POLS 101 Assignment 1 PDF

Preview

Summary

Assignment 1...

Description

POLS 101 Assignment 1 – Reflective Exercise

Words: 552

What is the role of citizens in Australia’s liberal democracy?

The Australian Parliament is the centre for national political matters. Citizens are elected to represent the people whom voted them in, and do so until the next election. An integral element of a parliamentarian’s role is to advocate on their electorates behalf by introducing bills and debating bills introduced by other members. The member must remain accountable through their continued honest representation of the values they were elected on. They should also ensure that when required to make difficult/polarising decisions, they vote according to their electorates wishes, and not their own.

The citizen’s role in Australia’s liberal democracy is to directly influence the make-up of parliament by voting. When citizens exercise this right, they effectively nominate a candidate that best aligns with their values. Between elections, the Australian citizen has no direct control over the decisions politicians make

In Australia, there is a growing acceptance of same-sex marriage, with two-thirds of the population supporting an amendment to the Marriage Act that would accommodate marriages between two individuals of the same sex.1 The Parliament is however divided as to the means of achieving its legalisation. Australians, less than a year ago, believed a plebiscite, which is a non-binding vote of all eligible voters, was the non-preferred route for 1 Andrew Barclay, ‘Two-thirds of Australian support gay marriage, but politicians are too worried for their jobs to pass it’, Quartz (online), 10 April 2017 < https://qz.com/952624/two-thirds-of-australians-support-gay-marriage-but-politicians-aretoo-worried-for-their-jobs-to-pass-it/>.

marriage equality. Instead Australians favoured a conscience vote. Now however, the opposite is true: the public currently favours a plebiscite.2 The bill to allow this was never successfully passed through the lower house due to lack of bipartisan support. As a result, the government has instead chosen to pursue a postal plebiscite.

So the begging question: what needs to be done to achieve marriage equality? While the next opportunity to change the floor plan of the House of Representatives is not likely until 2019, citizens need to actively advocate and pressure our parliamentarians into agreeing on a process of legalisation with bipartisan support. This method should be fair, cost effective and time efficient. However, a liberal ‘democracy does not mean government by the people; it means simply that the people get to choose their government’. 3 And at the moment, Australians are finding this out the hard way. We find ourselves voiceless in an issue that has been discussed continuously for years and taints Australia’s image as a progressive country.4

It appears Australian citizens are growing more and more dissatisfied with the work of the major parties, possibly resulting in opportunity among minor parties to occupy a greater share of seats in the houses come the next election.5 It would be beneficial for the system, 2 David Crowe and Joe Kelly, ‘Newspoll: voters demand same-sex marriage poll’, The Australian (Melbourne), 11 July 2017 < http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nationalaffairs/newspoll/newspoll-voters-demand-samesex-marriage-poll/newsstory/394b2887fb55bbceedc06b1ba846e806>. 3 Peter Kurti, ‘Same-sex marriage is more complex than the yes campaign admits’, ABC News (online), 16 August 2017 < http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-15/same-sex-marriage-ismore-complex-than-yes-campaign-admits/8804466>. 4 Carol Johnson, ‘Why Australia is so far behind the times on same-sex marriage’, The Conversation’ (online), 1 June 2017 < http://theconversation.com/why-australia-is-so-farbehind-the-times-on-same-sex-marriage-42327>. 5 Matt Tyler and Peter Willis, ‘Australians are deeply dissatisfied with government’ Huffington Post’ (online), 23 November 2016 .

and the people of Australia, if this resulted in parties working harder to satisfy their electorates and fulfil election promises, rather than satisfying their own party agendas.

Reference List Andrew Barclay, ‘Two-thirds of Australian support gay marriage, but politicians are too worried for their jobs to pass it’, Quartz (online), 10 April 2017 < https://qz.com/952624/two-thirds-of-australians-support-gay-marriage-but-politicians-aretoo-worried-for-their-jobs-to-pass-it/>.

Carol Johnson, ‘Why Australia is so far behind the times on same-sex marriage’, The Conversation’ (online), 1 June 2017 < http://theconversation.com/why-australia-is-so-farbehind-the-times-on-same-sex-marriage-42327>.

David Crowe and Joe Kelly, ‘Newspoll: voters demand same-sex marriage poll’, The Australian (Melbourne), 11 July 2017 < http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nationalaffairs/newspoll/newspoll-voters-demand-samesex-marriage-poll/newsstory/394b2887fb55bbceedc06b1ba846e806>.

Matt Tyler and Peter Willis, ‘Australians are deeply dissatisfied with government’ Huffington Post’ (online), 23 November 2016 .

Peter Kurti, ‘Same-sex marriage is more complex than the yes campaign admits’, ABC News (online), 16 August 2017 < http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-15/same-sex-marriage-ismore-complex-than-yes-campaign-admits/8804466>....