Democracy Rules An electoral education resource Democracy Rules An electoral education resource Democracy Rules Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this resource contains images of people who have died. Democracy rules: An electoral education resource – revised edition Produced by Education Services Australia for the National Training and Education Unit, Australian Electoral Commission First edition written by Pamela R Dudgeon and Patricia M Hincks Revised edition written by Patricia M Hincks Enquiries to: National Electoral Education Centre Australian Electoral Commission, ACT [email protected] © 2021 Commonwealth of Australia (Australian Electoral Commission). This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. To view this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0. First published 2007 Second edition 2009 Third edition 2010 Revised edition 2021 Revised edition designed by Aja Bongiorno Authorised by the Electoral Commissioner, 10 Mort Street, Canberra. Acknowledgements The publisher would like to thank the following for copyright material used in this book. Text: p 24 NSW Electoral Commission website; p 32 Adapted from A century of journalism: The Sydney Morning Herald and its record of Australian life. 1831–1931. John Fairfax & Sons Sydney, 1931; p 41 Jaensch, Dean, Elections! How and Why Australia Votes, Allen & Unwin 1995, p 47; p 71 Print, M, Saha L & Edwards, K 2004, Youth Electoral Study, Report 1, available on the AEC website; p 74 Jaensch, 1995, p 88 and Allen & Unwin Electoral Pocketbook, Australian Electoral Commission, 2005, p 71; p 96 The 1967 Aborigines Referendum, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Year Book Australia 2004; p 102 East Timor Constitution, decreed 22 March 2002; p 104–105 Youth Electoral Study Authors: Associate Professors Murray Print, University of Sydney, Dr Larry Saha, Australian National University, and Dr Kathy Edwards, University of Sydney, p 129–130 Source: Extracts from ABC Life: www.abc.net.au/life/federal-election-how-to-vote-based-on-the-facts-not-spin/11025852 (May, 2019), Reproduced by permission of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation – Library Sales. Patrick Wright © 2019 ABC Images: P 24 House of Representatives, AUSPIC/DPS; p 55 Queen Victoria, courtesy National Archives of Australia; Cover of Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, 1900, presented as a gift to the House of Commons London. Parliament House Gift Collection, Canberra. Courtesy of Parliament House Art Collection, Department of Parliamentary Services Canberra ACT; p 57 & 64 Australia’s Constitution p 72 The Australian Senate AUSPIC/ DPS; p 95 Indigenous Australians gained the right to vote in Commonwealth elections in 1962. Compulsory enrolment and voting for Indigenous Australians came into effect in 1984; p 97 Campaigning the Indigenous Australians’ rights the Freedom Rides, 1965, Photographer Sydney University, © Newspix; p 99 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights, activist, Faith Bandler, Robert Pearce/Courtesy of The Age; pp 102 & 112 Location of Timor-Leste, CartoGIS Services, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University. Released under a CCBY SA; p 104 Australian soldiers as part of INTERFET, about to patrol and area between Suai and Matai, Timor-Leste, 1999 © Rick Amor, Australian War Memorial, negative number P03184.261; p 108 Commonwealth Laws against Aborigines, Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW; p 110 Right Wrongs Write Yes for Aborigines, Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW; p 112 East Timorese refugees arrive in Australia in 1975, courtesy National Archives of Australia; p 113 Nobel Laureate Bishop Carlos Belo with his congregation on Christmas Eve, 1999, © David Dare Parker, Australia War Memorial negative number P04504.046; p 113 Australian troops in East Timor, Second World War, David Dare Parker, Australia War Memorial negative number P04504.00; p 114 A hard-won right: East Timorese waiting to vote in the 2001 elections, courtesy Peter Ellis; p 119 Young people engaging in community work, South agency/iStock.com. Contents Introduction 2 To the teacher 2 How to use this resource 4 Links to the Australian Curriculum 6 Topics and investigations 12 Topic 1: You and me, the decision makers 12 Investigation A: What do we mean by democracy? 15 Investigation B: Can we all make the decisions? 23 Topic 2: Representing everyone! 39 Investigation A: How do you have your say? 42 Investigation B: How are we represented? 50 Topic 3: What’s your vote worth? 63 Investigation A: How and why do Australians vote? 65 Investigation B: How do electorates change over time? 72 Topic 4: The voice of a vote in a world of change 91 Investigation A: How did Indigenous Australians achieve civic rights? 93 Investigation B: How did Timor-Leste take the first steps to democracy? 100 Topic 5: Young people and the vote 115 Investigation: How engaged are young people in voting and elections? 116 Further Resources 129 Running an election in your school 129 Background briefings 140 Glossary 144 1 Introduction To the teacher Teachers play a critical part in shaping young • development of new animations to support teaching and learning: people’s understanding of their role as ‘Making your vote count’, ‘Redistributions’, ‘Preferential voting’, citizens and future electors. In fact, the work ‘Changing the constitution’ and ‘Your rights and responsibilities’ of the teaching profession helps to guide the (see table) democratic development of our nation. • the creation of a separate ‘Background briefings’ section The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) • a new topic – ‘Young people and the vote’ – designed for middle- has played a significant role in the advocacy and upper-secondary-school students. and support of civics and citizenship The proposition that electoral and voting systems safeguard our education with a particular focus on building democratic principles and values underpins this resource. Electoral electoral literacy and encouraging future and voting systems are a vital link between citizen participation and participation in Australian electoral democratic representation, and provide the mechanism for free and processes. In recent years, the Australian fair elections and political change. Sound electoral systems empower Curriculum has been developed and has representatives to make decisions on behalf of others and confer specified the teaching and learning of civics legitimacy on governments. Electoral systems also have the power and citizenship education as a core part of to transform conflict and competition into cooperative activity, and the curriculum in all Australian states and prevent rivalries that place a destructive strain on communities. territories. For this reason, the AEC has In Australia, the Commonwealth Parliament contains two worked with Education Services Australia representative institutions at the federal level: the House of to update Democracy rules: An electoral Representatives and the Senate. They rely on different electoral and education resource. voting systems, which in turn affect the nature of their representation. This revised edition of Democracy rules The Australian Constitution provides for the composition of both maintains the strengths of the previous houses of parliament. The Constitution also provides the legal edition while incorporating: framework within which the parliament can determine the electoral • updates to electoral information, and voting systems used to elect both houses of parliament, and the reflecting changes to electoral law and procedures and processes used to conduct referendums. The the latest information on voting and Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Cth) (the Electoral Act) and the elections Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984 (Cth) (the Referendum • specific links between the topics and Act) outline the rules for federal elections and referendums, providing the Australian Curriculum (see table) for electoral and voting systems that reflect the principles of • modification of teaching and learning democratic representation – including universal adult franchise and activities to strengthen links to the free and fair elections – and mechanisms for constitutional change. curriculum The Constitution and the Electoral and Referendum Acts thus reflect • increased use of digital options within and give meaning to liberal democratic practice. teaching and learning activities Democracy rules aims to explain these facts and themes in an • revision of current animations and engaging manner and to make a worthy contribution to what might interactives be described as the ‘democratic life experience’ of your students. 2 The role of the Australian Electoral Commission The AEC is an independent organisation established by an amendment to the Electoral Act in 1984. Six processes uniquely identify the AEC: • managing the Commonwealth electoral roll • preparing for, conducting and reviewing elections • educating and informing the community about participating in the electoral process • providing advice and assistance on electoral matters in Australia and overseas • ensuring that political parties and others comply with financial disclosure requirements Figure 1: Image of polling place signage • supporting electoral redistributions. Through its enforcement of the provisions of the Electoral Act, the AEC ensures that electoral systems for the Commonwealth Parliament are administered fairly and that elections are free from interference and