6. Decide which of the following statements are right and which are wrong. Give the correct variants.

1. Queensland, the largest state in terms of population and economy, has become increasingly unhappy that it subsidises other states.

2. Australia’s population has grown to just 100m.

3. The eight states each have their own parliament and a premier.

4. In the Northern Territory about 200,000 are scattered over an area the size of Russia, Germany and England combined.

5. It is hard to govern well within a federation.

6. The richer states would help the poorer and less populated ones, because of the higher cost of providing services in urban Australia.

7. There is a mismatch between what a state provides in revenues and the amount it receives back.

8. The local bus company has to operate two fleets of school buses because of different time zones.

7. Make up your own sentences using the words and word combinations given below.

To share similar frustrations, to result from federal system, to hold a population of, to hinder, to be in need of handouts, to draft a challenge to the federal grant system, national inward investment body, to play states against each other, to poach established businesses from each other, gambling, to fund spiralling health and education costs, to pose a challenge, to compete for resources, to be more responsive to local needs, to overcome difficulties inherent in federation.

8. The high pay for top executives created tremendous incentives for lower-level executives to work hard to get those jobs. The high pay also creates resentment among workers, some stockholders, and some members of the general public. What is your position on the proper level of top-executive compensation? Is there a way to make the pay more equitable?

How do you justify the fact that many sports leaders and TV stars make millions of dollars? Should top executives take a cut in pay when these people do not? What is the difference between two groups?

9. Professors in different departments of a university may make widely different wages, even though they all may have equal education and do equal work. For example, an engineering professor or business professor may make more than an English professor. Is that fair? Should English professors be paid the same using the comparable worth argument? How would that affect the supply and demand for English professors?

What role should the market play in determining wages? What about working conditions? Because a hod career (brick career) does work that is more strenuous than a bricklayer’s, should he or she be paid more? Why isn’t hard work rewarded more generously in the market?

10. Discuss in groups the following questions.

1. What are golden parachutes and why are they so important today?

2. What is the difference between comparable worth and equal pay for equal work?

3. What reasons may there be for women earning less than men other than discrimination?