Exercise in Democratic Participation - Assignment Example

Journal – 1031 Name: Course: Instructor: Institution: Date of Submission: 1. Response to Political Compass Politics is apparently related to everyday life activities. That is; based on the political compass exercise, politics affect our everyday life through the decisions that governments make in reference to considering the rights of the people. For instance, when laws are made, regarding taxation, communication and other many issues, they affect our lives directly. Thus one identifies that politics relate closely to one’s daily life activities. I had challenges answering the question: “controlling inflation is more important than controlling unemployment.” That is, the challenge lies in the fact that both inflation and unemployment affect the lives of the people strongly. Both inflation and unemployment are worse of situations for any individual or country in general. Unemployment will make those unemployed unhappy as the economy identifies while inflation increases the dissatisfaction of life. Thus, both are worse, both should be controlled not one over the other. It is difficult to choose which is worse since both affect the life of individuals since according to economic research, they both lead to poor levels of wellbeing for individuals. Both unemployment and inflation affect the finances of the people and many negatively affect the earnings of future generations, which also has the capability of affecting government spending. Thus, it is challenging to choose which is worse. 2. Chapter Review The constitution and federalism is one of the main chapters that has been discussed in relation to politics. It consider the political contracts presented, which is a political contract, the state, bill of rights, preamble to the constitution and federalism. The state is the key arm that combines the constitution, courts, governments, police, military and the bureaucracy. The state of Australian economic state handles many matters such as the challenges in globalization including issues of refugees and human rights protection among many others. The modern state of Australia shows the liberal democracy, which is a representative democracy. The liberal democracy is important since it is a right that has been set out to protect some of the individual freedoms through giving power to citizens and the representative democracy. The constitution presents formal power to those in the government that ensures they do not dominate those in the lower levels including the citizens of Australia (Cook, et al., 2009). The bill of rights in the constitution of Australia does not exist except for the one that has been introduced by the act, which represents the bill of rights for the territory not a nation. This leads to the issue of bill of rights in the country since people mainly the minority groups feel unprotected despite the stability of the legal system. The constitution is an important part of the government, which include systems such as the parliament, the executive government, among many others including the state. The powerful people in the country believe that the rights of the people are protected in the common law. Thus, the question regarding the bill of rights is represented through the differing opinions of the majority and the minority (Singleton, et al., 2013). The defining features of a federalism include the separation of powers, measures of resolving conflicts, enshrining original documents, distribution of powers, and a co-equal system. The distribution of power is a question that lies between the federal and state governments; and between the houses of parliament. The issue of power separation lies between sharing power among the judiciary, legislature and the executive (Cook, et al., 2009). For the powers to work effectively, they must be shared and distributed evenly. In Australia the separation of power is seen as a process of ensuring the democracy balances that help in governing decisions. The constitution and federalism are important phases of all governments to ensuring the governing is fair, the minority and majority are protected equally. For instance, In Australia federalism has acted as one part of the constitution that protects the un-identified rights of the people. 3. Current Affairs Discussion Currently, in Australia there is the asylum seeker debate, which is linked to the process of accepting the resettlement of refugees including the issue of immigration and the protection of the borders. The main issues in the debate is to understand who the refugees are and how they affect Australia in a general way. According to the ABC news, an asylum seeker is not a refugee nor a migrant. These are individuals that seek protection in a country such as Australia while waiting for their claims to be assessed. That is; some refugees become so through passing the process of asylum seekers first. The debate on issues of asylum seekers is linked to issues such as smuggling people, or other products. On the other hand, the number of asylum seekers that gain access to the country become refugees where the number continues to grow. However, asylum is mainly granted to those that come through the plane compared to those that use boats and others. Most of the asylum seekers that arrive by boats do not legal identifications. Thus, they may be criminals or not, but accepting them possess a challenge and may pose risks to the country (Sharwood, 2015). The asylum seekers receive welfare benefits from the country where the payments they receive are high as the benefits are provided to them like any other permanent resident of Australia. Thus, the more asylum seekers in the country, the more money the country spends while providing benefits for them to ensure they settle efficiently (Thomas, 2016). According to the ASRC, the budget that Australia spends on asylum seekers is high both for the free refugees and those in detention is high about billions of dollars every year. The money spent on asylum seekers affects other residents since the money is derived from other benefits such as income support or rent assistance. This will be more challenging since the foreign support has been paused while the numbers of refugees continue to grow. The budgets relating to the asylum seekers linger to grow. For instance, the government has to spend about $185 million in a few years to improve the process of processing visas for the asylum seekers. Australian embassies in most of the countries where the asylum seekers come from will also need more money to manage the migrations of the asylum seekers (Calito & Elton-Pym, 2017).Thus, the issue of asylum seekers is a real problem in the country, and stands as a major political issue that affects the lives of all other people in the country. 4. Exercise in Democratic Participation Democracy is exercised when all people in a country such as Australia help in the general decision making process. After participating in the “Get Up” Lobby, it felt nice to participate in an issue that would positively affect the lives of many people. During the lobbying, we participated in the issue regarding the rate of Asthma for children found in the Hunter valley, which is four times the national average rate. The rate of asthma for this kids has grown highly due to the old clunkers of coal that the Liddell Power Plant operates. The main focus of the lobby was to promote and protect health issues related to the environmental degradation (McCarthy, 2017). The Hunter Valley is one of the areas in Australia that continues to expand its coal industries, which increases the greenhouse gas emissions in the state. Consequently, the impact of the greenhouse gas emissions on the state and economy including the children who have been having increasing numbers of asthma. The coal from the Lindell Power plant is a main cause of the climate changes including the health problems of many people in the state (McCarthy, 2017). Coal production leads to the health issues, environmental damage, climate change and other economic costs. The Lindell Power plant has led to the exposure of harmful water, noise, air, and distress in the Hunter Valley. The government has lost focus and priority in the community since the regulations do not protect the community. The lobbying will help increase the involvement of the government in monitoring the productions from the company, including engaging in air monitoring to measure the air pollution the people of Hunter Valley are exposed to (CAHA, 2015). The asthma rates of children in Hunter Valley increase highly over the years in the region. The increases is even higher compared to the national rates of children with asthma and the rate of asthma increase. This has led to the identification of the problem of the Lindell power plant in the state, based on its health impacts on many children in the community. Therefore, in engaging in the lobby, I participated in an important democratic role that will affect the government’s decision making. That is; the issue raised is a real problem that has negatively affected many children among others through health matters in the community. However, it is also a real issue since it also affects climate change, where climate change is an issue of not only the nation but the world as well (CAHA, 2015). 5. Overall General Discussion Politics is an issue that focuses and interacts with our everyday life activities. Every decision the government takes in relation to politics affects the lives of all people including their economic, social and financial lives. Politics is not an issue that is far from our daily lives. People participate in campaigns every day that relate to political issue such as the coal issue since the government needs to interfere through laws that protect the people, which will be a representation of the democracy practices in the country. It is important to remain aware of the major political issues that influence our living conditions including the environment we live in. References CAHA, 2015. Coal and Health in Hunter: Lessons from one valley for the world. CAHA: Coal Hunter Valley Report, pp. 1-56. Calito, J. & Elton-Pym, J., 2017. How Budget 2017 will affect Australia’s place in the world. SBS, Volume http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/05/09/how-budget-2017-will-affect-australias-place-world. Cook, I., Walsh, M. & Harwood, J., 2009. Government and Democracy in Australia. 2nd ed. South Melbourne VIC: Oxford University Press. McCarthy, J., 2017. Liddell and Bayswater power station sales have left hidden legacies | poll. Newcastle Herald, Volume http://www.theherald.com.au/story/4482305/liddell-and-the-legacy/, pp. 1-1. Sharwood, A., 2015. Australia increasingly out of step on refugees. Is it time to change?. News.com.au, pp. http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/australia-increasingly-out-of-step-on-refugees-is-it-time-to-change/news-story/0a86f7297f273ff4723273e8192d911e. Singleton, G., Aitkin, D., Jinks, B. & Warhurst, J., 2013. Australian Political Institutions. 10th ed. Frenchs Forest NSW: Longman. Thomas, A., 2016. Australia's complex refugee debate: Will history see the country as a pioneer of offshore prisons for asylum seekers, or a pariah for having them?. Aljazeera, pp. http://www.aljazeera.com/blogs/asia/2016/09/australia-complex-refugee-debate-160916044343610.html. Read More