Civics and citizenship / Year 9 / Civics and Citizenship Knowledge and Understanding / Laws and citizens

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Curriculum content descriptions

The key features of Australia’s court system and how courts apply and interpret the law, resolve disputes and make law through judgements  (ACHCK077)

Elaborations
  • creating a visual representation of the court jurisdictions in Australia
  • categorising sample cases in relation to the courts in which they would be heard (for example, cases from criminal, consumer, family, human rights and environmental law)
  • describing the role of a particular court (for example, a supreme court, a magistrates court or the Family Court of Australia)
  • exploring how court judgements impact on the development of law (for example, the role of precedents)
General capabilities
  • Ethical understanding Ethical understanding
ScOT terms

Court procedures,  Jurisdiction

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Year 9: Our democratic rights

This collection of resource sheets focus on the movement of peoples in the early period of the Western Australian colony, including the operation of Parkhurst Apprenticeship scheme. Guided research activities explore key features of Australia's court system and the key principles of the Australian justice system. The resources ...

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.

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Australian Constitution in focus

The Australian Constitution is the legal framework for how Australia is governed. This article explores in detail the history of the Constitution, its key features and the High Court’s role in interpreting it. The page describes processes for amending the Constitution including through referendum as well as two case studies ...

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Australian Constitution online

Browse the complete text of the Australian Constitution with this easy-to use website. It includes a detailed overview by the Australian Government Solicitor and a 2:26 min video snapshot about the Constitution and its role in the governance of the Australian nation.

Online

Making a nation - unit of work

This is an extended unit of work about how people decide to form a federation, how a federated nation works, how federations can break apart and whether Australia should become a republic. It comes from the 'Discovering democracy' series of units and contains several case studies from Australian and United States history ...

Online

For the good of all - Australian democracy: unit of work

This is a unit of work about constitutions and how they embody a particular view of the common good. Intended for lower and middle secondary students, the unit involves students taking on a particular individual perspective and working in jigsaw groups to draw up a constitution and vote on each of its provisions. The various ...

Online

Australian Constitution

This fact sheet summarises the key features of the Australian Constitution— the set of rules by which Australia is run—and how it can be changed.

Online

The 1967 referendum

This resource (an ‘education pack’) is a sequenced series of teaching/learning activities about the 1967 referendum to amend or repeal sections of the Australian Constitution that discriminated against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Intended for teachers, the 13-page pdf resource focuses mainly on the 40th ...

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 ...

Downloadable

Aboriginal change makers

Aboriginal history, self-determination and identity are examined in this teaching and learning eBook. The book draws on the lived experience of First Nations peoples drawing on historical record, cultural protocols and community connections to explore perspectives on traditional culture and leadership in the face of colonisation. ...