Search results

Listed under:  Society  >  Citizenship  >  Law  >  Jurisdiction  >  Constitutional law  >  Constitutions
Video

BTN: Why is citizenship important?

What makes an Aussie an Aussie? Is it loving Vegemite, playing cricket or maybe wrestling crocodiles? Find out about Australian citizenship and the ways someone can become a citizen of a country. What rights does citizenship afford you in Australia?

Text

Cabinet

Cabinet is the top-level decision-making group within the Australian Government. Find out more about who is in Cabinet and how it works with this fact sheet.

Text

Defining moments in Australian History

This extensive web-based resource examines events, people and places of profound significance to the Australian people and their personal, community and national histories. The resource includes a list of 100 'defining moments' identified by historians supported by background information, images, video and links to the ...

Interactive

Discovering democracy: Federation timeline

Use a timeline to find information about significant events and ideas in the establishment of a federated Australia. Nominate specific years or scroll from 1788 to 1901 to see what steps were key in determining the nature of government in Australia.

Interactive

Discovering democracy: the people make a nation

Interact with a slideshow of images and text to explore the controversies that the colonies needed to deal with before they could agree on a federated Australia. Investigate the library to find out more about the different views about trade, immigration, transport, defence and rivers. Examine the rivalries among the colonies ...

Text

Electoral pocketbook: an electoral education resource

The 2016 Electoral Pocketbook is a compact and comprehensive guide to the 2016 federal election, the largest election the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has ever delivered. The Pocketbook serves as a useful electoral education resource for teachers as it contains historical information about Australia’s electoral ...

Interactive

Federal Parliament history timeline

This interactive timeline explores key milestones in the history of Australia's Parliament that led to federation and how the work of Parliament has influenced Australian democratic development since 1901. The timeline allows users to explore the milestones chronologically or follow thematic trails. Selected milestones ...

Interactive

Federation

Federation is the process by which six partly self-governing British colonies decided to form a new nation. Australia was created by peaceful means as an Act of the British Parliament—the result of much consideration and debate. This webpage provides a series of resources examining the path to federation. The page includes ...

Interactive

Governing Australia - iTunes app

Learn to understand Australia's system of government with this interactive app, using simple conversational language with lots of illustrations, animation, photos and videos. The range of topics covered include: The constitution; Judicial power; Parliament; Executive government; Members of parliament; How laws are passed; ...

Text

Government

This fact sheet explores the role and functions of the Australian Government, including who is in the government, how it is formed, minority government and the principle of responsible government.

Text

Life on the land

This is a resource about life on the land in Australia in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. It includes details about land grants allocation, the establishment of Australia's first farms, the condition of the land, the processes used to farm the land, and case studies about the early farming families in Australia. The ...

Text

Magna Carta - Is it a part of your life today?

This unit of work consists of five classroom activities that introduce students to the Magna Carta, or Great Charter that describes the civil liberties granted by King John of England in 1215. The activities explore the key concepts established in the Magna Carta, including the rule of law and the parliamentary system of ...

Online

Magna Carta: The story of our freedom

This is a resource about the Magna Carta (Great Charter) agreed between King John and his rebellious barons in 1215 and its influence on the development of human rights and democratic freedoms to the present day. The resource consists of: an animated infographic ‘Tell the story’ with hyperlinks to further information; an ...

Interactive

Making a Nation: changing the Constitution

This interactive resource looks at the creation of the Australian Constitution and then explores the process used to change it - referendum. Information on several referendums is presented (1910, 1937, 1967, 1984) but, in a case study, students investigate the 1951 anti-communism referendum in more detail. The seven activities ...

Text

Ministers and shadow ministers

This fact sheet investigates the work of ministers (members of the Australian Government with special responsibilities) and shadow ministers (members of the opposition who closely examine the work of the government).

Video

NSW Governor Marie Bashir – 2010 speech to students

This resource is a YouTube playlist containing a series of videos from a speech the NSW Governor Marie Bashir gave to senior high school students at Government House in 2010. She speaks on a range of topics, including the Australian system of government, the history of Australia and NSW, and her life. She also answers ...

Interactive

Quizzes

Test your students with these quizzes about the Australian Parliament. Topics include the three levels of government, separation of powers and the Australian Constitution.

Video

Role-play the Parliament: Senate video

This is a video of a law-making role-play in the Senate. This resource supports the year 6 Civics and Citizenship Curriculum. It shows teachers how to turn their classroom into the Senate chamber and how to role-play parts of the law-making process.

Text

Separation of powers

The principle of the separation of powers distributes the power to govern between the Parliament, the Executive and the Judiciary. This fact sheet examines the role of each group and the related principle of responsible government.

Video

Snapshots - the Constitution

This is a video about the Australian Constitution. The video outlines the history, purpose and content of Australia’s Constitution and is supported by links to background information and PDF fact sheets.