Civics and Citizenship Links

One role of the Parliamentary Education Section is to support Civics and Citizenship Education and other relevant curriculum areas in schools.

The web sites linked below offer valuable information and resources for teaching and learning in civics and citizenship education.

Civics And Citizenship Sites
A major portal providing direct links to many Civics and Citizenship Education curriculum resources and information is the Australian Government site Civics and Citizenship Education at: http://www.civicsandcitizenship.edu.au/cce

The above is closely interlinked with the Curriculum Corporation and its website, also and important source of resources and educational information: http://www.curriculum.edu.au. The Curriculum Corporation site includes online resources for Civics and Citizenship; Discovering Democracy; Learning Federation; Values Education; Peace, Rights and Justice Education; Global Education; as well as Statements of Learning (http://www.mceetya.edu.au/verve/_resources/SOL_CivicsCitizenship.pdf) and assessment information in Civics and other curriculum areas.

Civics and Citizenship sites developed by the NSW Department of Education and Training include:

Discovering Democracy (NSW) at http://www.abc.net.au/civics/democracy/default.htm
The Common Good at http://www.abc.net.au/civics
One World, Many Democracies at http://www.abc.net.au/civics/oneworld/default.htm
Democracy at http://www.abc.net.au/civics/demos/default.htm
Global Citizens at http://www.abc.net.au/civics/globalcitizens/default.htm
Celebrations and Commemorations at http://www.abc.net.au/civics/celebrations/default.htm
Human Rights at http://www.abc.net.au/civics/rights/default.htm

A very useful site about communities and developing and showcasing community action and which provides many more links, is communitybuilders.nsw at http://www.communitybuilders.nsw.gov.au

Constitutions
New South Wales:
The full text of the New South Wales Constitution can be found on the Austlii site at: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/ca1902188/

An excellent educational site, developed by the NSW Department of Education and Training, exists on the NSW Constitution, offering real and well documented examples of the Constitution in action at http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/nswconstitution/htm/default.htm

Australia:
The full text of the Australian Constitution can be found on Australian Senate website at: http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/general/constitution/ or on the Australian Government Attorney-General’s ComLaw site: http://www.comlaw.gov.au/ComLaw/Legislation/ActCompilation1.nsf/all/search/CB49A63C9DF867ACCA256F71004F2624

An overview of the Australian Constitution is provided on the Parliament of Australia website at: http://www.aph.gov.au/parl.htm

Western Australia has the only Constitutional Education Centre in Australia and, while obviously also dealing with state issues, it also examines the Federal system: http://www.ccentre.wa.gov.au/

Head Of State
Australia is a Constitutional Monarchy with the Governor-General (nationally) and the State Governors representing the Queen in Australia. The following sites provide information:

Governor General of Australia at http://www.gg.gov.au
Governor of NSW on this website click on About Us and then System of Government.
Government House (NSW) at http://www.hht.nsw.gov.au/fmuseums.html also offers tours and education programs.
See list of all state governors at: http://www.aph.gov.au/library/gov/statgov.htm
The British Monarchy at http://www.royal.gov.uk

Parliaments
Australia has a Federal Parliament, six State Parliaments and three Territory legislatures (NT, ACT and Norfolk Island)

Federal Parliament: http://www.aph.gov.au
ACT Legislative Assembly: http://www.parliament.act.gov.au/
New South Wales Parliament: http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au
Norfolk Island Legislative Assembly: http://www.norfolk.gov.nf/assembly.htm
Northern Territory Legislative Assembly: http://www.nt.gov.au/lant/
South Australian Parliament: http://www.parliament.sa.gov.au
Tasmanian Parliament: http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au
Queensland Parliament: http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au
Victorian Parliament: http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au
Western Australian Parliament: http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au

To access the sites of all Australian Federal, State and Local governments also see: http://www.gov.au/

A very useful site with current information in formats designed for school use is the Parliament@work site maintained by Curriculum Corporation – this can be accessed easily from either the Curriculum Corporation website (http://www.curriculum.edu.au) or the Australian Government Civics and Citizenship education site (http://www.civicsandcitizenship.edu.au/cce).

See also the Parliamentary Education Office (Australian Parliament) in Canberra, ACT at http://www.peo.gov.au

For Parliaments around the world there are various access points – these include the Washington University site: http://wc.wustl.edu/parliaments.html
Another excellent source is the Inter-Parliamentary Union at: http://www.ipu.org/english/home.htm which, as well as providing links to parliaments around the world, also maintains databases such as women in parliaments, bibliographies and literary references, structures and working of parliaments, etc.

Courts
An important feature of Australian democracy is the independent system of Federal, State and Territory courts and judiciary. For further information see:

High Court of Australia at http://www.hcourt.gov.au
Supreme Court of NSW at http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/sc
Attorney-General's Department (NSW) for Law Links at http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au
The Law and Justice Museum in Sydney at http://www.hht.nsw.gov.au/fmuseums.html offers law-related tours and education resources

Executive Government
The leadership and day-to-day government of the state is the role of executive government. Both Federal and State agencies have internet sites and access:

Entry point for all Federal (or Commonwealth) Government homepages of departments and agencies are at http://australia.gov.au
Prime Minister's homepage at http://www.pm.gov.au
NSW State Government links to homepages of departments and agencies are at http://www.nsw.gov.au
To access the sites of all Australian Federal, State and Local governments see: http://www.gov.au

Local Government
There are more than 680 local governments in Australia and amore than 150 in NSW. For information on NSW local governments see:

NSW Department of Local Government at http://www.dlg.nsw.gov.au
NSW Local Government and Shires Association at http://www.lgsa.org.au

To access the sites of all Australian local governments see: http://www.gov.au

Elections
Free and fair elections for all levels of government is a central feature of Australian democracy. The elections are conducted by independent statutory authorities. Most of their websites have electoral education materials and other information.

National elections are conducted by the Australian Electoral Commission at http://www.aec.gov.au
State and local government elections in NSW are conducted by the NSW Electoral Commission at http://www.electinos.nsw.gov.au
For a comparison of electoral systems used in Australia see: http://www.eca.gov.au/systems/index.htm

Some other state electoral sites are:

Tasmania - http://www.electoral.tas.gov.au
Victoria - http://www.vec.vic.gov.au
Western Australia - http://www.waec.wa.gov.au
Queensland - http://www.ecq.qld.gov.au
South Australia - http://www.seo.sa.gov.au
ACT - http://www.elections.act.gov.au
Northern Territory - http://notes.nt.gov.au/nteo/Electoral.nsf/

Elections Around the World – a site which provides links to information on elections in many countries is: http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/election.htm

Politics
Most political parties and many Members of Parliament maintain web pages.

Information on NSW MPs with websites can be found in the Members section of the NSW Parliament site (www.parliament.nsw.gov.au). The Links section of the NSW Parliament site provides some politics links - click ‘Resources’, then ‘Links’.

Similarly, the Parliament of Australia Library has a comprehensive links section at: http://www.aph.gov.au/library/intguide/pol/polparti.htm

For some discussion on current issues see Online Opinion at: http://www.onlineopinion.com.au

A well-known opinion site is http://www.crikey.com.au/ and a ‘progressive’ activist site is http://www.getup.org.au/

A private website run by a teacher with extensive government and politics links is Malcolm Farnsworth’s http://www.australianpolitics.com/ . Farnsworth also operates a companion specialist site of interest to history teachers documenting the Whitlam dismissal at http://whitlamdismissal.com/

A few direct links are given here:

The Australian Labor Party - http://www.alp.org.au
The Australian Greens - http://www.greens.org.au
The Liberal Party of Australia - http://www.liberal.org.au/index.html
National Party of Australia - http://www.nationalparty.org

For access to political and government sites worldwide try http://www.politicalresources.net

National Flag, Symbols, Awards And Honours
Apart from the emblems and flags section on this website, there are other sites providing more detailed information on some of these Australian national symbols.

For official information on the Australian national flag, the Anthem and other Australian symbols, see: http://www.australia.gov.au/National_Symbols
For the "home of the National Flag" with comprehensive information and school materials on the Australian flag, see the ANFA (Australian National Flag Association) site at: http://www.flagaustnat.asn.au
There is also historical material on the Australian national flag with a focus on changing the flag at the Ausflag site at: http://www.ausflag.com.au
The official site which provides complete information on Australian awards and honours is the It's an Honour site at:http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au

Social Justice And Human Rights
There are many sites dealing with these issues. The few listed below will lead you on to many others.

Human Rights (NSW Department of Education and Training) - http://www.abc.net.au/civics/rights/default.htm
Australian Right and Equal Opportunity Commission - http://www.hreoc.gov.au
Humans Rights Net - http://www.human-rights.net
Human Rights Watch - http://www.hrw.org
Amnesty International Online - http://www.amnesty.org
United Nations Childrens' Fund - http://www.unicef.org
Equality and Human Rights Commission (UK): http://www.equalityhumanrights.com
Institute of Race Relations - http://www.homebeats.co.uk
Indigenous Australia - http://www.dreamtime.net.au/indigenous/social.cfm
Message Stick (ABC) - http://www.abc.net.au/message
Koori Centre Resource Library - http://www.koori.usyd.edu.au
Women’s Environment and Development Organisation - http://www.wedo.org/
Centre for Leadership for Women - http://www.leadershipforwomen.com.au
Human Rights (NSW Department of Education and Training) - http://www.abc.net.au/civics/rights/default.htm

Pictorial and History Resource Sites

The internet is full of pictorial resources – some of which you may not want to encounter. However, for teachers of Australian History the following sites offer superb resources, both pictorial and documents. As always, copyright and other restrictions may apply.

An important site on Australian History resources, which includes resources related to Australian political history, is the National Centre for History Education site at http://www.hyperhistory.org
The NSW State Library’s Picman site has a wealth of pictorial material:
http://www2.sl.nsw.gov.au/picman/
The National Library of Australia hosts a similar site called Picture Australia: http://www.pictureaustralia.org/
An excellent and very graphic archival resource giving access to original documents, artworks and photographs relating to the founding and development of Australia, both Commonwealth and States, is http://www.foundingdocs.gov.au

The National Archives site itself has an excellent range of original materials on-line: http://www.naa.gov.au

Last modified 10/06/2009 15:47:52 : Update this page