Parliament makes laws through passing legislation. There are three levels that can make laws: federal, state, and local. The Constitution sets out what powers each level of government has. It establishes exclusive, concurrent, and residual powers. Exclusive powers can only be exercised by the federal government, like defense. Concurrent powers can be exercised by both levels, like taxation, though federal law takes precedence. Residual powers are exercised by states alone, like education.

1. {
Making LawsSources of law
How laws are made in Queensland
How to read and understand statute law

2.  Laws are made by:
 The Constitution of Australia
 Parliament
 Courts/Judges
Sources of Law

3.  Federal Parliament gets their right to make
laws from the Constitution
 State Parliament gets their right to make laws
from what is not in the Constitution
 The Constitution sets out three types of powers:
 Exclusive
 Concurrent
 Residual
The Constitution

4.  Exclusive powers are those that can only be
exercised by Commonwealth Parliament
 Ie. Things that are laws Australia-wide
 Includes:
 Armed forces, imports/exports, passports,
currency, weights and measures, etc

5.  Concurrent powers are those which both State
and Federal Parliament can make laws for
 This includes:
 Taxation, trade, marriage and divorce, etc
 Note: The Commonwealth does not have to
create laws on concurrent powers, but can if
they wish. If they do then the Federal law
prevails over the State law.
 Eg. Marriage – Qld could make its own marriage
laws, but federally we have the Family Law Act
1975 (Cth) so it prevails

6.  Residual powers are those that a state can make
laws for
 Ie. Queensland laws that have no federal
counterpart
 This includes:
 Education, transport, housing, health and
welfare issues, etc
 The Commonwealth is prohibited to make laws
on these areas under the Constitution

7.  Go to www.comlaw.gov.au
 Type ‘constitution act’ into the search bar (top
right hand corner)
 Find the current Constitution to download

8.  Find s51 (section 51) of the Constitution
 Answer the following questions:
 Does the Commonwealth Parliament or the
Queensland Parliament have power under s51 to
issue fishing licences on Stradbroke Island?
 What are five powers listed in s51 that, in your
opinion, should be exercised only by the
Commonwealth and not by the states? What are
your reasons?

9.  Three levels of parliaments responsible for
lawmaking:
1. Federal
2. State
3. Local
Parliament

10.  Statute law is the most important source of law
in Australia
 Statute law is the name given to laws made by
a Parliament (also called legislation or an Act of
Parliament)
Passing of a law by Parliament

11.  It is important because:
 It is the most common method of making laws
 It overrides judge-made law if there is
inconsistency
 There is no limitation on its creation, whereas
judge-made law must be made based on a case

12.  List the 9 Australian parliaments
 They have the following legislative powers:
 Pass new laws
 Amend existing laws
 Repeal laws

13.  Pass new laws:
 Eg. Queensland passed the Summary Offences Act
2004 (Qld), which superseded the Vagrants,
Gaming and Offences Act 1931 (Qld)
 This kept some old laws and added new ones
 The Federal Euthanasia Laws Act 1997 (Cth) was
passed by Federal Parliament to abolish the NT’s
Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1996
 Queensland legalised surrogacy for the first time
with the passing of the Surrogacy Act (Qld)

14.  Amend existing laws:
 2006 – Federal Parliament passed the Prohibition
of Human Cloning for Reproduction and the
Regulation of Human Embryo Research Amendment
Act, which changed the law to allow embryonic
stem cell research
 1997 – The Queensland Criminal Code was
amended to add a specific section on graffiti
offences and to introduce the crime of computer
fraud

15.  Repeal laws:
 In 1922 the Qld Criminal Code removed the
section allowing the death penalty
 In 1986 the same Act had the punishment of
whipping removed
 Some laws are abolished because they contain
archaic laws or outdated concepts

16.  Queensland’s parliament is unicameral, this
means we have one house (the lower house)
 Australia and every other state have a
bicameral system – two houses (the upper
house and the lower house)
 We do this because it makes it easier to pass
laws
How laws are made in Qld

17.  Federally, laws are approved by the lower
house and then the upper house before finally
being given royal assent and then becoming
enforceable
 In Queensland, laws are approved by the lower
house and then given royal assent before
becoming enforceable
 There are many steps that the lower house goes
through, but we won’t look at that in any real
detail

18.  Read the Learner.Link document
‘Understanding a law made by parliament’
 From within the PDF complete the following:
 ‘Practical Application’, Q1-5, p.65 (under picture
of guns)
 Define ‘surrogacy’
 ‘What do you think?’, Q1-3, p.66
Understanding Statute Law