1.
Government of Australia
–
The Government of the Commonwealth of Australia is the government of the Commonwealth of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement among six self-governing British colonies, the terms of this contract are embodied in the Australian Constitution, which was drawn up at a Constitutional Convention and ratified by the people of the colonies at referendums. Separation of powers is implied by the structure of the Constitution, the Australian system of government combines elements of the Westminster and Washington systems with unique Australian characteristics, and has been characterised as a Washminster mutation. Section 51 of the Constitution provides for the Commonwealth Governments legislative powers and allocates certain powers, all remaining responsibilities are retained by the six States. Further, each State has its own constitution, so that Australia has seven sovereign Parliaments, the High Court of Australia arbitrates on any disputes which arise between the Commonwealth and the States, or among the States, concerning their respective functions. The Commonwealth Parliament can propose changes to the Constitution, the Commonwealth Constitution also provides that the States can agree to refer any of their powers to the Commonwealth. This may be achieved by way of an amendment to the Constitution via referendum, more commonly powers may be transferred by passing other acts of legislation which authorise the transfer and such acts require the legislative agreement of all the state governments involved. This transfer legislation may have a clause, a legislative provision that nullifies the transfer of power after a specified period. In addition, Australia has several territories, two of which are self-governing, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory, Australian citizens in these territories are represented by members of both houses of the Commonwealth Parliament. The territory of Norfolk Island was self-governing from 1979 until 2016, the other territories that are regularly inhabited—Jervis Bay, Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands—have never been self-governing. The federal nature of the Commonwealth and the structure of the Parliament of Australia were the subject of protracted negotiations among the colonies during the drafting of the Constitution, the House of Representatives is elected on a basis that reflects the differing populations of the States. Thus New South Wales has 48 members while Tasmania has only five, but the Senate is elected on a basis of equality among the States, all States elect 12 Senators, regardless of population. This was intended to allow the Senators of the smaller States to form a majority, the ACT and the NT each elect two Senators. The third level of government after Commonwealth and State/Territory is Local government, in the form of shires, towns, the Councils of these areas are composed of elected representatives, usually serving part-time. Their powers are devolved to them by the State or Territory in which they are located, with this act, Australian law was made unequivocally sovereign, and the High Court of Australia was confirmed as the highest court of appeal. The theoretical possibility of the British Parliament enacting laws to override the Australian Constitution was also removed, the Legislature makes the laws, and supervises the activities of the other two arms with a view to changing the laws when appropriate. The Australian Parliament is bicameral, consisting of the Queen of Australia, a 76-member Senate, twelve Senators from each state are elected for six-year terms, using proportional representation and the single transferable vote, with half elected every three years. In addition to the state Senators, two senators are elected by voters from the Northern Territory, while another two senators are elected by the voters of the Australian Capital Territory
2.
Gambling
–
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning money or material goods. Gambling thus requires three elements be present, consideration, chance and prize, the term gaming in this context typically refers to instances in which the activity has been specifically permitted by law. However, this distinction is not universally observed in the English-speaking world, for instance, in the United Kingdom, the regulator of gambling activities is called the Gambling Commission. Gambling is also an international commercial activity, with the legal gambling market totaling an estimated $335 billion in 2009. In other forms, gambling can be conducted with materials which have a value, many popular games played in modern casinos originate from Europe and China. Games such as craps, baccarat, roulette, and blackjack originate from different areas of Europe, a version of keno, an ancient Chinese lottery game, is played in casinos around the world. In addition, pai gow poker, a hybrid between pai gow and poker is also played, many jurisdictions, local as well as national, either ban gambling or heavily control it by licensing the vendors. Such regulation generally leads to gambling tourism and illegal gambling in the areas where it is not allowed, there is generally legislation requiring that the odds in gaming devices are statistically random, to prevent manufacturers from making some high-payoff results impossible. Since these high-payoffs have very low probability, a bias can quite easily be missed unless the odds are checked carefully. Most jurisdictions that allow gambling require participants to be above a certain age, in some jurisdictions, the gambling age differs depending on the type of gambling. For example, in many American states one must be over 21 to enter a casino, E. g. Nonetheless, both insurance and gambling contracts are typically considered aleatory contracts under most legal systems, though they are subject to different types of regulation. Under common law, particularly English Law, a contract may not give a casino bona fide purchaser status. For case law on recovery of gambling losses where the loser had stolen the funds see Rights of owner of money as against one who won it in gambling transaction from thief. This was a plot point in a Perry Mason novel, The Case of the Singing Skirt. Religious perspectives on gambling have been mixed, ancient Hindu poems like the Gamblers Lament and the Mahabharata testify to the popularity of gambling among ancient Indians. However, the text Arthashastra recommends taxation and control of gambling, ancient Jewish authorities frowned on gambling, even disqualifying professional gamblers from testifying in court. For these social and religious reasons, most legal jurisdictions limit gambling, in at least one case, the same bishop opposing a casino has sold land to be used for its construction. Although different interpretations of law exist in the Muslim world
3.
Identity document
–
An identity document is any document which may be used to prove a persons identity. If issued in a small, standard credit card size form, some countries issue formal identity documents, while others may require identity verification using informal documents. When the identity document incorporates a persons photograph, it may be called photo ID, in the absence of a formal identity document, a drivers license may be accepted in many countries for identity verification. Some countries do not accept drivers licenses for identification, often because in countries they do not expire as documents. Most countries accept passports as a form of identification, some countries require all people to have an identity document available at any time. Many countries require all foreigners to have a passport or occasionally a national identity card from their country available at any time if they do not have a permit in the country. The identity document is used to connect a person to information about the person, the photo and the possession of it is used to connect the person with the document. A unique national identification number is the most secure way, a version of the passport considered to be the earliest identity document inscribed into law was introduced by King Henry V of England with the Safe Conducts Act 1414. For the next 500 years and before World War I, most people did not have or need an identity document, both Australia and Great Britain, for example, introduced the requirement for a photographic passport in 1915 after the so-called Lody spy scandal. The shape and size of identity cards were standardized in 1985 by ISO/IEC7810, some modern identity documents are smart cards including a difficult-to-forge embedded integrated circuit, that were standardized in 1988 by ISO/IEC7816. New technologies allow identity cards to contain information, such as photographs, face, hand or iris measurements. Electronic identity cards are available in countries including Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Morocco, Portugal. Law enforcement officials claim that identity cards make surveillance and the search for criminals easier, in countries that dont have a national identity card, there is, however, concern about the projected large costs and potential abuse of high-tech smartcards. There is debate in these countries about whether such cards and their centralised database would constitute an infringement of privacy, most criticism is directed towards the enhanced possibilities of extensive abuse of centralised and comprehensive databases storing sensitive data. None of the countries listed above mandate possession of identity documents, for example, all vehicle drivers must have a driving licence, and young people may need to use specially issued proof of age cards when purchasing alcohol. Arguments for identity documents as such, In order to avoid mismatching people, Every human being already carries their own personal identification in the form of DNA, which is extremely hard to falsify or to discard. For example, in Sweden private companies such as banks refused to issue ID cards to individuals without a Swedish card and this forced the government to start issuing national cards. It is also hard to control information usage by private companies
4.
Australian passport
–
Australian citizens are allowed to hold passports from other countries. Since 1988 over a million Australian passports have been issued annually, and it reached 1.4 million in 2007, the schemes requirements do not apply to a renewal of a passport. Before 1901, Australia consisted of six separate British colonies, Passports usage was not common, and if required British or other national passports were used. In 1901, the six colonies joined to form the Commonwealth of Australia, Passports issued by Australia were issued only to British subjects and were described as British Passports. British subjects, who were not Australian citizens, continued to be entitled to an Australian passport, the term British subject had a particular meaning in Australian nationality law. The term encompassed all citizens of countries included in the list contained in the Australian Citizenship Act 1948, the list of countries was based on, but was not identical with, those countries which were members of the Commonwealth from time to time. This definition of British subject meant that, for the purposes of Australian nationality law, citizens of countries which had become republics, the Commission published its final report in 1983, making recommendations on how to prevent such abuses, most of which were acted upon by the government. In 1980, large bound book registers were replaced by a processing and registration system, called the Passport Issue. Since 1984, to speed up processing of incoming and outgoing passengers and data entry, Australia has been issuing passports with machine readable lines, all Australian passports are now biometric, all pre-2006 passports having now expired. Australia does not use fingerprinting of incoming passengers, as is done by other countries. In 1917, X series passports issued, in 1937, A series passports issued. Passport cover included the Commonwealth Coat of Arms and the words ‘British Passport Commonwealth of Australia’, in 1949, after Australian nationality was created, the words Australian Passport replaced British Passport on the cover of Australian passports. The passports contained manually inserted photos with wet seals and raised embossed seals over the photo as security features, two types of passport were issued, B series passports — issued to British subjects who were not Australian citizens. C series passports — issued to Australian citizens, in 1950, ‘E’ series passport replaces ‘B’ and ‘C’ series. In 1967, the word ‘British Passport’ was removed from passports, the word ‘Australia’ appears below the Crown, followed by the Australian Coat of Arms and the word ‘Passport’. In 1975, responsibility for Australian passport functions were transferred to the Department of Foreign Affairs, from the then Department of Labor, before 1983, a married womans passport application had to be authorised by her husband. In 1983, the Department partnered with Australia Post to enable the issue of Australian passports at most Australia Post outlets, in 1984, ‘T’ series passport introduced, with Crown emblem removed from cover. These were the first to have a built into the document
5.
Birth certificate
–
A birth certificate is a vital record that documents the birth of a child. The term birth certificate can refer to either the document certifying the circumstances of the birth or to a certified copy of or representation of the ensuing registration of that birth. Depending on the jurisdiction, a record of birth might or might not contain verification of the event by such as a midwife or doctor, the documentation of births is a practice widely held throughout human civilization, especially in China, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Persia. The original purpose of statistics was for tax purposes and for the determination of available military manpower. Births were initially registered with churches, who maintained registers of births and this practice continued into the 19th century. The compulsory registration of births with governmental agencies is a practice originated in the United Kingdom in 1853. The United States did not get a system until 1902. Most countries have statutes and laws that regulate the registration of births, the actual record of birth is stored with a government agency. That agency will issue certified copies or representations of the birth record upon request. The certification is signed and/or sealed by the registrar or other custodian of birth records, despite 191 countries ratifying the Convention, the births of millions of children worldwide go unregistered. This phenomenon disproportionately impacts indigenous populations and even in developed countries, contributes to difficulties in fully accessing civic rights. Retrospective registration may be necessary where there is a backlog of children whose births have gone unregistered, in Senegal, the government is facilitating retrospective registration through free local court hearings and the number of unregistered children has fallen considerably as a result. In Sierra Leone, the government gave the National Office of Births and Deaths special permission to issue birth certificates to children over seven, in Bolivia, there was a successful three-year amnesty for the free registration of young people aged between 12 and 18. Statelessness, or the lack of nationality, impacts the daily lives of some 11-12 million people around the world. Perhaps those who suffer most are stateless infants, children, though born and raised in their parents’ country of habitual residence, they lack formal recognition of their existence. States and territories of Australia are responsible for the issuance of certificates, through agencies generally titled Registry of Births Deaths. Initially registering a birth is done by a hospital through a Birth Registration Statement or similar, home births are permitted, but a statement is required from a registered midwife, doctor or 2 other witnesses other than the parents. Unplanned births require in some states that the baby be taken to a hospital within 24 hours, once registered, a separate application can be made for a birth certificate, generally at a cost
6.
Passport
–
A passport is a travel document, usually issued by a countrys government, that certifies the identity and nationality of its holder for the purpose of international travel. Standard passports may contain information such as the name, place and date of birth, photograph, signature. Passports are moving towards including biometric information in a microchip embedded in the document, making them machine-readable, as of 5 April 2017,96 countries emit biometric passports. A passport holder is entitled to enter the country that issued the passport. Some passports attest to status as a diplomat or other official, entitled to rights, many countries normally allow entry to holders of passports of other countries, sometimes requiring a visa also to be held, but this is not an automatic right. Many other additional conditions, such as not being likely to become a charge for financial or other reasons. Some countries and international organisations issue travel documents which are not standard passports, one of the earliest known references to paperwork that served in a role similar to that of a passport is found in the Hebrew Bible. In the medieval Islamic Caliphate, a form of passport was the baraa, only people who paid their zakah or jizya taxes were permitted to travel to different regions of the Caliphate, thus, the baraa receipt was a travelers basic passport. Etymological sources show that the passport is from a medieval document that was required in order to pass through the gate of a city wall or to pass through a territory. In medieval Europe, such documents were issued to travelers by local authorities, on the whole, documents were not required for travel to sea ports, which were considered open trading points, but documents were required to travel inland from sea ports. King Henry V of England is credited with having invented what some consider the first true passport, the earliest reference to these documents is found in a 1414 Act of Parliament. In 1540, granting travel documents in England became a role of the Privy Council of England, in 1794, issuing British passports became the job of the Office of the Secretary of State. The 1548 Imperial Diet of Augsburg required the public to hold imperial documents for travel, the speed of trains, as well as the number of passengers that crossed multiple borders, made enforcement of passport laws difficult. The general reaction was the relaxation of passport requirements, consequently, comparatively few people held passports. During World War I, European governments introduced border passport requirements for security reasons and these controls remained in place after the war, becoming a standard, though controversial, procedure. British tourists of the 1920s complained, especially about attached photographs and physical descriptions, in 1920, the League of Nations held a conference on passports, the Paris Conference on Passports & Customs Formalities and Through Tickets. Passport guidelines and a general booklet design resulted from the conference, while the United Nations held a travel conference in 1963, no passport guidelines resulted from it. Passport standardization came about in 1980, under the auspices of the International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO standards include those for machine-readable passports
7.
Citizenship
–
Citizenship is the status of a person recognized under the custom or law as being a legal member of a sovereign state. A person may have multiple citizenships and a person who does not have citizenship of any state is said to be stateless. Nationality is often used as a synonym for citizenship in English – notably in international law – although the term is understood as denoting a persons membership of a nation. In some countries, e. g. the United States, each country has its own policies, regulations and criteria as to who is entitled to its citizenship. A person can be recognised or granted citizenship on a number of bases, usually citizenship based on the place of birth is automatic, in other cases an application may be required. If one or both of a persons parents are citizens of a state, then the person may have the right to be a citizen of that state as well. Formerly this might only have applied through the line. Citizenship is granted based on ancestry or ethnicity, and is related to the concept of a nation state common in China, where jus sanguinis holds, a person born outside a country, one or both of whose parents are citizens of the country, is also a citizen. States normally limit the right to citizenship by descent to a number of generations born outside the state. This form of citizenship is not common in civil law countries, Some people are automatically citizens of the state in which they are born. This form of citizenship originated in England where those who were born within the realm were subjects of the monarch, in many cases both jus solis and jus sanguinis hold, citizenship either by place or parentage. Many countries fast-track naturalization based on the marriage of a person to a citizen, States normally grant citizenship to people who have entered the country legally and been granted permit to stay, or been granted political asylum, and also lived there for a specified period. Some states allow dual citizenship and do not require naturalized citizens to renounce any other citizenship. In the past there have been exclusions on entitlement to citizenship on grounds such as color, ethnicity, sex. Most of these no longer apply in most places. The United States grants citizenship to those born as a result of reproductive technologies, Some exclusions still persist for internationally adopted children born before Feb 27,1983 even though their parents meet citizenship criteria. Polis meant both the assembly of the city-state as well as the entire society. Citizenship has generally been identified as a western phenomenon, there is a general view that citizenship in ancient times was a simpler relation than modern forms of citizenship, although this view has come under scrutiny
8.
Credit card
–
The card issuer creates a revolving account and grants a line of credit to the cardholder, from which the cardholder can borrow money for payment to a merchant or as a cash advance. A credit card is different from a card, where it requires the balance to be repaid in full each month. In contrast, credit cards allow the consumers a continuing balance of debt, a credit card also differs from a cash card, which can be used like currency by the owner of the card. Credit cards have a printed or embossed bank card number complying with the ISO/IEC7812 numbering standard, the card numbers prefix, called the Bank Identification Number, is the sequence of digits at the beginning of the number that determine the bank to which a credit card number belongs. This is the first six digits for MasterCard and Visa cards, the next nine digits are the individual account number, and the final digit is a validity check code. Both of these standards are maintained and further developed by ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 17/WG1, Credit cards have a magnetic stripe conforming to the ISO/IEC7813. Many modern credit cards have a chip embedded in them as a security feature. In addition to the credit card number, credit cards also carry issue and expiration dates, as well as extra codes such as issue numbers. Not all credit cards have the sets of extra codes nor do they use the same number of digits. The concept of using a card for purchases was described in 1887 by Edward Bellamy in his utopian novel Looking Backward. Bellamy used the credit card eleven times in this novel, although this referred to a card for spending a citizens dividend from the government. Charge coins and other items were used from the late 19th century to the 1930s. They came in various shapes and sizes, with materials made out of celluloid, copper, aluminum, steel, each charge coin usually had a little hole, enabling it to be put in a key ring, like a key. These charge coins were given to customers who had charge accounts in department stores, hotels. A charge coin usually had the account number along with the merchants name. The charge coin offered a simple and fast way to copy a charge account number to the sales slip and this sped the process of copying, previously done by handwriting. It also reduced the number of errors, by having a form of numbers on the sales slip. Because the customers name was not on the coin, almost anyone could use it
9.
Fraud
–
In law, fraud is deliberate deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud itself can be a wrong, a criminal wrong or it may cause no loss of money, property or legal right. The purpose of fraud may be monetary gain or other benefits, a hoax is a distinct concept that involves deliberate deception without the intention of gain or of materially damaging or depriving a victim. In common law jurisdictions, as a wrong, fraud is a tort. Proving fraud in a court of law is said to be difficult. In cases of a fraudulently induced contract, fraud may serve as a defense in an action for breach of contract or specific performance of contract. Fraud may serve as a basis for a court to invoke its equitable jurisdiction, in common law jurisdictions, as a criminal offence, fraud takes many different forms, some general and some specific to particular categories of victims or misconduct. The elements of fraud as a crime similarly vary, section 380 of the Criminal Code provides the general definition for fraud in Canada,380. In addition to the penalties outlined above, the court can issue a prohibition order under s.380.2. It can also make an order under s.380.3. The Canadian courts have held that the offence consists of two elements, A prohibited act of deceit, falsehood or other fraudulent means. The Supreme Court of Canada has held that deprivation is satisfied on proof of detriment, prejudice or risk of prejudice, it is not essential that there be actual loss. Deprivation of confidential information, in the nature of a secret or copyrighted material that has commercial value, has also been held to fall within the scope of the offence. The BBC World Service reported in 2012 that the value lost through fraud in the UK was £66 billion a year. According to a review by the UK anti-fraud charity Fraud Advisory Panel business fraud accounted for £144bn, the FAP has been particularly critical of the support available from the police to victims of fraud in the UK outside of London. In July 2016 it was reported that fraudulent activity levels in the UK increased in the 10 years to 2016 from £52 billion to £193bn. This figure would be an estimate, since as the former commissioner of the City of London Police, Adrian Leppard, has said. Donald Toon, director of the NCAs economic crime command, stated in July 2016, Fraud affects one in ten people in the UK
10.
Driving licence in Australia
–
A drivers licence is required in Australia before a person is permitted to drive a motor vehicle of any description on a road in Australia for commerce. The responsibility for the regulation and enforcement of road use, including light vehicle driver licensing is the responsibility of the state, all states and territories in Australia have a uniform driver licence system. The medical standards for drivers of vehicles are set by the National Transport Commission. The official nomenclature for car licences varies in the states and territories, however, Drivers Licence is most commonly used. The official names for learners also vary, for example Learner Driver Licences or Learners Permit, the minimum driving age varies between States and Territories. It is 18 years in Victoria,16 years and 6 months in the Northern Territory, and 16 years in all other states and the ACT. Learner drivers may drive, under qualified supervision, from 15 years and 9 months in the ACT and 16 years in the other states, the driving age in the Australian Capital Territory is 17 years. After obtaining a licence, a driver continues to be subject to restrictions during a probationary period. Learner Licence The minimum age for obtaining a Learner Licence is 15 years and 9 months, the road ready course is a minimum of ten hours, if undertaken at a road ready centre and not through school. During the course, applicants for a Learner Licence learn the rules, undergo alcohol education. Once this course has been completed, and a computerised Road rules test is passed and this licence is valid for two years. Learners must display black on yellow L Plates and drive under the supervision of a full Australian licence holder, Provisional Licence Provisional Licence applicants must be at least 17 years of age, held a Learner Licence for a minimum of six months. Two methods of testing are available for Learners to progress to a provisional licence, the first method, is to complete a competency based scheme with a ACT government accredited driving instructor. In lieu of a practical driving test, learner drivers may, during their accredited instructor driving lessons. Once a learner has passed all driving proficiencies in the log book, the log book is turned into the ACT Roads and Transit Authority, and a provisional licence is issued. The difference in using this method to obtain a licence is that the log book only records time spent driving. While no minimum amount of hours are required, Learners are advised when obtaining their Learners licence, that 50 or more practical hours are recommended before attempting the practical test. If either method is used, and the driver has obtained their licence in an Automatic transmission vehicle and this condition restricts the license holder, for the duration of this period, to driving vehicles with automatic transmission only
