Humanities 

Australian and Global Politics Excursion 

On Wednesday 22 May, the Unit 1 Class of Australian and Global Politics ventured into the city to visit the Victorian Parliament House. Upon arrival, we were greeted by our tour guide, Natalie, who took us on a guided tour through the Legislative Assembly, the Legislative Council and finally the magnificent Library, that houses all the Hansards (record of parliamentary debates) and a charming view of St Patricks Cathedral.

I can speak on behalf of all the girls, that we were all in awe of the spiraling staircases, books and architecture in the Library, that looked like something out of Harry Potter!

Through the tour, we learnt that the Legislative Assembly is in accordance with the House of Commons (lower house) in England, as Australia follows a similar system of government to the Westminster System. Therefore, the Assembly was covered in green coloured carpet following in the tradition that the Queen can’t step onto the green carpet, only the red that appears in the Legislative Council, in attempt to separate the Monarchy from Parliament.

Also fascinating, was learning that before the creation of Canberra as the location of Federal Government, the Victorian Parliament was utilised and saw historic events such as WW2 and the White Australia Policy debated on about in the Houses. Besides these very interesting facts, we learnt about the general history, structure of government and bill proceedings.

Overall, the experience to see what we had been learning about in real life was really beneficial and a fun day out.

Hannah Campbell

Year 11

Making and Breaking the Law Magistrates Court Visit

On Tuesday 21 May, the Year 10 ‘Making and Breaking the Law’ class went to the Moorabbin Magistrates Court to witness the practices and procedures we had learnt about in class, in action.

Upon arriving at the Moorabbin Justice Centre (Magistrates Court) our class was required to go through a security system of airport standard, placing our blazers and scarves on the roller conveyor belt to be X-rayed, and walk through a metal detector. After passing through security we waited for about half an hour for Court 2 (the court we could enter) to open for a series of Mention Hearings.

Court 2 was a Mention Hearing Court, meaning the matter is only mentioned and dealt with if the accused pleads guilty or adjourned for another date. We had a few cases which flew by in minutes, and some which lasted for 20 minutes and more. Most of the quicker cases were related to driving: such as speeding fine extensions, licence disqualifications and the incorrect imposition of fines on a non-guilty driver. A quick and funny case was a dispute over whether a particular vehicle was a motorbike with pedals or a bicycle with a motor?

Our class was lucky enough to witness some more serious cases such as illegal drug possession, abuse, fraud and more. One of the most interesting cases we heard was a fraud case in which a divorced husband of 30 years faked his daughter’s death to get his ex-wife in trouble. This was a complex case and was quite tricky for us to get our head around as there were a lot of components and previous convictions involved. The police prosecuter explained that the accused had sent threatening voice messages and texts and lied about his daughter overdosing. The Magistrate sentenced the accused with a 12 month good behaviour bond and a fine.

Another interesting case was the physical abuse of a female café  employee by her male co-worker. The accused pleaded guilty for forcefully slapping his co-worker across the face but proceeded to blame her for starting their argument; claiming she taunted and insulted him prior. This was an interesting case as the Magistrate got quite fired up, raising his voice at the accused, exclaiming how unacceptable his behaviour was given his culture was very much family oriented and respectful towards women. The Magistrate gave the accused a fine of $850 and released him without conviction, which we thought wasn’t enough! However, as his only income was coming from his position at the  café, which he has now been fired from, the fine would have made quite an impact on him financially, considering he was already financially unstable.

Our class thoroughly enjoyed our trip to the Magistrates Court and we all felt that it put  in perspective what we had been learning and gave us a greater understanding of how  court hearings and procedure takes place.

By Shawnée Balogh

Year 10