Your government

Miakal

I'm interested in what the different governments are like, how they work, and what they do.

How is your government set up?

How exactly does a parliament work? You vote for representives and then they elect the Prime Minister? Then, there is some kind of thing they do where they disband and re-elect everyone?

What are your laws like? How old do you have to be to drink? How old do you have to be to drive a car?

Does your country allow firearms? What are the exact rules on it?

Feel free to toss questions about America my way, if you are not entirely familiar.

Disco Raheem

This is Australia

[quote:post_uid0]How is your government set up? [/quote:post_uid0]

House of Representatives (lower house) and a Senate. Then the head of a state is the governor general, a mere figurehead who is said to be the Queen's representative.

[quote:post_uid0]How exactly does a parliament work? You vote for representives and then they elect the Prime Minister? Then, there is some kind of thing they do where they disband and re-elect everyone?[/quote:post_uid0]

Every 3 years there's an election where all house of representative seats and senators are voted (those senate changes are alternated) in or out. The party with the majority in the lower house votes on a Prime Minister.

The entire population is broken up into fairly even sized electorates for hor seats, but each state gets 20 senate seats.

[quote:post_uid0]What are your laws like? How old do you have to be to drink? How old do you have to be to drive a car? Does your country allow firearms? What are the exact rules on it??[/quote:post_uid0]

We're fairly liberal in some ways, convervative in others. 18 to drink, gamble, smoke. All other drugs are illegal, though weed isn't really considered anything to worry about in small quantities. You can't go to jail for it.

Drivering a car varies from state to state, in qld its 17.

Owning a gun was really easy prior to the Port Arthur massacre (in 96 some dude went skitz and shot like 30 something people, it was the biggest peace time massacre ever, dont know if it still is). Now its still not too hard, but you have to have a permit, and there's restrictions so you can't have automatic or semi automatic weapons.

I pretty much know the American system and laws, seeing as most our tv, movies and music (ie culture) are from the USA.

Papa Shango

This is how it happens in the UK....


How it is set up:
Basically it is divided into parties, you have the main parties and then you may have small different local parties. Scotland may have a scottish exclusive candidate, and down here in wales we will have our own party to choose to vote for.

So basically you got the Prime Minister overseeing all.. and then you have local MPs representing each area.

How does it work?

Every 5 years maximum there is a general election but the Prime Minsiter may also call one whenever he chooses.
Everyone votes for someone in the local elections. These people represent parties. And the party who holds the most seats after all local elections have been counted is then deemed the party in power. The leader of the winning party then becomes the Prime Minister.

But you might find that if the Conservative party win the big election.. my area could still be under Labour Rule if the labour candidate wins the local election


Laws? You have to be 17 to drive, 18 to drink alcohol, 16 to have sex, 18 to consent to male homosexual acts, Drugs are illegal to sell but a small amount for personal use is somehow acceptable, you can be tatooed at 18, at 15 you can own a liscenced shot gun, you can get married with parents consent at 16... and at 21 you can become a politician!

We have some pretty tight laws regarding censorship and pornography. We have a 9pm watershed, but 8pm for satellite channels.. this means that movies with strong language, violece etc cant be shown before those times except on PPV channels.

Porn is only allowed to be sold in liscenced sex shops, and only films where the girl audibly consents to sex. S&M films have been known to be rejected if the woman has a gag on or something because then she cant audibly consent or refuse to have sex.

The viewing of Anal Sex, Child Porn, and sex without consent is illegal.

Mike.. what are your laws regarding censorship?



Edited By Papa Shango on Aug. 27 2003 at 17:46

Miakal

You can view anal sex here. As a matter of fact, there are many videos dedicated to it.

Girls don't have to audibly accept the sexual act in porn in America. I've seen some videos (I didn't actually watch it) which had "rape" scenes.

You have to be 18 to go to a porn shop.

Music cds have to have a sticker if there's swearing. Wal-Mart doesn't sell cds with swearing, though they do sell alcohol and shotguns.

It doesn't seem fair that the Prime Minister can call an election whenever he wants, then again...maybe it is.

Couldn't he keep calling for elections?

18 is the age of consent for sex in America.

I'm not sure what the rules with TV are. I know on cable that they can swear but it's generally frowned upon unless it's after a certain time. South Park the movie was on Comedy Central and they were saying #### and stuff.

Nudity is also up to the cable channel but is generally frowned upon. If you've ever seen the Oxygen channel or the like, you can frequently see sexual material and nudity.

Free airwaves like radio and free tv are censored more and they can be fined heavily if they break the rules (Howard Stern was, some others were).

Dr. Giganto

[quote:post_uid0="Miakal"]18 is the age of consent for sex in America.[/quote:post_uid0]
actually, it varies from state to state. In New York, its 17, its 17 or 18 in most states, 16 in a few and 2 states (i beleive its Hawaii and South Carolina) the age of consent is only 14.

A friend of mine from college as a joke made a wallet-sized card with the age of consent in all 50 states and had it laminated. he heeps it in his wallet, just in case

Papa Shango

Yeah an election can be called at any time. It doesnt happen very often though. A newly appointed Party Leader may call an election to see if 'he' can get voted in rather than carrying out the rest of the previous leaders term.

Also if after three years the party is doing rather well in the opinion polls.. they may just call one to get another 5 years in office.



In addition to porn laws.. No child is allowed to appear in a porn film.. i dont mean sexually. I mean you cant have a scene of a girl playing in the park or something. Children and sex must be kept apart in this country, and rightly so.

Regarding children.. Adults are not allowed now to carry any photographic equipment where unclothed children may be (The swimming pool etc) for fear of the photos being sold in the porn sector.. although its quite acceptable to have them modelling things in catalogues or whatnot.

Miakal

[quote:post_uid0="Papa Shango"]Children and sex must be kept apart in this country, and rightly so.[/quote:post_uid0]
What about regular movies? Sometimes teens have sex in movies, is that allowed? Technically they are children.

For instance, American Beauty.