Year 9

Topic 1: How is Australia shaped by the Constitution? (3h 30min)

Curriculum alignment
AC9HC9K01

Getting started (10 min)

Pose the question to students – Why does the Australian Parliament have two houses?

Remind students that the structure and power of the Parliament is set out in the Australian Constitution. It consists of the King (represented by the Governor-General), the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Show students the Australia’s Federation video (3min 28s). Ask students to be ready to discuss the following questions:

• what steps were taken to make the decision to federate as fair as possible for each of the 6 colonies which differed in population size? 
• what challenges do you think the drafters of the Constitution faced in trying to make the process fair?

The Federal Parliament (50 min)

The Australian Constitution establishes an Australian Parliament made up of a Senate – with equal representation for each state – and a House of Representatives, where representation is based on population. Run the Federation - A federal story? classroom activity to help students understand why a bicameral system – a parliament with two houses – was chosen.

Discussion:

• Revisit the opening question - Why does the Australian Parliament have two houses? Consider:
  • the risks of representation based solely on population
  • if it is important to protect the rights of the smaller states.
• Make a judgement. Does a bicameral system support a democratic Australian Parliament? Direct students to justify their response, keeping in mind:
  • the information from today’s lesson
  • other factors which make the Parliament democratic.

Changing the Australian Constitution (1 h)

Watch The Constitution video (2min 26s), asking students to focus on the  questions:

• What is the Australian Constitution?
• How can the Constitution be changed?

After viewing the video discuss the answer to each question.

To consolidate student learning, you may choose to play the Constitution quiz or Constitution Kahoot!

Watch the ABC’s Behind the News 1967 referendum video (4min 4s) and review the Referendums and plebiscites fact sheet.

Discuss: 

• What is the key difference between a referendum and a plebiscite? 
•  In 1967, what percentage of Australians voted ‘Yes’ to change the Constitution?
• Why did the 1967 referendum achieve such a high ‘Yes’ vote?

Show students the Australian Electoral Commission page on Referendums.

Direct students to use the information to complete one of the following activities:

• construct a flow chart to describe the steps required to change the Australian Constitution

OR

• create a poster to inform the public about the steps required to change the Australian Constitution.
  

Hold a referendum (1h 30min)

Choose a question for your class referendum from the 2 below. You may choose to conduct a class vote to decide this.
Do you approve of this proposed law:

• to change the duration of Parliament from 3 to 4 years?
• to move the seat of government of Australia from Canberra to Alice Springs?

Run the Hold a referendum classroom activity commencing from the YES/NO cases activity.

To reflect on the results of your class referendum:

• use the Will your referendum pass? interactive to mirror the result of the class referendum
• find information on past referendums in the Australian Electoral Commission’s Constitutional referendums brochure
• use the discussion questions at the bottom of the Hold a referendum classroom activity.

Topic 2: Policy making - from an idea to a law (2h 30min)

Curriculum alignment
AC9HC9K02

Getting started (30 min)

Cabinet is a group of top-level members of the Australian Government whose role is to develop government policy and make decisions about national issues.

Ask students to work in pairs or threes to:

• review information about the Cabinet
• identify 3 facts which they consider to be the most important
•  report back to the group justifying their choices.

As a class, review the facts contributed by each group and refine into a final set of key facts through discussion, debate and a class vote.

Run a Cabinet Meeting (2 h)

Students will work together as Cabinet to negotiate the best possible policy outcome. They will learn about the role of Cabinet in developing and shaping government policy. 

Open the Extension version of the Run a Cabinet meeting classroom activity and follow the instructions provided.

To prepare for the meeting, allocate a research lesson so that students can:

• investigate their portfolio areas
• develop informed policy positions
• gather evidence to support their arguments.

If you choose to appoint additional ministers, check the current ministry list  from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to select ministries relevant to the policy area.

To run the Cabinet meeting, students participate in the role play, negotiating toward a collective Cabinet decision.

To conclude the activity, guide a class discussion using the discussion questions at the bottom of the Run a Cabinet meeting page.

Going further: Make a law

You may also like to turn the Cabinet’s plan into a bill and debate it using the Make a law: House of Representatives classroom activity and/or the Make a law: Senate classroom activity or investigate the issue further using the Run a parliamentary committee classroom activity.

Topic 3: Laws and citizens (2h 30min)

Curriculum alignment
AC9HC9K03
AC9HC9K04

Getting started (10 min)

Remind your class about the separation of powers by reading the Separation of powers fact sheet. Consolidate student understanding by completing the Separation of powers quiz or Separation of powers Kahoot!

Parliament and the courts (50 min)

As a class, read the Parliament and the courts fact sheet. Draw attention in the factsheet to the graphic Australian Court hierarchy to ensure students understand the structure of the court system in Australia.

Divide the class into 4 groups and assign each group one of the example cases from the Parliament and the courts fact sheet. Ask each group to investigate the High Court’s decision in each case and report back to class on the following:

• title of the case, including the year
• relevant area of the Australian Constitution and/or law
• summarise the High Court decision
• how the powers of the Australian Parliament were impacted by the decision.

The role of the courts (1h 30min)

Organise students into small groups to discuss and write their responses to these questions:

• Is everyone equal before the law? Why or why not?
• Is it fair for the law to treat everyone exactly the same?
• What rights do you have? Where do those rights come from?
• Are there any circumstances in which it might be reasonable for citizens’ rights to be removed, limited or curtailed?
• Why has our understanding of rights changed over time? What else might be added to our concept of rights in the future?

In the same small groups, students use a device to explore Sentencing Victoria’s You be the judge.

Use the Socratic circles strategy from the Unpack democracy classroom activity to discuss the questions again.

Ask students to reflect on whether their answers to the questions have changed from the start of the lesson. Why/why not?

Conclude the Socratic circle with the following questions:

• What powers do the Parliament, Judiciary and the Executive government have? Where do these powers come from?
• Why do you think the drafters of the Australian Constitution included a separation of powers?
• High Court judges are appointed by the Governor-General of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Government. Should they be elected by the people instead?
• Does a democratic and just society need a court system?

Going further: Law reform

Complete the Conduct a law reform inquiry classroom activity.

Topic 4: Democracy and identity (4 h)

Curriculum alignment
AC9HC9K05
AC9HC9K06

Getting started (30 min)

Share the Democracy factsheet with the class. Ask students to work in pairs to complete the following tasks together:

• describe the key features of Australian democracy in their own words
• write a definition of what Australian democracy means to them
• examine the Four Key Ideas of Australian Democracy graphic on the fact sheet
• discuss current examples in Australia that reflect each of the key ideas
• consider whether there are current issues or challenges that might conflict with or test these democratic principles.

Share some of these responses as a class, noting differing perspectives.

Investigating cultural diversity (1h 30min)

As a class, discuss and create a definition of cultural diversity.

Watch the Experiences of African Australians (12min 13s) from the ABC’s You Can't Ask That In The Classroom.

Discussion starters:

• What new information did you learn from watching this video? How were your preconceived ideas about Africa and African Australians challenged or reinforced?
• A person in the clip says that ‘belonging to both sides of the world is awesome.’ What are the benefits of being a dual citizen?

As a class, read the New York Times article How ‘Subtle Asian Traits’ Became a Global Hit and discuss:

• In which ways do the ‘Subtle Asian Traits’ Facebook group demonstrate global connectedness?
• On 2 March 2021, the group had 1.8 million followers. What actions could a large group take to influence social, cultural, and political spheres?

You may like to watch and discuss further clips or episodes from the ABC’s You can’t ask that to broaden the students understanding of diversity. Click on the links below and scroll to the bottom of the page for short clips:

• Autism spectrum – Can you look me in the eye? Rated M (3min 35s)
• Invictus Games – Representing Australia. Rated PG (5min 22s).

Investigate the composition of the Australian Parliament. You can do this by looking at the Senators and Members on the Australian Parliament House website. Discuss the extent to which Australians from different backgrounds are represented in the Parliament.

As a class work together to investigate diversity in the Australian Parliament using the following sources:

• Australian Bureau of Statistics Representation in parliament.
• Australian Parliament House Cultural Diversity in the 47th Parliament: a quick guide

Guiding questions:

• What does diversity look like in the Australian Parliament? 
• Why is it important that the Australian Parliament is representative of the Australian community?
• The Australian Constitution says that parliamentarians must be Australian citizens but they cannot be citizens of another country at the same time. Why do think this rule applies? 

Research activity (1 h)

Share Amnesty International’s 9 Powerful Social Change Movements You Need To Know About.

Divide the class into small groups and ask each group to investigate one of the global movements listed on the page.  You might choose to include a choice of global organisations such as World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Amnesty International or Doctors Without Borders.

Students identify answers to the following questions for each organisation:

• What are their main goals? (list no more than 3)
• Who is involved?
• What methods and strategies do they use to achieve their goals? How do they use media?
• What is the impact of this global movement or organisation in Australia?

Ask groups to share their findings with the class and discuss the relevance, methods and effectiveness of the various movement or organisation they researched.

Celebrating service (1 h)

Explore the Australian of the Year Awards website as a class. Discuss the types of achievements, qualities and contributions that are recognised and celebrated. As a class, construct selection criteria for worthy nominees, considering values such as leadership, community impact, and innovation.

Form small groups to select a nominee who meets the class criteria.

• Students create a nomination for their chosen individual using the class criteria to structure their argument. 
• Groups present nominations to the class clearly linking their explanations to the criteria.

Offer groups a range of ways to present their nomination. For example:

• a written submission
• a short video or speech
• a poster, hard copy or digital
• a slideshow
• an infographic
• another format to be negotiated with the teacher.

As a class reflect on what they learned about what students the diversity of contributions to Australian society and the importance of recognising everyday citizens.

• Government
• Australian Constitution
• Bills and laws
• Getting involved
• Years 9+10