Work in small groups for these activities.

Activity 1: What are governments doing about these areas of responsibility today?

You will need the activity sheet, 'Do you know somebody who has ...?' that you completed earlier. There are 40 areas of government activity or responsibility listed on this sheet. Work in pairs and share the list between you.

Visit the Parliament of Victoria website at www.parliament.vic.gov.au.

Click on 'Legislation & Bills' on the left hand side of the Parliament homepage. This will take you to a page that gives you three options. Click on 'Victorian Statute Book'. You will now be able to find Acts of Parliament from 2005 back as far as 1996 online.

Start with 2005 and work backwards to 1996. Look at the titles of the Acts of Parliament. See if you can find any Acts of Parliament that might have something to do with the areas of responsibility listed on the activity sheet.

Write down the title or name of this act and the year in which it became law.

To find out what this act means click on the name of the act and read the purpose of the act. You do not need to read all of the act.

Make notes for each area of responsibility that you are researching to show what the latest decision of the government was. Decide whether or not you think this might have been a wise or good decision.

Compare your group's findings with the findings of other groups. If there are any disagreements about the information you have recorded, recheck information on the website www.parliament.vic.gov.au.

Keep your ideas and opinions to use later to help you during the activity, 'What else needs to be done?'

Activity 2: What are these areas of responsibility all about?

Visit the website of one of these recent areas of government responsibility (since 1980) and find out the purpose of your selected project or program and how it works.

• Youth Central at www.youthcentral.vic.gov.au
• Crimestoppers at www.vic.crimestoppers.com.au
• CityLink at www.citylink.com.au. See especially 'Charter and Ombudsman' and 'Transurban'.
• Freedom of Information Online at www.foi.vic.gov.au
• Our Water Our Future at www.ourwater.vic.gov.au/ourwater
• Ombudsman at www.ombudsman.vic.gov.au. See especially 'Background' (history), 'Legislation' (Acts of Parliament that the Ombudsman is responsible for) and 'Complaints' (How to make a complaint and what happens then).
• Problem Gambling at www.problemgambling.vic.gov.au. See especially 'Victoria's Strategy' and 'What is problem gambling?'.

Can you suggest any ways in which the government could make your selected program or project work better?

Prepare a presentation to explain to other students what this program does to help the Victorian community.

or

Prepare a chart, poster, Powerpoint presentation or other audiovisual product to explain the program to people in your local community. Arrange for the final product to be displayed in a public area such as the school hall, local library, shopping centre or town hall.

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• Introductory activities
• Investigating the past
• Visiting the exhibition
• Going further

• Do you know somebody who has ...?