VCE PoliticsPractice Examination 20

This paper covers

• Weapons of mass destruction as the committed global issue (Unit 3 AoS1): short-term causes since 2016 (North Korea's ICBM/thermonuclear tests, Iran's post-JCPOA breakout enrichment, Russia's nuclear signalling and New START suspension), interconnectedness in proliferation risk (dual-use tech transfer, illicit networks, AUKUS/nuclear-adjacent tech diffusion), responses of global actors (IAEA safeguards and inspections, UN Security Council sanctions regimes, NPT Review Conferences, TPNW, bilateral arms control), and evaluation of response effectiveness against enforcement gaps
• Abuse of human rights as the committed contemporary crisis (Unit 3 AoS2): the Rohingya crisis and Myanmar post-coup atrocities as the core case (causes, competing actor perspectives — Myanmar Tatmadaw, ASEAN, Bangladesh, ICJ/ICC, UN), consequences (displacement, Cox's Bazar, statelessness), and effectiveness of responses (ICJ provisional measures in The Gambia v Myanmar, UN Human Rights Council fact-finding, ASEAN's non-interference constraint, targeted sanctions)
• Indonesia as the committed Indo-Pacific state (Unit 4 AoS1): national interests (sovereignty, territorial integrity incl. Natuna Islands/South China Sea, economic development, ASEAN centrality, ‘free and active' bebas-aktif foreign policy), power projection (soft power via ASEAN chairmanship and diplomacy, hard power modernisation, smart power in G20 hosting), internal challenges (Papua separatism, religious/ethnic diversity management, democratic backsliding concerns) and external challenges (China's South China Sea assertiveness, US-China strategic competition pressure), and effectiveness in achieving national interests
• Australia in the Indo-Pacific (Unit 4 AoS2, compulsory): Australia's national interests (security, economic prosperity, regional relationships, international standing), power projection (AUKUS, Pacific Step-up, ODA), and Australia-Indonesia relationship specifically (2018 IA-CEPA trade agreement, Lombok Treaty security cooperation, people smuggling and boat turnback tensions) for the Section B source-based questions
• Section C integration: C1 fuses WMD proliferation responses with human rights abuse responses under a single evaluative lens (effectiveness of multilateral/bilateral action in constraining state behaviour); C2 fuses Indonesia's power/national-interest pursuit with Australia's regional interests via the bilateral relationship
• VCAA command-term calibration (describe/outline through explain/discuss/analyse/contrast to evaluate) mapped precisely to the fixed 16-question, 80-mark structure with exact per-question marks as specified, using named dated contemporary evidence (2016–2026) throughout every sample answer and marking-criteria set

Students are permitted to bring into the examination the materials normally allowed for this subject. Answer all questions in the spaces provided.

This is an ATARMAxxing practice paper. It is not an official examination and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced by the VCAA, NESA or the QCAA.