Area of Study 1: Parliament and the Citizen

• Representative and Responsible Government
• Separation of Powers
• Structure and role of Commonwealth and Victorian parliaments
• The Legislative Process
• Reasons for change in the law
• Victorian Law Reform Commission
• Petitions
• Demonstrations
• Media
• Strengths and weaknesses of parliament as a law-making body

Area of Study 2: The Constitution and the protection of rights

• Constitution of Australia
• Division of Law-Making Powers
• Restrictions on the law-making powers of the state and Commonwealth parliaments
• Referendum Process
• Factors affecting the success of a referendum
• Referenda affecting the division of law-making powers
• High Court of Australia
• High Court interpretation of the Constitution
• High Court cases affecting the division of law-making powers
• Referral of power
• Constitutional protection of rights
• Express rights
• Implied rights
• Structural protections
• Separation of Powers (structural protection)
• Representative Government (structural protection)
• Responsible Government (structural protection)
• Roach v Electoral Commissioner
• Effectiveness of rights protection in Australia
• Comparison of rights protection in Australia to other countries

Area of Study 3: Role of the courts in law-making

• The ability of judges and courts to make law
• Doctrine of precedent
• Rules of precedent
• Flexibility of precedent
• Difficulties in applying past decisions
• Statutory Interpretation
• Reasons for statutory interpretation
• Effects of statutory interpretation
• Deing v Tarola (1993) 2 VR 163
• Strengths and weaknesses of law-making through the courts
• Relationships between courts and parliament in law-making