HUMANITIES

YEAR 11 LEGAL STUDIES STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN

A ROLE PLAY IN VICTORIAN PARLIAMENT

On Tuesday 12 March, Mrs D’Ambrosio’s Year 11 class made their way to Parliament House of Victoria. After having a lengthy waiting time due to the stringent security process, we were finally able to enter the building. The ambience was grand and beautiful and many students admired the wonderful neoclassical architecture of the 150 year old construction.

We were lead to the lower house (the Legislative Assembly) and sat in the very seats that our politicians do. There, we discussed the law-making process in detail, specifically the steps in passing a bill.

After this, we re-enacted the “Assisted Dying Bill” of 2017, where we embodied the various personnel of Parliament (e.g. MPs, clerk, speaker). This was an interesting role play experience, as it gave us an interactive demonstration of the functioning of Parliament and an insight into the level of detail required to create new laws.

Finally, we briefly visited the upper house (Legislative Council) and discussed their role in examining and altering bills that have passed in the Legislative Assembly.

Overall, the excursion was very beneficial in furthering our understanding and knowledge of the legal and political system.

Mia Borowitz

Year 11 student

SECOND PARLIAMENT VISIT BY YEAR 11 LEGAL STUDIES STUDENTS

On Tuesday 26 March, our legal studies class went to the Victorian Parliament.

Our class was dumb-founded by the sheer size of the building and the intimidating security guards who were searching through our bags, but nonetheless, we were very eager to get inside.

We first entered into the Legislative Assembly (lower house) and were shown a presentation on how laws get introduced and passed in the Victorian Parliament.

After the presentation, we participated in a role-play which was about the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act (2017) which demonstrated to the class how debates normally happen in the Legislative Assembly and how they are handled.

Throughout the rest of the tour, we were shown the Legislative Council (Upper House) and the public gallery which showed us past politicians who have dedicated their time into making Victoria a better place.

The class gave a ‘huge thanks’ to our tour guide and waved goodbye to the Victorian Parliament.  

Liel Vinichnko

Year 11 student