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2003 news from the PEO
December 2003
Festive fun from the PEO
PEO 2003 Christmas card
It’s the end of a busy year for the PEO, what with the introduction of Cockatoo Island, the launch of Kidsview, numerous outreaches, fellowships and our ever-busy Education Centre in Parliament House.
2003 highlights and lowlights (according to PEO staff):
Ann’s highlight was finding the green carpet on the other side of the building and her lowlight was wearing out three whole pairs of shoes walking around looking for the green carpet on the other side of the building! Jodie’s highlight was the launch of Cockatoo Island (but the introduction of the PEO lolly jar came a close second) and her lowlight was trying to balance the PEO budget. Jan’s highlight was delivering an adult ESL program in Sydney and experiencing the incredibly sincere thanks from the people who were so keen to learn about the country they have chosen to make home, and her lowlight was during the same trip, when she and another PEO educator were stopped in the street by a young man conducting a survey specifically targeting women over 40 – how did he guess?! Geoff’s highlight was running a week long Fellowship program for six journalists from newspapers and radio stations in rural Australia, one of whom has recently won a Walkley Award.
Ann says the most important thing she learnt this year was to always wear comfortable shoes, while Jodie learnt that if you provide lollies, lollies will be eaten (she is researching how to cast a self-filling spell on the lolly jar). Other PEO staff members’ learning experiences centred on morning coffee at Aussies - Ali was excited to learn that you can ask for two marshmallows in your hot chocolate and Andrew’s lesson was if you want a coffee when Parliament is sitting you better get there early!
Jodie is off to Cuba and Mexico during the holiday period, while Geoff has plans to read all the Hansards for 2003 (I know whose shoes I’d prefer to be in!). Ann plans to sleep, read and catch up with good friends, Adrienne will be relaxing by the water and staying away from papers and news. Andrew plans to sit in a beanbag. Often. Ali has plans to learn to row (on the water, not in debate) and I have promised myself to stay as far away from the web as possible.
Our office will be closed from COB Wednesday 24 December until Monday 5 January. The PEO would like to take this opportunity to wish all our visitors and clients a very Happy Christmas and New Year and a safe holiday season!
Your faithful web manager, Christmas 2003
November 2003
PEO Fellowships
A good way to learn about parliament is to watch the procedures of both chambers and talk to MPs and Senators.
The PEO runs fellowship programs like this for teachers, educators and other professional groups. Fellows spend a week in Canberra observing the daily operation of both chambers, the committee system, and the role of the press. They also look at the work of other offices related to the parliament; the government, High Court and Australian Electoral Office.
Often the PEO and the fellows organise follow-up programs for students in the fellows' home states and towns.
February 03: Educators from Lowood district, QLD
The Lowood fellowship group in Parliament House
Six teachers and community educators from the Upper Brisbane Valley visited Parliament House as PEO fellows in February 2003. They watched the parliament at work, and met their federal member Mr Cameron Thompson MP and Queensland Senator Claire Moore. Together, they decided to organise a series of school-based activities for the rest of 2003. Two events stood out.
In August, secondary students from the Gatton-Lowood area role-played a Senate committee of inquiry into local water management. Cameron Thompson role-played … himself and answered the senators’ (year 10 students) questions very competently!
The year ended spectacularly when over one hundred primary and secondary students from the valley bussed into the Queensland Parliament House and debated the School Reform Bill (see article below on Democracy week in Queensland Parliament House). Katrina, Shane, Leon, Rosalie, Karen and Nicole (pictured above walking in Parliament House with a PEO educator) were amazed that their visit as fellows to the parliament in Canberra would have inspired all these democracy and parliamentary activities in their schools and communities.
June 03: Journalists from regional Australia
Most journalists need to have some knowledge of the political process. When the PEO teamed up with the Minerals Council and Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources to offer six journalists fellowships in Canberra, applications poured in.
The three partners chose six young journalists from regional areas with strong mining and resource-based economies. The fellows 'scribbled' their way through the week filing stories on Minerals Week events, policy development in the Department and the dramas of estimates hearings in parliament.
In the end, journalist fellows Adele, Andrew, Petrina, Alex, Wendy and Jayne understood a bit more about how the bureaucracy, industry, parliament and government interlock in Canberra. They also know who to phone for background facts when they returned to Mount Isa, Kalgoorlie, Newcastle and Karratha.
I still tell everyone about the program and remember it as one of the most interesting and eye-opening experiences, as well as being great fun! – Lee-Anne
The day’s events began with a parliamentary role play in the former upper house chamber of the Queensland Parliament.
A rare sight; ‘parliament’ in the upper house chamber. There has been no meeting of Parliament in this chamber since 1922 when Queensland Parliament abolished the upper house.
Most students from the five secondary schools made speeches.
Democracy week in Queensland Parliament House
The Parliamentary Education Office’s Geoff Clarke reports on Democracy Week in the Queensland Parliament.
More than 150 students from primary and secondary schools in the West Moreton region (Ipswich, Gatton area, west of Brisbane) celebrated Democracy Week in Queensland on Monday 10 November 2003.
The day in the Queensland Parliament was organised around student parliamentary debates on two relevant bills – the Education Reform Bill and the Tree Clearing Bill.
Three recent Parliamentary Education Office 2003 fellows, Rosalie Shawcross, Senior Project Officer for Discovering Democracy in Queensland, Leon Steinhardt, head of Social Science at Lowood State High School and Katrina Birch, SOSE teacher at Laidley State High School, planned this event with their local federal member, Mr Cameron Thompson MP, Member for Blair, and Queensland Senator, Claire Moore.
The program engaged selected Year 10 students from Lowood State High School, Faith Lutheran College, Laidley State High School, Lockyer District State High School and Rosewood State High School.
Students from Blenheim State School, Fernvale State School, Glenore Grove State School, Lowood State School, Ma Ma Creek State School, and Tarampa State School also came to observe the event.
The Education Reform Bill was defeated in a division vote there being 27 Ayes and 37 Noes. The chief obstacle to the bill passing was the proposal to extend schools hours each day. The Tree Clearing Bill was passed.
There is no upper house in the Queensland Parliament to review the decision made by the lower house, unlike all other states and the Northern Territory in Australia.
Profiler Newsletter Issue 6: November 2003
From May 2002 to November 2004, the PEO produced a regular newsletter called Profiler. This publication has now ceased, but archived articles will continue to be made available here. Please click on the link below.
Profiler Newsletter
Issue 6: November 2003 [HTML]
Profiler Newsletter Issue 6: November 2003 [PDF 359KB]
October 2003
The 2003 ACT Constitutional Convention
Friday 8 and Friday 15 August 2003
Students at the 2003 ACT Constitutional Convention engaged in role-play in the Main Committee Room at Parliament House
ACT Constitutional Convention is jointly run every year by the ACT Assembly Education Office, the Australian Electoral Commission and the Parliamentary Education Office, with support from the ACT Education Department.
Each year a proposed change to the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia is examined by the delegates, debated in a pretend parliament and voted upon as a referendum. This mirrors the actual process by which changes to the constitution are made.
On Friday 8 August and Friday 15 August this year the program attracted 74 year 11 students from the ACT.
Day 1 in Parliament House Main Committee Room started with a plebiscite ballot on the question “Should Australia have a Bill of Rights?” The votes were counted early, resulting in 41 YES and 33 NO votes. The plebiscite allowed the delegates to assess the response to the question upon which a change to the constitution would be decided by referendum.
Participants were given an overview of the Bill of Rights issue by Mr Brett Phillips, Senior Director Legal Policy Branch of the Department of Justice and Community Safety. From this students were able to prepare the FOR and AGAINST cases for a referendum. They were assisted by four students from the 2002 ACT Constitutional Convention.
Students then got to know a bit about the Australian Constitution, and a possible model for change that would incorporate a Bill of Rights into the Australian Constitution, through a presentation by Mr David Sullivan from Senate Research.
A bill that proposed a change to the constitution, based on this model, was then presented to a “parliament” of delegates for debate and vote. The delegates, pretending to be Senators, debated and voted on the bill. It was rejected by a single vote when the government in the senate failed to persuade enough Senators in the minor parties to support their proposal. The Opposition voted against the bill because, it argued, a series of laws already incorporate most of what a Bill of Rights would achieve.
The convention assumed that a referendum would go ahead despite no support from the opposition. The last part of the proceedings of Day 1 included group work to write arguments for and against the referendum question that a Bill of Rights be incorporated as a new section 129 in the constitution, with the deletion of sections 116 and 117.
Down at the ACT Assembly on Day 2 the following week delegates heard the case FOR from the ACT Chief Minister, Mr Stanhope MLA, and the case AGAINST by Mr Bill Stefaniak MLA, Deputy Leader of the Opposition. Delegates then learned how to vote in a referendum and how the vote is counted by the Electoral Commission, and participated in a soapbox to persuade their colleagues how they should vote.
The referendum was conducted. Delegates were divided into groups representing the states and territories, and voted accordingly.
The Result:
28 said YES and 49 said NO with all states except West Australia voting against
the proposed changes to the referendum.
It seems that some students changed their minds during the period of scrutiny of the proposal. Similar responses may also have occurred in many of the real referendums conducted since Federation, since, of the 44 proposed changes, only 8 have passed. Governments, in making proposals for change, have to gauge the likelihood of success beforehand- most are unsuccessful.
August 2003
Profiler Newsletter Issue 5: August 2003
From May 2002 to November 2004, the PEO produced a regular newsletter called Profiler. This publication has now ceased, but archived articles will continue to be made available here. Please click on the link below.
Profiler Newsletter
Issue 5: August 2003 [HTML]
Profiler Newsletter
Issue 5: August 2003 [PDF 373KB]
July 2003
Illustration by Kaye Kessing from Cockatoo Island Big Books.
The launch of Cockatoo Island
On the morning of June 16 there was a great flurry of excitement as about sixty birds arrived in the Mural Hall of Parliament House from Gold Creek Primary School and Canberra Girls Grammar Junior School. Each bird represented an electorate: the Member of the Rainforest or the Member for the Mallee, the Member for the Desert or the Member for the Wetlands.
In front of 200 guests the Parliament of Birds was formed: the Serjeant at Arms (the Jabiru) arrived with the Beak and Claw, the Clerk (the Bush Stone Curlew) rang the bell. “Order!”, said the Speaker “Let the Parliament Begin!” The Parliament arose from the perches and performed the Cockatoo Island Parliament Rap, to great acclaim.
Speakers at the launch included Professor Henry Nix, President of Birds Australia and Mr Iain MacLennan from Thomson Learning, Educational Publishers. Birds Australia are most enthusiastic about the project and have given much valuable advice which means that the ornithological details of the teaching notes have as much integrity as those about parliament.
The President of the Senate, the Honourable Paul Calvert also spoke in support and was particularly pleased to be able to point out the orange-bellied parrot from his state of Tasmania. The Honourable Neil Andrew, Speaker of the House of Representatives made the official launch and spoke most engagingly to the students, still perched attentively in their Parliament of Birds. He said he was a bit concerned about the propriety and dignity of turning Members of Parliament into birds. However he was now obviously quite delighted with the outcome.
The Cockatoo Island package is now being sold throughout the country through Thomson Learning (also known as Thomas Nelson). The next stage of the project is to create Cockatoo Island parliaments in parks and gardens around Australia. We’ll keep you posted.
The Cockatoo Island package is produced and sold
by Cengage Learning (formerly Thomson Learning). Go to the
Cengage Learning website or
phone customer service on 1300 790 853.
Cengage Learning: www.cengage.com.au
Read more about Cockatoo Island.
June 2003
Profiler Newsletter Issue 4: June 2003
From May 2002 to November 2004, the PEO produced a regular newsletter called Profiler. This publication has now ceased, but archived articles will continue to be made available here. Please click on the link below.
Profiler Newsletter
Issue 4: June 2003 [HTML]
Profiler Newsletter
Issue 4: June 2003 [PDF 79KB]