Influencing the Public Service
Introduction
In our previous lessons we learned that sovereignty does not reside in the people but in the Parliament.
We learned that the Australian colonies federated to become a country and for that reason we have two houses in the Federal Parliament. The Lower House or ‘House of Representatives’ is based on electorates with equal numbers of people in them, and the Senate has equal numbers representing each State.
We learned that government is Cabinet and Cabinet governs largely by directing the Public Service.
We also followed the career path of a person to become a Cabinet member. We learned about some of the constraints that Parliamentarians live with and we looked at ways to gain influence with Parliamentarians.
We touched briefly on two competing Western World traditions. One of Parliamentary democracy and the other of fascism – the idea that the wisest and best should rule. We noted that fascism is characterised by: a single party representing only the interests of the elite, a police state, an enforced ideology, and the removal of independent public bodies such as private schools and churches. We noted that fascism can exist to varying degrees within democratic countries.
We also learned that…..
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