The ambitious project to nationalise the Australian Curriculum has prompted great interest among policymakers, academics and civics teachers in Australian schools. The government-led citizenship education initiative "Discovering Democracy" (1997-2007) comprehensively failed to meet its objectives, most prominently the stated goal of developing active citizens. This article has twin objectives: to explore the ways in which government-directed civics education programmes have fallen short; and to argue for a shift in our approaches to civics education, in terms of both content and delivery, drawing on the surplus model, which credits students with unique ideas, knowledge and experiences. We draw upon "Justice Citizens," an alternative approach to Civics Education that foregrounds students' own interests and abilities as central to their development into active citizens as an example of the educational practices that can promote and strengthen active citizenship among school students. From this programme and other research, we discuss four student-centred themes that should inform further civics education curriculum development.