ministers

There are many books and websites on the subject of Australia’s Prime Ministers. Despite the importance of this office, it is not mentioned in the Constitution and exists only by unwritten convention. After each Federal Election, the Governor-General calls on the leader of the political party or coalition that won the most seats, and asks them to form a government and receive a commission to be the Prime Minister. Since Federation there have been 42 Federal Elections and 27 Prime Ministers. This history makes for some interesting statistics:

• The 27 Prime Ministers have served 32 separate terms of office • Ten Prime Ministers have been defeated at a general election • There have been 21 changes of Prime Minister without election • Three Prime Ministers died in office • One Prime Minister had his commission terminated by the Crown • One Prime Minister disappeared • Seven Prime Ministers never won an election.

Wikipedia Wikipedia Wikipedia News Ltd

News Ltd News Ltd

Edmund Barton William Hughes Robert Menzies Gough Whitlam

John Howard Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard

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Name Photo Took office Left office

Party Time in office State seat

Method of departure

1 Edmund Barton

1/1/1901 24/9/1903 Protectionist 2 years, 8 months, 24 days

NSW Appointed to High Court

2 Alfred Deakin

24/9/1903 27/4/1904 Protectionist 7 months, 4 days VIC Resigned

3 John (Chris) Watson

27/4/1904 17/8/1904 ALP 3 months, 21 days

NSW Resigned

4 George Reid

18/8/1904 5/7/1905 Free Trade 10 months, 18 days

NSW Resigned

- Alfred Deakin

5/7/1905 13/11/1908 Protectionist 3 years, 4 months, 9 days

VIC Defeated on floor of house

5 Andrew Fisher

13/11/1908 2/6/1909 ALP 6 months, 21 days

QLD Resigned

- Alfred Deakin

2/6/1909 29/4/1910 Commonwealth Liberal

10 months, 28 days

VIC Defeated at election

- Andrew Fisher

29/4/1910 24/6/1913 ALP 3 years, 1 month, 26 days

QLD Defeated at election

6 Joseph Cook

24/6/1913 17/9/1914 Commonwealth Liberal

1 year, 2 months, 25 days

NSW Defeated at election

- Andrew Fisher

17/9/1914 27/10/1915 ALP 1 year, 1 month, 11 days

QLD Appointed High Commissioner

7 W.M. (Billy) Hughes

27/10/1915 9/2/1923 ALP/Nationalist

7 years, 3 months, 14 days

NSW/VIC

Deposed as party leader

8 Stanley Bruce

9/2/1923 22/10/1929 Nationalist 6 years, 8 months, 14 days

VIC Lost seat at election

9 James Scullin

22/10/1929 6/1/1932 ALP 2 years, 2 months, 16 days

VIC Defeated at election after

party split

10 J.A. (Joe) Lyons

6/1/1932 7/4/1939 United Australia

7 years, 3 months, 2 days

TAS Died in office

11 Earle Page

7/4/1939 26/4/1939 Country 20 days NSW Relinquished to new leader

12 Robert Menzies

26/4/1939 29/8/1941 United Australia

2 years, 4 months, 4 days

VIC Resigned

13 Arthur Fadden

29/8/1941 7/10/1941 Country 1 month, 9 days QLD Defeated on floor of house

14 John Curtin

7/10/1941 5/7/1945 ALP 3 years, 8 months, 29 days

WA Died in office

15 Frank Forde

6/7/1945 13/7/1945 ALP 8 days Relinquished to new leader

Meet our PMs

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Name Photo Took office Left office

Party Time in office State seat

Method of departure

16 Ben Chifley

13/7/1945 19/12/1949 ALP 4 years, 5 months, 7 days

NSW Defeated at election

- Robert (Bob) Menzies

19/12/1949 26/1/1966 Liberal 16 years, 1 month, 8 days

VIC Retired

17 Harold Holt

26/1/1966 19/12/1967 Liberal 1 year, 10 months, 23 days

VIC Missing, presumed drowned

18 John McEwen

19/12/1967 10/1/1968 Country 23 days VIC Relinquished to new leader

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John Gorton

10/1/1968 10/3/1971 Liberal 3 years, 2 months

VIC Deposed as party leader

20 W. (Billy) McMahon

10/3/1971 5/12/1972 Liberal 1 year, 8 months, 25 days

NSW Defeated at election

21 E. (Gough) Whitlam

5/12/1972 11/11/1975 ALP 2 years, 11 months, 7 days

NSW Commission terminated

22 J. (Malcolm) Fraser

11/11/1975 11/3/1983 Liberal 7 years, 4 months

VIC Defeated at election

23 Robert (Bob) Hawke

11/3/1983 20/12/1991 ALP 8 years, 9 months, 9 days

VIC Deposed as party leader

24 Paul Keating

20/12/1991 11/03/1996 ALP 4 years, 2 months, 20 days

NSW Defeated at election

25 John Howard

11/03/1996 3/12/2007 Liberal 11 years, 8 months, 22 days

NSW Lost seat at election

26 Kevin Rudd

3/12/2007 24/6/2010 ALP 2 years, 6 months, 21 days

QLD Deposed as party leader

27 Julia Gillard

24/6/2010 ? ALP ? VIC ?

28 ?

This chart was compiled from various sources including

http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/

http://australianpolitics.com/executive/pm/list.shtml

www.pm.gov.au

http://apmc.oph.gov.au/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_Australia#List_of_prime_ministers

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What do you know about our PM? Answer the following questions using the information from the “Meet the PM” pages in this workbook. 1. How many Prime Ministers has Australia had? (Be careful: some might have been Prime Minister more than once) 2. How many Liberal Prime Ministers have there been? 3. How many Labor Prime Ministers have there been? 4. How many Prime Ministers have there been from other parties? Which parties? 5. How many Prime Ministers have come from each state? Victoria ___ New South Wales ___ Queensland ___ Tasmania ___ Western Australia ___ South Australia ___ 6. Who was Australia’s first Prime Minister? 7. Who has been the longest-serving Prime Minister? To which party did he belong? 8. Who has been Prime Minister for the shortest time? To which party did he belong? 9. Who has been the longest-serving Labor Prime Minister? 10. How many times was Alfred Deakin Prime Minister?

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Leaving office It is common for there to be a change of Prime Minister when a government is defeated in an election, or if the Prime Minister resigns, but there is something different about the following Prime Ministers. Let’s explore this using the “Meet our PMs” pages in this book, or online at http://australianpolitics.com/executive/pm/list.shtml

How did Joseph Lyons

leave office?

How did John Curtin leave office?

How did Harold Holt leave office?

Wikipedia Wikipedia

Wikipedia

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Losing favour What is the common cause for these three Prime Ministers losing office while their governments continued without them?

W.M. “Billy” Hughes

Wikipedia News Ltd

News Ltd News Ltd

John Gorton

R.J.L. “Bob” Hawke Kevin Rudd

Produce a profile on two of these Prime Ministers. Excellent information is available at:

http://apmc.oph.gov.au/aust_primeministers.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_Australia#List_of_prime_ministers

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Australia: a federated nation

In these elections, Australians are voting for a federal government. What does this mean? Key dates for our Federal Government include:

Find out: Why did the independent states decide to federate?

How did it happen?

Who was the first Prime Minister?

Who opened the first Parliament in May 1901?

Why did they decide on two Houses of Parliament?

Why is one called the People’s House and the other the States’ House?

What is the official name of the People’s House?

What is the official name of the States’ House?

Who is Australia’s Head of State?

What is a referendum?

Discuss: In 1999 a majority of people voted “No” in a referendum held to decide whether Australia should become a Republic and as such Australia remains a Constitutional Monarchy. Why might some people want this change? Why might some people not want this change?

1901 January 1 March 29/30 May 9

Inauguration of the Commonwealth of Australia First Federal Election, using state laws Opening of the first Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia

1902 Commonwealth Franchise Act and Commonwealth Electoral Act passed

1903 First Federal Election under new Commonwealth Laws

2001 Centenary of Federation

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A closer look

The Parliamentary Education Office in Canberra provides excellent information for students at www.peo.gov.au/students/cl/index.html

Task: Using information from the Closer Look Series, write a short newspaper article about Australia’s three-tiered system of government.

Closer Look Series

The Closer Look series is designed for secondary teachers and

students who want to know more than the basic facts about how the

Australian Parliament works. The series:

• explores the Australian federal structure

• provides clear accounts of processes that operate within Parliament

• helps to differentiate between features of the Australian and other systems

• clarifies Parliamentary terms. The Closer Look Series is added to over time, so it is a good idea to bookmark the

page: www.peo.gov.au/students/cl/index.html The entire series can be downloaded from

www.peo.gov.au/students/cl/cl_all.pdf

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Yes, Minister

The Parliamentary Education Office defines a Minister, Ministerial Responsibility and Ministry: “A minister is both a Member of Parliament and a member of the Executive. This means that a minister is usually in charge of a government department that is responsible for enacting the law. The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is responsible for putting related laws into action throughout Australia.”

It adds “Ministerial responsibility is the principle that ministers are accountable to the Parliament for their actions and decisions and for actions and decisions taken on their behalf. Ministerial responsibility is a key feature of the Australian system of governance.” “The ministry is the collective body of government ministers headed by a prime minister, who are formally appointed by the Governor-General as his or her ministers of state and together with the Governor-General form the Executive. The ministry contains both senior and junior ministers.”

Source: www.peo.gov.au/students/gloss_mno.html The present Gillard Labor Government has:

19 Cabinet Ministers 10 Outer Ministers 11 Parliamentary Secretaries (MPs who assist Ministers with their duties) (These are all listed at www.aph.gov.au/library/parl/42/ministry/ministry.htm )

The 19 Cabinet Ministers meet to make key decisions.

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Scramble! TASK: Unravel the names of these Cabinet Ministers.

What are the names and responsibilities of the other nine Cabinet Ministers?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

Ministerial responsibility Letters to unravel Name Prime Minister

lujai dlalgir

Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister

ywnea nwas

Minister for Health and Ageing

cnolia xorno

Minister for Immigration and Citizenship

scihr nvesa

Minister for Defence

njho lraunefk

Minister for Education Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Minister for Social Inclusion

mnsio anrce

Minister for Foreign Affairs Minister for Trade

petnhse mhist

Minister for Climate Change, Energy Efficiency and Water

nynpe nwgo

Minister for Environment Protection, Heritage and the Arts

rpeet trgrtae

Attorney-General

btrreo mllcneldac

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Shadow Ministry The Parliamentary Education Office defines the Shadow Ministry as:

“the members of the opposition party or parties in a Parliament who are party spokespersons in areas which usually match the areas of responsibility of ministers in the government. The shadow ministry discusses ways to publicise their policies during the election campaign. “ http://www.peo.gov.au/students/gloss_rs.html#S

In Parliament, particularly in Question Time as well as during an election campaign, the Shadow Ministry has an important role to play in questioning Cabinet Ministers and suggesting different policies that they would adopt if they won the election. TASK: If you were a Shadow Minister in the Opposition, what would you ask your corresponding Cabinet Minister in the Government?

Deputy Opposition Leader and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop puts a question to Prime Minister Julia Gillard. News Ltd photo.

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Profile of the Prime Minister

The Honourable Julia Gillard, MHR Add a photograph and compile a profile of Julia Gillard answering these questions: TITLE: PARTY: ELECTORAL DIVISION (including state): WHAT NUMBER PRIME MINISTER ? (e.g. 20th) Where was Ms Gillard born? Where did she grow up? What did she study at university? Whilst at Melbourne University she was elected... When was she first elected to the House of Representatives? What positions did she hold between 2003 to 2006? After the 2007 Election what positions did she hold prior to becoming Prime Minister? What Australian Rules football team does Ms Gillard support? What Rugby League club does Ms Gillard support? Other interesting information:

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Profile of the Opposition Leader The Honourable Tony Abbott, MHR Add a photograph and compile a profile of Tony Abbott answering these questions: TITLE: PARTY: ELECTORAL DIVISION (including state): When did Mr Abbott become Leader of the Opposition? Where was Mr Abbott born? Where did he grow up? What did he study at university? What prestigious scholarship did he receive? When was he first elected to the House of Representatives? What positions did he hold between 2001 to 2007? After the 2007 Election what positions did he hold prior to becoming Opposition Leader? What sports does he enjoy? Other interesting information:

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Profile of a House of Representatives candidate

...in my electorate Add a photograph and compile a profile of one of the candidates seeking election in your electoral division. NAME: PARTY: ELECTORAL DIVISION : POLICY PLATFORM: CURRENT OCCUPATION: EDUCATION: PREVIOUS COMMUNITY SERVICE: PREVIOUS PARLIAMENTARY EXPERIENCE: Other interesting information:

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Profile of a Senate candidate

...in my state Add a photograph and compile a profile of one of the candidates seeking election in your state. NAME: PARTY: STATE: POLICY PLATFORM: CURRENT OCCUPATION: EDUCATION: PREVIOUS COMMUNITY SERVICE: PREVIOUS PARLIAMENTARY EXPERIENCE: Other interesting information:

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Female leaders Julia Gillard recently became Australia’s first female Prime Minister. Research the following women who have led their countries.

Leader Country Information I have found

Sirimavo Bandaranaike

Indira Gandhi

Golda Meir

Margaret Thatcher

Corazon Aquino

Helen Clark

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

Images: Wikipedia Commons

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Australia’s female premiers

In Australia, Carmen Lawrence made national history when she became Premier of Western Australia. Find out more about Dr Lawrence’s premiership and identify other female Premiers of Australian states, past and present.

Name State Background information

Carmen Lawrence

Western Australia

         

Victoria          

New South Wales

         

Queensland          

Wikipedia Wikipedia Wikipedia News Ltd

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Your opinion—the leaders Everyone tends to have an opinion on our political leaders. Do you have your own opinion? What reasons do you have for your opinion? Ask your family members and friends for their opinions. Do they have reasons for their opinions or are they just following others? Write your own opinion about the leader of one of the three major parties. Use newspaper cuttings to support your opinions. Find articles that are contrary to your opinion.

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Voting in Australia 1. How much do you know about our electoral processes? Mark the following statements as true or false. Voting is compulsory. True or False The penalty for not voting is $50. True or False A person must not accept a bribe to vote in a certain way. Penalty $5000. True or False No-one shall impersonate anyone in order to vote. Penalty—six months in prison. True or False

2. Find out the answers to these questions. Hint: Check out the frequently asked questions section of the Australian Electoral Commission’s website.

What is a “how-to-vote card? What is a postal vote?

Why do they use pencils and not pens in polling booths?

What is a scrutineer? What do I do if I make a mistake on my ballot paper?

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Terms and meanings Find out the meaning of the following terms and write the answer beside each one:

Reference: http://www1.curriculum.edu.au/ddunits/key/keyterms_units.htm

Some countries use ticks or crosses or other marks to cast their vote. In Australia you must number your ballot paper by placing the number 1 next to your preferred candidate. Some people like to exercise their full vote by numbering every box on their ballot paper.

Informal vote

Donkey vote

Polling booth

Ballot box

Absolute majority

Ballot paper

Preferential voting

Absent vote

Postal vote

Standing orders

Petition parliament

Compulsory voting

Independent party

Legislative Council

Electoral rolls

Cabinet

Minister

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The polling place On election day, three groups of people have important roles at polling places. They are Party Workers, Polling Officials and Scrutineers. Investigate and explain what each group of people does. 1. Party Workers: _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ 2. Polling Officials: ______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ 3. Scrutineers: _________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ All electors must vote in Federal Elections. There are three main types of vote: Ordinary, Absent and Postal/Pre-Poll votes. Give a brief definition of each. 1. Ordinary Vote: ________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ 2. Absent Vote: _________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ 3. Postal/Pre-Poll Vote: __________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________

News Ltd

36

Compulsory voting

“Compulsory voting” means that every eligible Australian citizen (18 years or older) is required by law to enrol and vote. If a person does not vote and is unable to provide a “valid and sufficient” reason, a penalty is imposed. Compulsory voting is a distinctive feature of the Australian political culture. Source: Australian Electoral Commission www.aec.gov.au/Voting/Compulsory_Voting.html

Not everyone agrees that voting should be compulsory and many countries do not have this law. Fill in the table below with your arguments for and against compulsory voting.

Arguments FOR

for

Arguments AGAINST

against

After you have finished this activity, access the Australian Electoral Commission webpage that provides arguments for and against. www.aec.gov.au/Voting/Compulsory_Voting.htm

Write your conclusions here:

What do your classmates think? Tally their votes for or against below:

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Fill it out properly At every Federal Election a number of people waste their vote by incorrectly filling in their ballot papers. A ballot paper is filled out by numbering all squares. Ticks or crosses won’t do. To vote correctly you must write the number 1 beside your first choice. Then write 2 beside your second choice, and 3, 4 etc. until all boxes are numbered. An Informal Vote is a vote not counted because it was not filled out correctly. There were 13,645,073 Australians enrolled to vote at the 2007 Federal Election. At that election, informal voting decreased in all states and territories. In 2007, the informal vote was 3.95% compared to 5.18% at the 2004 election. There are other reasons why a vote is considered informal. What are they?

Design a newspaper display advertisement with the message:

Don’t waste your vote

...reminding people to fill out their ballot paper correctly.

Task

Read more www.aec.gov.au/Voting/How_to_vote/Voting_HOR.htm

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Election definitions Research the definition of these terms as they refer to the Australian Parliament and electoral system.

OPPOSITION    

ELECTORAL ROLL

   

PLATFORM

   

ACT

   

WRIT

   

WESTMINSTER

   

MINISTER

   

ELECTOR

   

INFORMAL VOTE

   

FEDERAL

   

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OMBUDSMAN

   

PREFERENTIAL VOTING

   

CAMPAIGN

   

DIPLOMAT

   

DIVISION

   

AMENDMENT

   

MOTION

   

COALITION

   

DEMOCRACY

   

BILL

   

Definitions continued

40

Election talk Write a definition of what these electoral terms mean. An excellent source of information can be found on pages 21 & 22 of All You Ever Wanted to Know about Australian Democracy available as an 11MB pdf file from the Australian Electoral Commission website: www.aec.gov.au/pdf/education/resources/all_you_ever_wanted_to_know.pdf

Swinging voters

Ballot

Donkey votes

Pump flesh

Hung Parliament

Lobby

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Elections in other countries In May 2010, elections were held in the United Kingdom and the Philippines. Compare the two systems of government and their voting systems.

A comparison of the Australian and United States federal legislatures can be found at: www.peo.gov.au/students/cl/comparison.html

Country System of government Voting system

United Kingdom

Philippines

Maps from Wikipedia Commons—not to scale

United States

Consider also the United States systems of government and the election of Barack Obama.

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Australian Electoral Divisions

What are the five smallest Australian Electoral Divisions in area and in which states or territories are they located?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5. What are the five largest Australian Electoral Divisions in area and in which states or territories are they?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5. Suggest why some Divisions are larger or smaller than others. The Australian Electoral Commission collects information about the number of electors in each Division and tries to ensure fairness, especially between divisions within each state. Sometimes the boundaries of Divisions have to be changed. Here are some examples from data collected after the last Federal Election: Gorton in Victoria – 32km² – 86,809 votes cast. Flinders in Victoria – 314,304km² – How many votes were cast? http://results.aec.gov.au/13745/website/HouseDivisionFirstPrefs-13745-211.htm Maranoa in Queensland 731,297km² – 81,959 votes cast. Brisbane in Queensland 58km² – How many votes were cast? http://results.aec.gov.au/13745/website/HouseDivisionFirstPrefs-13745-156.htm

The Australian Electoral Commission lists the 150 Federal Electoral Divisions on its website at www.aec.gov.au/profiles/ Using this data, answer the following questions.

43

Download your own high-resolution version of this electoral map, including additional inset detail, from the Australian Electoral Commission’s website:

www.aec.gov.au/profiles/maps/national/aec-boundary-map-june-2010.pdf

Borderlines

Did you know? Close attention is paid to the number of electors in each Electoral Division. Discuss why this may be important. Since the last Federal Election in 2007, “redistributions” of Federal Electoral Divisions were conducted in the Northern Territory and Western Australia in 2008, and in New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania in 2009. Boundaries were changed in Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, but no new divisions were created and none were lost. In New South Wales, population change saw the number of divisions drop from 49 to 48, while the number in Queensland went up from 29 to 30.

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Election dictionary

While you are studying the election, you may find a lot of words are new to you. Keep a record of those words as you come across them. Write these words on the left hand side of this table and fill in the meaning next to the word.

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Election decoding

Task: Imagine you are sending some information about your party’s election slogan or campaign message. Use the code above. Start by decoding this slogan from a previous election: NY’X YNRJ Now create your own coded election message using the same code, and send it to a classmate. Now make up your own code using letters or numbers and send a second coded message.

A B C D E F G H I J F G H I J K L M N O

K L M N O P Q R S T P Q R S T U V W X Y

U V W X Y Z Z A B C D E

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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Name game

Match these Federal Electoral Divisions to the origin of their names.

Flynn Former Premier of New South Wales and known as the “Father of Federation”. 

Capricornia Named after the botanist who accompanied Captain Cook on his voyage to Australia in 1770. 

Murray Famous aviator.   

Blaxland The Tropic of Capricorn passes through this electoral division. 

Wills Named in recognition of his services rendered as a Senator and leader of indigenous Australia. 

Cook Founder of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.   

Paterson A river.   

Kingsford-Smith Explorer and member of an expedition which attempted to cross Australia from south to north in 1860-61. 

Holt One of three explorers that found a route across the Blue Mountains in NSW. 

Banks Wrote The Man from Snowy River.   

Parkes Named after the first European to discover the east coast of Australia in 1770. 

Bonner Prime Minister of Australia 1966-67; disappeared while swimming off Portsea Beach in 1967. 

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What is a political party?

Historically each of Australia’s political parties supported different types of people. Who did each party support? Read your daily newspaper

Check the party websites

Read library books Contact your Local Member’s office Telephone the political

parties concerned Write the types of people each party traditionally supported in the appropriate area below.

AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ OTHERS YOU KNOW ABOUT (Democrats, Greens, Family First, etc) _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________

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Party coverage The major political parties contesting the Federal Election are listed in the columns below. Each time one of the parties gets some “coverage” in your daily newspaper, make a note of the date and what the article was about.

Labor Liberal National

Some electorates will have candidates from other parties. List them and their coverage here or on a separate sheet.

Other parties Greens, Democrats, Independents etc

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Election slogans The Liberals The Liberal Party home page www.liberal.org.au details its Action Contract—”A strong plan for Australia” - including 12 election commitments for the next three years. Visit the website to explore the 12 commitments. What are they?

YOUR STATE YOUR LOCAL AREA

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

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Election slogans The ALP The Labor Party home page www.alp.org.au/agenda/ details its “Let’s move Australia forward” plan, including a number of key agenda items. Visit the website to explore the policies. What are they?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

Which of these promises are important for:

YOUR STATE YOUR LOCAL AREA

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Election slogans The others National debate often focuses only on Labor and Liberal politicians, but there are other political parties involved in our Parliamentary democracy. Select one of your own choice and explore their policies for the 2010 Federal Election. Can you identify any slogans being used by these parties? National Party: www.nationals.org.au The Greens: http://greens.org.au Family First: www.familyfirst.org.au What can you find out about these minor parties? What are their policies for the Federal Election? One of these parties is in a coalition with the Liberal Party. What does this mean? Are there any other political parties involved in this year’s Federal Election?

Which of their policies or promises are important for:

YOUR STATE YOUR LOCAL AREA

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Opinion polls

Many different companies carry out opinion polls during election campaigns. These opinions are designed to tell us how the people would probably vote if the election was held on that day. Find the results of one opinion poll and answer the following questions. 1. Who organised the opinion poll?_________________________________________________

2. For whom was the opinion poll taken (A political party? A newspaper? A website?) _______________________________________________________________________________ 3. Write a brief summary of the results: ____________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ 4. How many people were asked their opinion? ______________________________________ 5. Where do these people live? ____________________________________________________ 6. How were they asked their opinion? By telephone? In person? ______________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ 7. What are these results supposed to tell us? _______________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ 8. Do you think the information was collected fairly? Why? ___________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ 9. How do you think this will affect how people might vote? Why? _____________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ 10. Estimate how many voters there are in Australia: _________________________________

53

Smaller parties and independents Opinion Polls often report in terms of:

• Labor Party support • Coalition parties support (the partnership of Liberal Party of Australia

and the National Party of Australia) • Two-party preferred support

Two-party preferred support is based on preference flows from the last election where there was a significant flow to the Labor Party—in particular from the Australian Greens who have, according to a number of polls and political analysts, been polling around 16 per cent. In this election the Australian Greens have announced they will direct preferences to Labor in lower house (House of Representatives) contests in return for receiving Labor preferences in the upper house (Senate) race. This is important for both Labor and the Greens but it must be remembered that individual voters are free to select their own preferences. This “preference deal” could see the Australian Greens hold the “balance of power” in the Senate in their own right from July 2011. Because the House of Representatives Electoral Divisions are single-seat electorates, with only one candidate being elected from each Division, candidates from parties other than Labor, Liberal or National, and independents, are generally the first to be eliminated. In the Senate, where six Senators are elected at a time (12 if there is a double dissolution) on a statewide basis, candidates from minor parties and independents are often elected and can hold the balance of power by voting with the Government or with the Opposition. (Note: Senators from the two Territories are elected for a term equivalent to Members of the House of Representatives) The Parliamentary Education Office defines “balance of power”:

Balance of power is the ability of one person or parliamentary party to decide an issue by the way they vote due to no party having the majority.

At this time, three states are represented by Senators from other than the Labor, Liberal or National Parties. They are:

Australian Greens Senators Bob Brown and Christine Milne from Tasmania; Senators Rachel Siewert and Scott Ludlam from Western Australia; Senator Sarah Hanson-Young from South Australia

Family First Party Senator Steve Fielding from Victoria

Independent Senator Nicholas (Nick) Xenophon from South Australia (Continued on page 54)

54

Senators Steve Fielding, Rachel Siewert and Christine Milne are facing re-election in 2010. The composition of the Senate will be of great interest to both the Government and Opposition when the newly-elected Senate sits. Due to the complexity of Senate ballot papers, a result can sometimes take several weeks after the election to be determined. TASK: Complete this table of Senate Election Results and underline those Senators elected that do not come from the Labor, Liberal or National Parties.

Extension: What will the above results mean when the newly-elected Senators take their seats alongside those who were not up for re-election? Which Senator/s will hold the “balance of power”?

(Continued from page 53)

2010 Half-Senate Election results NSW Victoria Queensland Western

Australia            

South Australia Tasmania Northern Territory

Australian Capital Territory

           

55

Election issues Part 1

What are the major issues that have emerged as a focus of the 2010 Federal Election?

Task: Working in groups, conduct a study of a major issue that is a focus of the 2010 House of Representatives election. Select: • an issue considered to be of national importance • an issue considered to be of state importance • a local issue of importance to the electors in your district

Investigate the main opposing views. Consider these questions:

Issue Why is it important? Different opinions

Issue of national importance

Issue of state importance

Issue of local importance

My own thoughts on the issues:

56

Election issues Part 2 Issues are concerns that electors would like their representatives to look at. When an election is held, there are always certain issues that come up for discussion. Australians are concerned about a number of issues this year. Some are listed below. Can you think of any others? • The environment • ______________________ • ______________________ What do you think is the most important issue in this election? Why? __________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ 1. Do any of the issues affect you, your family or your local area? Which ones? Why? _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ 2. Do you think there are other issues that are more important than those mentioned? Are there issues that relate to young people in particular—people still at school who do not get to vote? ________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ 3. If the issues that concern young people are different to the issues currently being looked at, why do you think this is so? ____________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Collect from your daily newspaper any articles on an issue of your choice. Put these in your scrapbook and label with the issue they cover. Your class could conduct a poll to see what is the most important issue for members of the class. Each student could vote on the issue they think is the most important. Make a bar graph of your results.

• Employment • ___________________ • ___________________

57

Important issues In the space below, brainstorm all of the issues you think are important for Australia in 2010. Extension: Repeat the activity, focusing on issues of local importance. Do the issues coincide or are they different?

58

Issues both sides and contemporary views

Assignment Working in groups, conduct a study of a major issue that is a focus of the 2010 House of Representatives election.

Tasks 1. Select an issue and investigate what were the main opposing views. Consider these questions:

• Why is this issue considered controversial? • How, why and in what manner are people’s opinions polarised? • What facts and opinions do different groups or individuals hold? • Has there been a major shift in public opinion?

2. Use the “Controversial Issues” sheet provided over the page to record the opposing views in the spaces at the top and bottom. 3. Share your findings with the class as a role-play, debate, set of posters depicting opposing views, PowerPoint presentation, etc.

My thoughts

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Controversial issue resource sheet

60

Weighing up two points of view

61

Election reporting Part 1

Under the ever-watchful eye of the media, elections are a time when things can change overnight. The announcement of policies, budgets, interest rates rising or falling, and industrial action such as strikes can all have a dramatic effect on public opinion. Reporting on these events is very important. Information must be accurate and unbiased. Choose a headline from your daily newspaper and write a news story to match.

1. Begin by jotting down your notes. Who is the story about? _____________________________ What is the story about? ____________________________ Where did this take place? __________________________ When did this take place? ___________________________ Why did this take place? ____________________________ How did it happen? ________________________________ __________________________________________________

2. Write your news report below: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

62

Election reporting Part 2

Under the ever-watchful eye of the media, elections are a time when things can change overnight. The announcement of policies, budgets, interest rates rising or falling, and industrial action such as strikes can all have a dramatic effect on public opinion. Reporting on these events is very important. Information must be accurate and unbiased. Create a newspaper headline of your own and write a news story to match.

1. Begin by jotting down your notes. Who is the story about? _____________________________ What is the story about? ____________________________ Where did this take place? __________________________ When did this take place? ___________________________ Why did this take place? ____________________________ How did it happen? ________________________________ __________________________________________________

2. Write your news report below: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

63

Election-day reporter For days after an election, newspapers will study and analyse the happenings during the election year. They will suggest what electors can expect in the year to come. Will this election be viewed as a major turning point for the nation? How will people look back on this election?

Write an account of this election as a newspaper article.

64

A news report

Often a news article follows what is called the “inverted pyramid” model of news reporting. The first couple of paragraphs have the most important information (who, what, when, where, why and how) and the details from there become less important. Newspaper articles are written with the most important information first so that readers are well-informed early. They can then decide whether to keep reading or not. They don’t have to search for the information. Find a news story in your daily newspaper covering a Federal Election campaign issue. Read it carefully and answer the following questions. 1. Newspaper date _____________________ 2. Who wrote the article? ___________________ 3. What is the headline? __________________________________________________________ 4. Who is the article about? ______________________________________________________ 5. What is the article about? ______________________________________________________ 6. When did it take place? _________________ 7. Where did it take place? _______________ 8. How did it happen? ____________________________________________________________ 9. Why did it happen? ____________________________________________________________ 10. Would the article have made as much sense if it was only half the length? ____________

You are the reporter now You are writing a follow-up story several days after the event mentioned above. Use your imagination to write another article on the same topic. Make sure you include the 5 Ws in your reporting, and remember—the most important information goes first. Use another sheet of paper or your word processor if necessary.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

65

Sub-editing Imagine you are a newspaper sub-editor and the editor has decided to publish a feature on Australian electoral history. Appearing below is some of the copy that was sent to be used in the story. Read through this copy carefully and make the necessary changes so that it will make sense to the newspaper readers. Look for spelling errors and rearrange the text for better continuity. Use a word processor or a new sheet of paper for your re-writing of this copy. Extension: Source appropriate images to accompany this feature and come up with a suitable headline.

In 1843 when the furst parliamentary elctions were held in

Australia – for the New South Whales legislative Council only

men with freehold values at 200 pounds or a householder paying

rent of 20 pounds a yer culd vote. 1084 sore big changes. Enrollment and voteing for Aboriginals

was made compoulsory and franchise qualification changed to

Australian Citizenship. Registration of political parities was intro-

duced. public funding of election campains and discolure of po-

litical donations and electoral expenditure was also introduced in

1984. Australian electoral history in brief. Australia was the first countery to introduce the seekretballot. It

was furst introduced in Vitoria and south Australia in 1856. Mary Lee was instrumental in forming the Women’s Sufferage

league in Adelaide. mary organized a petition across the entire

colonly of Austrsalia. The petision contained 11 600 signatures

and was presented to the parliament wile the 7th Adult Suferage

Bill was undar consideration. The bill was passed enabling women to both vote and stand for parliment. In 1894 this was a

world furts. In 1925 when compulsory voteing was first used 91.31% of electers voted.

The Australiaan Kapital Territory was granted self government in

1989 and the first electiom was held on March 4 1989.

66

Present your findings as a broadsheet, a poster, or a mock interview with a person involved.

A day in the life of an election campaign Work with a partner to present a summary of the reports focused on the election in an issue of your daily newspaper. Use this organiser to prepare your summary.

date

Subject details

67

Political photographs

Look through today’s issue of your daily newspaper to find photographs that are related to the Federal Election. 1. What is shown in these photos? List the politicians featured and the number of times

each is shown. 2. Some photos can show people looking good—smiling, helping people etc. These show

people in a positive light. Other photos can make people appear sinister, bored or unfriendly. Such images give us a negative impression of the person. Some photos are not flattering but not bad either. These may be called neutral.

In the table below, identify whether the election-related photos in today’s newspaper were positive, negative or neutral, in your opinion.

PAGE NUMBER

NAME OF POLITICIAN

PARTY (ALP, LIB, GREEN, OTHER)

POSITIVE, NEGATIVE OR NEUTRAL

3. Which party or individual had the most photos in the first few pages of today’s newspaper? __________________________________________________________________________ 4. How many photos were there of the other major parties in the first 10 pages? __________________________________________________________________________ 5. Were these photos mostly positive, negative or neutral? __________________________________________________________________________ 6. Were there any photos of minor parties or independent candidates? __________________________________________________________________________ 7. Have you ever seen any photos of these last people? __________________________________________________________________________

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Around the country in photographs Collect photographs from your daily newspaper as candidates visit different locations.

1 Select one of the photographs and complete this info-table.

2 Research and plan a newspaper report about life in the place

your photograph was taken.

3 Think of a catchy headline and find possible supporting maps, photos

etc.

4 Complete a “published” copy of your work including maps, diagrams,

photos etc.

Who and what does my photo show?

Where was the photo taken?

What diagrams, maps, photos and other resources will I need?

What is my story about this part of the country going to focus on? e.g. tourism, wildlife, agriculture, industries, personalities, sport...

How am I going to use the 5 Ws: Who? What? When? Where Why? How?

What is my headline?

69

Most powerful photo

When you find a photograph in the newspaper that you think has potential to be the “political focus for the week” cut it out and record its name, date, headline, caption and subject. At the end of a week show your selection for the “most powerful political photo of the week”.

headline caption subject

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

My choice is

I thought it was...

The class favourite was

I chose it because...

70

Speech bubbles Search your daily newspaper for a photo of an election candidate talking with others, and paste it in the box on this sheet. Write what the people might be saying to one another in the speech bubbles.

71

Collect photographs from your daily newspaper that you think are examples of positive and negative images. On this sheet record the photographs and why you think they were positive or negative.

Positives and negatives Photographs that appear in newspapers can show political candidates in positive or negative ways.

At the end of the week share with the class your best example of a “positive photo” and your best example of a “negative photo”, explaining your choices.

72

Test your findings by completing the same survey with other issues of the same newspaper. Comment on your findings.

Consider your findings and write a short explanation of what you have found.

How much of the page is taken up by photos? Look at each page of one issue of your daily newspaper for some content that focuses on the election and make a tally of approximately how much features photographs.

Tally down the sides of this image, placing a tick against the percentage of photos for each page.

73

An interview with a candidate

Imagine you are to conduct an interview with a candidate whose photograph has appeared in the daily newspaper. Select a photograph and plan your imaginary interview. Work with a classmate to role-play your interview scenario. Concentrate on the types of questions you should ask and try to think of how your interviewee might respond to the question.

Focus on questions that centre on the person’s experiences that have made them newsworthy. How did they come to be a …

tip Don’t ask questions that can be answered with a “yes” or a “no”. Make notes as you go.

I will interview:

Ask questions that will get your partner to tell the important parts of their stories – that will focus on finding out about them.

Ask questions, or give them opportunities, to give you as much information as possible. Look at their photos for clues.

Ask questions about their hopes for the future for themselves and for their wider interests.

Ask what advice they might have for people wanting to do the same things as they do.

don’t forget Thank them for the interview at the end!

74

Election cartoons 1. Select a cartoon that has a focus on the 2010 Federal Election. Attach it below.

Paste your cartoon here

2. Look through your daily newspaper to find any supporting information in the other pages of the paper.

Headline

Editorial comment

Photos & captions

News report

Other

Letters to the editor

75

3. What other features do you see? Make some notes below:

What do you notice?

What is the setting for the cartoon?

Are the people portrayed in the same way? 4. What style/techniques have you noticed?

body language/power positioning

objects included

speech bubbles

What other information do you have about the

context of the cartoon?

What

point of view is the cartoonist taking?

Which people have been included in the cartoon?

caricatures which features

symbolism

other written text signs, placards, captions ...

What is

your position on the content

76

Select a cartoon of a candidate from an issue of your daily newspaper and develop a lead story from it. You will need to create a suitable headline and a story that might have been the inspiration for the cartoon. Create the headline and news report below. Don’t forget the 5 Ws — Who? What? When? Where? Why? And How!

Reversing the process

77

Compare different cartoonists’ caricatures of candidates in the 2010 Federal Election

Cut out two cartoonists’ representations of the sam

e candidate. Place one in each circle of the V

enn Diagram and com

pare and contrast the two draw

ings.

78

People write letters to the editor for a number of reasons. In this case you are writing in response to a cartoon that has a focus on the election that has appeared in your daily newspaper. Write one letter in support of the content of the cartoon and another letter presenting a critical view. For example, comment, elaborate, explain or argue “your” point of view, per-spective or theory, add extra or collaborating information.

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80

81

82

83

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All you ever wanted to know

Refer to the Australian Electoral Commission’s downloadable booklet All You Ever Wanted to Know About Australian Democracy (Pages 3 & 4) to answer the following questions. Who was the main author of the Australian Constitution? Which people make up the Cabinet? When there is a serious disagreement between the Commonwealth and the States who acts as the “referee”? How many Houses does the Parliament consist of? Who represents the Crown as the head of state in Australia? If the Federal Parliaments want to change the Constitution, who do they ask? What process is used to change the Constitution?

85

Prepare a campaign poster Your poster should tell something about the candidate that will give electors a reason to vote for them. Use pictures, symbols and colours. You can also use headlines or photos from your daily newspaper if you wish.

Bumper stickers

Candidates try to make sure that as many people as possible see their name during an election campaign. Placards and signs are put up and stickers are put on cars. These may show a candidate or be about a particular party. Design two or more bumper stickers for one of the party leaders, one of the parties or an independent candidate.

86

Crossword Using words relating to the 2010 Federal Election, make a crossword. Start by writing words on the grid below in pencil so they intersect and can be rubbed out.

Starting in the top left-hand corner and moving to the right, give each new word a number. Use pen. Write clues for the words below using the numbers.

Across

Down Finish by colouring in the squares you have not used. Erase the words from the boxes and swap with a friend.

tip Use your Election Dictionary—if you have been keeping one—to find good words to use.

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Election word search Find all the words listed below. Then write out the letters left unmarked, in the order they appear, and work out the election message.

Opposition Electoral roll Polling day Platform Act Writ

Westminster Liberal Party National Party Labor Party Minister Elector

Informal vote Federal Ombudsman Parliament Member Appeal

Electorate Campaign Diplomat Division Poll Safe seat

Upper House House of Reps Amendment Motion Coalition Bill

Democracy Election Preferential voting

E L E C T O R A L R O L L M H A I

L P O L L I N G D A Y K E Y O P N

E O P L A T F O R M U R V O U R F

C A P P E A L F E D E R A L S E O

T P O L L O M B U D S M A N E F R

O T S A P A R L I A M E N T O E M

R E I B A C K B E N C H C A F R A

A C T O W E S T M I N S T E R E L

T O I R D I P L O M A T U S E N B

E N O P N D I V I S I O N E P T O

C R N A O C A M P A I G N F S I T

O E W R I T E L E C T O R A T A E

A T N T T U P P E R H O U S E L O

L S D Y C A R C O M E D O N K V E

I I A M E N D M E N T M O T I O N

T N B I L L I B E R A L P A R T Y

I I Y V E D I C T A T O R S H I P

O M E M B E R P A R L I A M E N T

N A T I O N A L P A R T Y O T G E

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A multimedia approach Select an election issue or event from your daily newspaper. Organise for different students to listen to radio and television news broadcasts to see if reference is made to this issue. If possible, record the views digitally or on tape.

1 Briefly describe the issue or event in a few sentences.

2 Explain how the coverage of the issue or event differed between media.

Consider: Which provided the most information? Do pictures help you understand the issue? Were any of the reports biased?

Note the differences in the reporting of the same

issue on television, radio and newspapers. Arrange for students to record different stations’

news from television and radio so the class can compare the coverage.

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Personal attacks Look in today’s newspaper for an article containing a politician’s statement on an important issue.

90

Graphics and graphs

Find a graph or chart in your daily newspaper that relates to the Federal Election. Glue it into the space below (or a separate sheet) and answer the questions that follow.

1. What is the title of this graph or chart?___________________________________________ 2. Write a sentence telling about the chart or graph’s main idea: _______________________________________________________________________________ 3. What do you predict may happen in the future based on the information you understand from this graph/chart?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Present the same information in another form (pie chart, pictogram, bar graph, etc)

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Classified politics

The classified pages of your newspaper have many sections (or classifications) and serve many purposes. This section is used by many different people, not just commercial advertisers. Write out classified ads with a State Election theme. Remember that the idea is to keep them brief, as these are paid for by the line. Advertise a politician for sale: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Advertise your politician in the lost and found: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Advertise for an alternative candidate in the positions vacant: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Advertise for a new political party in the public notices: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Position vacant Part 1

Most people find their first job in the newspaper. Look in the employment section of your daily newspaper (especially on Wednesdays and Saturdays). Notice all the types of jobs being advertised. Imagine if we had to employ a Prime Minister for Australia rather than elect one. 1. Consider the position description for this job. List the personal and professional qualifications needed to fill the position. Decide how much this person should be paid and what other conditions or benefits to include. Make some notes: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Draw your display advertisement in the space below, or create it on your computer and paste it in here: POSITION VACANT

Commonwealth of Australia

Prime Minister

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Position vacant Part 2

Most people find their first job in the newspaper. Look in the employment section of your daily newspaper. Notice all the types of jobs being advertised. Imagine if we had to employ an adviser for the Prime Minister of Australia. 1. Consider the position description for this job. List the personal and professional qualifications needed. Decide how much this person should be paid and what other conditions or benefits to include. Make some notes: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Draw your display advertisement in the space below, or create it on your computer and paste it in here:

POSITION VACANT

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Design a politician

If you can, imagine the perfect politician. What would the perfect leader of our nation look like? Tall, short, fat, thin, movie-star attractive or average? As a leader, what sort of clothes might they wear? What sort of car would they drive? Where would they live? How old would they be? 1. Draw a diagram of your perfect politician. This can be a serious or fun activity. Label

all the necessary detail. Draw their house and car if you like.

2. What sort of music would suit your ideal politician?_____________________________ 3. Where would they go and what would they do for a holiday? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Graffiti wall

During elections many issues arise that we feel strongly about. Use our graffiti wall below to express how you feel about some of the “stuff” that is happening during the Federal Election campaign. You might wish to comment on justice, education, energy, health, environment or transport among other things. What is a good life?

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Attitudes to politicians

As a class, interview 100 people by asking their feelings about the following statements and record their response on the table below.

* J.S. Western and P.R. Wilson—Politics: Participation and Attitude

Statement Agree Not Sure Disagree

By and large, politicians generally earn the salary they are paid.

I don’t think politicians care much about what people like me think.

A lot of jokes are made about the corruption of politicians but on the whole they are a fairly honest group.

You can never really believe what politicians tell you.

Most politicians feel more responsibility to their parties than to the people who elected them.

Most politicians soon lose touch with the people who elected them.

Most Australian politicians are intelligent and hard-working.

1. Do your own feelings match those of the majority of responses recorded? Which ones did you agree with?

2. Think of three more statements you would like to ask people their responses to. _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________

Statement Agree Not Sure

Disagree

By and large, politicians generally earn the salary they are paid.

48 9 43

I don’t think politicians care much about what people like me think.

55 5 39

A lot of jokes are made about the corruption of politicians but on the whole they are a fairly honest group.

74 9 16

You can never really believe what politicians tell you.

51 9 40

Most politicians feel more responsibility to their parties than to the people who elected them.

78 6 13

Most politicians soon lose touch with the people who elected them.

59 7 33

Most Australian politicians are intelligent and hard-working.

56 10 34

3. How does your survey compare with the one on the right carried out by Western and Wilson* ? ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________

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Campaign calculating

1. Smart politicians control their stress levels during election campaigning by exercising. Politician A runs 5.5km three times a week. Politician B runs 3.5km four times a week. How many kilometres does each run in a week?

Politician A _________ Politician B _________ 1a. How many kilometres would they run over a five-week election campaign? Politician A _________ Politician B _________ 1b. If they ran every week of the year, how many kilometres would each cover? Politician A _________ Politician B _________ 2. An election candidate met 17 of her campaign organisers. These people all shook hands when they were introduced to one another. How many handshakes were there altogether? ______________ 3. Three politicians are holding a television debate. In the live studio audience a person in the front row has nine seats to the left of them and 10 seats to the right. There are 14 rows of seats behind them and these seats are full. Half a dozen people standing down the back are also listening. How many people are there in the studio audience? ______________ 4. The Country Women’s Association in your district is putting on a lunch to meet the Local Member of Parliament. The organisers are charging $6.50 per person for lunch. The costs come to $3.25 per person, plus $16 for tea and coffee. How much money will the local CWA expect to make on this venture if they can seat 152 people? ___________ How much will they make if they only fill three-quarters of the seats?

___________ 5. A candidate mentions cuts to the health budget during a

newspaper interview. Doctors, nurses and hospital administrators form a group of 39 angry protesters on the steps of Parliament House at 8am the next day. The size of the crowd doubles every hour. How many protesters are there when the candidate arrives at 4pm? _________ At what time did the crowd of protesters reach the 1000 mark? _______ When did the crowd pass the 4000 mark? __________

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Your election word search

1. Decide on an election theme (election day, past Prime Ministers, electoral divisions etc) and list all the associated words you can think of in the blank space below.

2. Write the words into the squares provided, then fill the remaining spaces with odd letters. You might want to include a secret election message. Give the completed word search to a friend to work out.

Word list

99

Use your daily newspaper to check the results after the 2010 Federal Election

In the space below, record how many seats in the House of Representatives have been won by each of the major parties

and any independents.

Show both state and national results.

State

National

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The Prime Minister

The election is over and we know who will be Prime Minister for up to three years. Think about some of the topics and issues you feel will be important to you, your state or the nation as a whole. Write a letter to the Prime Minister about your concerns. Ask what will be done about these concerns. Don’t forget to congratulate the Prime Minister on the election result, and keep your letter concise.

Dear Prime Minister,

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Important issues

Referring to your daily newspaper and other media outlets, compile a list of issues which candidates said would decide the voting at the 2010 Federal Election. Issue Very

Important

Important

Unimportant Very

Unimportant

Place a tick in the column which, in your opinion, shows each issue’s importance. Collect data from other students and collate this information. What was the consensus of opinion? 1. These issues were highlighted. How important do you think they are? __________________________________________________________________________ 2. Which important issues are missing? Write them in and tick the column which indicates their importance to you. 3. With a small group, make a list of pressure groups that could be contacted to lobby for some of these issues.

102

Are my opinions represented? In the electoral division in which you live, there may be (now that the election has finished) a newly elected Local Member. This is the person who received the most votes in your Division and as such was elected to the House of Representatives and is now known as an MHR or an MP. It may be the same person as before the election, or a new representative. How can you ensure that your Local Members really do represent your opinions in Federal Parliament? 1. Lobby • You can visit your Local Member to discuss your opinions, or write to them. • Organise a petition, get other people who agree to sign it, and send it to your Local

Member. • Discuss local issues with your parents, friends and relatives. 2. Vote • When you are nearly 18, enrol to vote. When you are 18, vote wisely. • Get to know the candidates in your Division and their policies. • Your Federal Local Member is elected for three years. They know that they can win

votes at the next election by good, steady representation. • Of people in your Division. Let them know if you are or are not happy with what they

are doing.

ACTIVITIES: 1. What is the name of the person elected to the House of Representatives in your Division (your Local Member)? ___________________________________________________________ 2. What political party do they belong to (if any)? ___________________________________ 3. Is your Local Member part of the Government? ___________________________________ 4. Keep an eye out in the coming weeks to see if your Local Member becomes a Cabinet Minister or “shadow minister” (opposition spokesman). Watch for information in what they are doing via your daily newspaper and local newspaper. 5. Make a list of any other ways that you can make sure your local members represent your opinions in Parliament.