Governor General

The governor general is Ms Quentin Bryce. (2012)

Info about the Governor General
The Governor General is the  Queen's representative in Australia.
The Governor General does the following:
Dissolving the Parliament and making writes for new elections.
Commisioning the Prime Minister.
Giving assent to laws.
Appointing ambassadors and commisioners.
Appointing senior government officials.

The Australian Constitution

The Australian Constitution is a set of rules for governing a country.
It establishes how the Senate and House of Representatives are formed, the length of terms of office, and how elections are called.

Parties that form the goverment

The two main parties are:
Labor and Liberal

The other parties are:
The Nationals
Australian Greens
One Nation
Australian Democrats

Parliamentary record book

The Parliamentary record book is known as the Hansard.

Lower House

The Lower House is also known as the House of Representatives.
There are 150 representatives in the Lower House.
Lower House politicians are elected for 3 years.
The Lower House creates a new Law called a Bill and then passes it up to the Upper House to confirm.

Upper House

The Upper House is called a Senate.
The number of senators in a Senate are 12 from each state and 2 from each territory.
The total number of senators in the Upper House is 76 senators.
The total number of representatives in the Upper House is 76 reps.
State senators are elected for 6 years.
Territory senators are elected for 3 years.
The Upper House confirms laws passed up by the Lower House.

Facts

Canberra is Australia's Capital City.
It is located in the Australian Capital Territory. (ACT)
It is 150 km inland.
It is 571 metres above the Pacific Ocean.
Population: 358 000 in 2012
The residents of Canberra are known as a Canberran.
Canberra's water comes from Namadgi National Park.
A man called Walter Burtley Griffen designed Canberra.
Canberra is the world wide leader in Nuclear measuremnts..
The Royal Australian Mint was built in 1963.
Canberra was established on the 12th of March 1913.

Climate

Canberra has a climate of warm to hot summers and cool to cold winters.
It has an oceanic climate.
Highest recorded maximum temperature is 42.2 degrees Celsius.
Lowest recorded minimum temperature is - 10 degrees Celsius.

Parliament House

Parliament House is located in Canberra.
Old Parliament House was built in 1927 and New Parliament House was built in 1988.

Coordinates

35  degrees South
149 degrees East

Canberra Tourist Attractions

Snow
Australian Institute of Sport
Parliament House
Mount Pleasant
Black Mountain
National Gallery of Australia
Royal Australian Mint
National Zoo and Aquarium
Snowy Valley
Australian War Memorial
Captain Cook Fountain

Australia

Many people stumbled across Australia before Captain Cook, but didn't stop to explore as they did not like what they saw - endless desert. Now, the only reason Captain Cook stayed was because he sailed around Australia and came into what we know as today as Sydney Harbour. Since he docked there, he sailed back to England saying he found a new land and a new convict space as the jails were full in England. So they took the convicts on a 9 month trip to Australia. What we know as today named Tasmania was first named Van Diemen's Land after the man who discovered it. Also, Australia was first named New Holland, but then was changed to Australia. When people first started coming to Australia, we lived in Colonies. NSW was first found and is the mother colony of Australia.