CCF – The Parliament

During a pandemic, when lives are at risk, we want the Government to protect us, no matter what. This raises important public policy questions. Should we still strictly apply the law, or does an emergency justify a Government acting outside the law?

As the coronavirus spreads around our cities and towns some of you might be wondering what will happen with our governance. The Commonwealth Parliament is meeting today and perhaps tomorrow with a reduced number of MPs. The two major parties have given each other 30 pairs.

Here at CEFA we are getting very excited that stage 2 of the Australian Constitution Centre will soon be funded by the Australian Government. We will be delivering exciting new resources to support the Australian Curriculum Civics and Citizenship years 4 to 10.

The Australian Parliament holds an original copy of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900.

In the 2019 April 2 Budget the Prime Minister stated that Australians would get a tax cut this financial year. For many people this was to be a tax offset of $1080.

The timing of elections is stipulated in our Constitution. Section 13 of the Constitution states that Senate elections must be held within one year of the places becoming vacant.

The citizenship saga/issue/crisis continues. Almost every day one or two MP’s or Senators are outed in the media for having a parent born in some other country.

On Wednesday the full bench of the High Court handed down their findings in Brown v Tasmania. The case was brought about after former Greens leader Bob Brown and a number of other people were arrested last year for protesting against logging in a Tasmanian forest.

At 2.15pm yesterday many Australians were holding their breath and waiting for the High Court to deliver their decision about the validity of same sex marriage postal survey. We didn’t have to wait long, within a minute or two we had an answer.