9 Dewhirst 

Sroll down to Local Members of Parliament section
Please have Q1-4 done by Monday, plus your issue ready to write your draft

Thanks

• Where do you live?
• What electorate are you in?
• Who is your local member?
• When can you vote?
• How do you do it?
• How else can my opinions be heard?

The Australian Electoral Commission runs everything to do with voting at Federal Elections.

Mapping Exercise

(9Dewhirst Mon 7/9; 9Pope Tues 8/9)

1. Sign into your Google account (… you do have a Google account?)
2. Go to http://www.maps.google.com.au
3. Click on the three lines at the left of the search bar 
4. Click on ‘My Maps’, then ‘Create’
5. Using information from the AEC website on Electoral Boundaries, draw the electoral boundaries for metropolitan Adelaide (roughly Elizabeth to McLaren Vale, coast to Mount Barker)
6. Identify which electorate you live in, then using the AEC, find your local member.

When can I vote?

(9Dewhirst Mon 8/9 & Homework)
(9Pope 9/9/15)

Using the AEC website, answer the following:

1. At what age can you vote?
2. At what age can you enrol to vote?
3. Why might there be this difference?
4. What sorts of special categories of enrolling are there? Read two. Why do people in these categories have special conditions?

Local Members of Parliament

(9Pope 10/9/15 + 11/9/15)

(9 Dewhirst 10/9/15 – both lessons.
Please have Q1-4 done by Monday, plus your issue ready to write your draft)

Use this infosheet to learn about the role of a local member of Parliament

1. What are the three roles of a local MP?
2. Why is there so much reading involved for an MP? What sorts of things?
3. Why are communication skills necessary for an MP?
4. How do MPs interact and serve their constituents?
5. Using an Australian political issue that you have identified during this unit, or a more recent one (e.g. Syrian asylum seekers), draft an email to your local member of parliament (yes, you may need to look this up) about what you think and what should be done. (NOTE: Is it a Federal or a State issue?)
   After I have read it, you may choose whether to send it or not. You can send it from your Immanuel or a personal email account (from a personal account is less obvious sending letters was an Immanuel class task!!)

Political Activism

There are a number of ways that you can be active in your community and have your voice heard more frequently than every three years when you vote. Indeed, you can have your voice heard even before you are eligible to vote!

Amnesty International
Amnesty has been a leading voice for change for over fifty years. It started as a letter writing movement, but now encourages email or online petitions.

GetUp!
GetUp! is an interesting one. Developed as an activism group during Howard government, it’s mission is to hold Australian governments to account through people pressure. It has a number of campaigns across a range of fields at any one time.

change.org
Change.org is a US-based internet petition site. Anyone can list a petition and others can sign to support. I wasn’t sure how it worked; wikipedia has some interesting criticisms, so tread knowingly

FreeRice
A GAME I encourage you to play! (My English guys, remind me about this!!)
For every correct answer, it donates 10 grains of rice to the UN World Food Programme. If you sign up and login, it will track your progress, but you can also play without signing up.