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Much party communication encourages voters to lower issue-related evaluations of rival parties. Yet, studies of such influence are rare. Drawing on research on political parties' negative campaigning, this article starts to fill this gap. We triangulate evidence from four survey experiments across six issues in Denmark, the US, and Australia, and show that a party's negative campaigning decreases voters' evaluations of the target party's issue-handling competence (i.e. issue ownership), but does not backlash on voters' evaluations of the sponsor. Such attack on the target party does not have to be tied to a negative policy development like the crime rate to undermine the target party's competence evaluations. At the same time, a negative policy development only undermines a party's evaluations when it is accompanied by a rival party's negative campaigning attack. The implications for party competition and the mass-elite linkage are important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the idea of an affirmational republic which, both structurally and symbolically, affirms rather than rejects Australia's British history and heritage while equally celebrating the nation's Indigenous inheritance and multicultural achievements. Part II explores the history of republican advocacy to unpack the common, predominantly symbolic, justifications for republican reform. It then elucidates dual, separate but connected, purposes - one small and practical and one big and symbolic - to show that each purpose may entail a different solution. Part III discerns lessons from the failed 1999 referendum, to help guide what an affirmational republic could involve. The proposed approach is developed further in Part IV. Addressing the practical purpose, I suggest the title 'Governor-General' could be retained (instead of 'President') and provide arguments against direct election. Addressing the symbolic purpose, I suggest an inspiring national Declaration could be better achieved extra-constitutionally, as the Referendum Council recommended in 2017. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Looking back, in December 2020, at the year since Boris Johnson's Conservatives were swept back into government with a huge majority, the author identifies a raft of new laws, Home Office measures and government proposals in the fields of policing, crime, and immigration and asylum which embody long-held rightwing projects. Coming on top of already discriminatory practices, these include restrictions on the fundamental right of peaceful protest and freedom from invasive and racist policing, the subjection of migrants and asylum seekers to dangerous and inhumane conditions and the removal of legal protections for asylum seekers. Simultaneously, Bills going through parliament restrict or remove altogether the legal accountability of state actors, including soldiers on overseas operations and police informants, for crimes including torture and murder. Citizens' recourse to the courts to challenge unlawful ministerial decisions is also under threat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the 'political exemptions ' in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) pose a threat not only to privacy, but to core democratic values, and are therefore unjustifiable. While the threat to privacy imposed by the exemptions has grown more intense in recent years as new technologies usher in increasingly covert and data-intensive techniques for electioneering, proposals to change the law have gained little traction in Parliament. Instead, supporters of the exemptions maintain that the provisions support the proper functioning of the Australian democratic system. This article examines the operation of the exemptions under contemporary conditions, mapping the coverage of the provisions against the current technological and political milieu, in order to evaluate the effects of the exemptions on democratic processes. The analysis reveals that not only do the exemptions expose voters to a greater threat of privacy invasion, they threaten key democratic values which underpin the Australian political system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 21st-century growth in prevalence of extreme right-wing nationalism and social conservatism in Australia, Europe, and America, in certain respects belies the positive impacts of online, new, and alternative forms of global media. Cross-national forms of 'far-right activism' are unconfined to their host nations; individuals and organisations campaign on the basis of ethno-cultural separatism, while capitalising on internet-based affordances for communication and ideological cross-fertilisation. Right-wing revolutionary ideas disseminated in this media, to this end, embody politico-cultural aims that can only be understood with attention to their philosophical underpinnings. Drawing on a dataset of articles from the pseudo-news websites, XYZ and The Unshackled, this paper investigates the representation of different rightist political philosophical traditions in contemporary Australia-based far-right media. A critical discourse and content analysis reveal XYZ and TU's engagement with various traditions, from Nietzsche and the Conservative Revolution, to the European New Right and neo-Nazism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expert voices in media coverage facilitate a well-functioning democracy by informing public debates about policy issues. Experts can fill knowledge gaps in reporting, fact-check statements, refute misinformation, and offer non-partisan perspectives on policy problems. Recent scholarly debates have largely focused on the prevalence of expertise in the public sphere. Critics claim that the demand for instantaneous entertainment has undermined expertise and hastened the decline of expert-informed news coverage. However, opponents argue that journalists are more reliant on experts to make sense of complex political and policy information. This article examines these rival propositions through a longitudinal study of expertise in Australian election reporting. Drawing upon a content analysis of 1270 newspaper articles, this article analyses news coverage of policy issues from the first five Australian election campaigns of the twenty-first century (2001–2013). This article finds that the prevalence of experts in policy coverage largely remained unchanged over the 2000s. In other words, newspapers were consistent in their use of expert sources. However, the evidence does suggest that journalists were politicising policy news by promoting partisans voices, political insiders, and political personalities over policy experts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia has recently endured a very trying bushfire season and is currently enduring a worldwide pandemic with COVID-19. These events raise very significant legal issues, including the powers of the federal government to deal with emergency situations. A particularly noteworthy feature of the federal government's response to these crises has been the use of Defence Force personnel to implement its policy decisions. This article considers the federal government's powers to respond to emergency situations, including the use of the military. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the political situation in the Australian Capital Territory during the second half of 2019. Topics covered include the ways that both the Andrew Barr-led Labor government and the Alistair Coe-led Liberal Opposition are positioning themselves for the election in October 2020, investigations into the Territory government land deals, and controversies surrounding the light rail project and the legalization of cannabis.

The article discusses the political situation in the Northern Territory during the first half of 2020. Topics covered include the resignation of Speaker Kezia Purick after an Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) finding of corrupt conduct, the measures taken by the state government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Federal Court's decision to overturn the 2011 live cattle export ban imposed by then Agriculture Minister Senator Joe Ludwig.

The article discusses the political situation in South Australia during the first half of 2020. Topics covered include the measures taken by the government of Premier Steven Marshall in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, efforts to lift the state's sixteen-year moratorium on the growing of genetically modified (GM) crops, and the closure of three suburban Service SA centres offering over-the-counter access to state government transactions.

The article discusses the political situation in the Australian Capital Territory during the first half of 2020. Topics covered include the state government's response to the bushfire crisis, Premier Andrew Barr's policies to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, and controversy surrounding the legalization of cannabis and the light rail project.

The article discusses the political situation in Western Australia during the first half of 2020. Topics covered include the measures taken by the government of Premier Mark McGowan in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the state government's failure to re-appoint John McKechnie as Commissioner of the Corruption and Crime Commission, and the trial of alleged Claremont serial killer Bradley Robert Edwards.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have campaigned for reform to the Australian state for generations. Over the last decade, debate over constitutional recognition has assumed mainstream prominence as a series of parliamentary and expert bodies designed to raise awareness of the need for change, propose options for that change, and build a community consensus around those proposals, have been established. This article assesses the five public processes undertaken between 2010 and 2017. It explains that constitutional reform has been hampered by state ambivalence towards the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). However, it argues that that same state ambivalence created space for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to eventually take control of the debate, reframe it along their own priorities, and re‐energise the movement for constitutional recognition. Even if prospects for a referendum remain uncertain, the Uluru Statement from the Heart has succeeded in building community consensus for a clear proposal because the UNDRIP informed and influenced its development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the political situation in Vicrotia during the first half of 2020. Topics covered include the formation of Fire Services Victoria (FSV) authority by Premier Daniel Andrews to deal with the bushfire crisis, the measures taken by the state government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the strong community support obtained by the state government for its most repressive policies to contain the coronavirus.

The article discusses the political situation in New South Wales during the first half of 2020. Topics covered include the relief package announced by Premier Gladys Berejiklian in response to the bushfire crisis, the measures taken by the state government in answer to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the introduction of legislation to deal with the downsides of the massive increase in high-rise development in Sydney.

The article discusses the political situation in Australia during the first half of 2020. Topics covered include the government's response to the bushfire crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, and the creation of a national cabinet that met frequently to coordinate policy options. Also discussed is the resignation of Richard Di Natale as leader of the Greens party.

The decision to go to war in Australia remains the prerogative of the Executive. The lack of parliamentary authorisation of perhaps the most significant decision a democracy can make has seen sustained, but unsuccessful, efforts to reform legislation. In the wake of the costly invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, repeated calls for legislative reform of Australia's war powers have failed to find traction amongst Coalition and Australian Labor Party (ALP) leadership. Lamenting the lack of transparency and accountability in the current system, those favouring legislative reform would see authorisation of combat missions placed in the hands of Parliament. However, given the lack of support from either of the major parties, any legislative reform remains unlikely. Given this impasse, this article argues that a compromise option, in the form of a new war‐powers convention, may be a small step towards democratising the decision of going to war. While not legally binding, this constitutional convention would represent an agreement by the major parties that overseas combat operations will be properly debated in Parliament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following 9/11 the Australian government instituted an unprecedented raft of counter-terrorism measures, which introduced both preventative mass surveillance and pre-crime offences. We suggest that this development represents part of a broader turn in the West towards a "militant democratic" approach to countering violent extremism that, whilst not directly targeting Muslims in name, does so in practice, and has had negative unintended consequences for Muslim diaspora communities. To support our claim we draw on 23 interviews with Muslim youths in Melbourne. In doing so we utilise Ghassan Hage's application of misinterpellation to frame our analysis. We found that Muslim Australians are retreating into their ethno-religious identities as a result of a feeling of misrecognition. We also found that a climate of fear and anxiety is leading to self-censorship and that there was a sense of disconnect between the current leadership and Muslim youth, and that as a result government consultation should extend beyond Muslim peak bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In late 2019 and early 2020, bushfires consumed vast swathes of land across southern parts of Australia. The scale and intensity of the fires was unprecedented and the extent of destruction was without parallel. This article asks to what extent anthropology's focus on culture and cultural processes can inform our understanding of the complex politics generated by a situation such as this. It is argued that local people, who were directly affected by the fires, and the political elite, who commented on them from a distance, had different understandings of – and attached different meanings to – these extraordinary events. These cultural differences were especially evident on the question of the extent to which climate change was responsible for generating this environmental disaster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does Australia have a 'strategic policy'? Australia's debate has seen an inflation of the use of the term 'strategic policy', often used synonymously with 'defence policy' and 'strategic guidance' to indicate a major policy or to simply describe Australia's strategic environment. However, far from pure semantics, the term 'strategic policy' has become dissociated from the specific understanding of the policy objectives attached to the use and the threat of the use of military force. Instead, contemporary usage of 'strategic policy' has come to reflect what Everett Carl Dolman called a 'favourable continuation of events', reducing strategy to a mere functional adjective. Moreover, a focus on 'policy' as meeting the objectives of a state, as opposed to 'politik', which encompasses policy, politics and the polity, has led to the restriction on choices and objectives for Canberra. In an increasingly contested Asia, the Australian debate should avoid the obfuscation that comes with a term such as 'strategic policy' as this can have negative implications for Australian force structure and planning. More broadly, the application of the term 'strategic policy' reflects the challenge of Australia as a medium-sized power developing an independent strategy in the context of its history, geography, politics and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the participation of and challenges facing women in international affairs in Australia, with a focus on three sectors: the media, the civil service and the academy. We review the qualitative and quantitative data available, and share the results of a number of surveys and scans we have conducted ourselves: of the gender breakdown of undergraduate enrolments in Australian university courses focusing on international affairs; the gender break down of academic staff employed in politics and international relations programmes at Australian universities; the gender breakdown of authors published in the Australian Journal of International Affairs and the Australian Journal of Politics and History from 2000 to the present; and trends in the gender breakdown of citations in articles published in the Australian Journal of International Affairs between 2000–2001 and 2018–2019. We argue that although women in Australia are interested and engaged in international affairs in almost equal measure to their male counterparts, serious structural challenges continue to undermine their equitable representation in key fora and their career progression. This has clear implications for the future scholarship, practice and analysis of international affairs in Australia and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that Australia's increasingly externalized refugee policy harms queer asylum seekers and refugees. Australia's refugee and foreign policies perpetuate colonial and homophobic relations with states such as Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Nauru to meet Australia's border security priorities. The lack of recognition of queer people in Australia's foreign policy and the harm caused by its regional refugee policies represent a clear contradiction to Australia's claimed liberal human rights diplomatic position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates India and Australia's respective strategic narratives of regional order in the Indo-Pacific. Despite apparently significant convergences in their terminology around the desire for a 'stable', 'prosperous', 'open', 'free' and 'inclusive' Indo-Pacific, the regional order narratives of India and Australia each promote a distinct conception of regional order, reflecting different sets of political, geopolitical, economic and institutional concerns and agendas. India's narrative promotes 'issue-based' alliances with a variety of countries including China, Russia and the United States, to promote a multipolar regional order, and reflects a long-standing desire to culturally identify and economically integrate with East Asian states. Australia's narrative seeks to perpetuate the post-World War II status quo in the region, with respect to the continuation of a dominant US presence. It promotes closer partnerships with countries like India, Japan and Indonesia, within a US-led regional order, to diversify its economic and security relationships amidst perceptions of China's growing assertiveness. It also carves out a central strategic role for Australia in a region where its leaders have traditionally felt like 'outsiders'. The analysis advances a cultural political economy (CPE) approach to strategic narratives, demonstrating how and why strategic narratives are formed, projected and received at particular junctures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent white papers, Australia has identified rising authoritarianism in the region as a key challenge to its regional security interests. Foreign policy discourses highlight Australia's normative commitment to global democracy, and Australia engages in a range of democratic promotion activities. Democracy promotion by Western states has come under scrutiny by analysts of different ideological persuasions. Critics have framed American 'exceptionalism' as really meaning 'exemptionalism', referring to its capacities to create exceptions for itself and its own conduct on the global stage, particularly regarding democracy and human rights. This paper argues that this exemptionalism is not limited to the United States: Australia also engages in practices that have undermined its democracy promotion principles. In some cases, Australia's policies have enabled authoritarianism to flourish unchecked. This paper uses Australia's refugee policy and its effect on the small Pacific Island state of Nauru as a case study. It highlights how the securitisation of asylum seekers for electoral purposes has contributed to Australia carving out an exception for itself in both adherence to international refugee law and the promotion of democracy. It finds that formal democratic processes within Australia have produced undemocratic outcomes in foreign policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines actions taken by the Australian government led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison following the election in May 2019. The parliament was recalled in July primarily to pass the Coalition's budget-announced tax package that took effect from June 30. The government commissioned more than 70 reviews across a number of policy areas, including retirement incomes, defense, nuclear energy and family law.

The article discusses the historical and conceptual framework of race and its role in the development of national identity, migration policy and refugee politics in Australia. Topics discussed include impact of white nationalism on the nation's migration policy or the movement of non-white population in and around Australia, the colonial foundations of Australian whiteness, and the conflict between white politics and the contemporary multicultural and Indigenous policies.

Is the Australian Labor Party (ALP) one party, or eight? Academic accounts of the ALP throughout its history have emphasised the importance of state‐based policy‐making and organisation as evidence that the "life of the party" occurs within state and territory branches. However, over the last three decades, changes to the national conference and constitution, the increasing prominence of national leaders and the professionalisation of campaigning practices have arguably created the conditions for a far more centralised organisation, raising the question of whether, in 2019, there is anything distinctive about the ALP state and territory branches beyond the jurisdictions in which they operate. In this article, we investigate the distinctiveness of state Labor branches in terms of their formal organisational diversity and the characteristics and attitudes of their supporters. Using data from an original survey of Australian party supporters conducted in 2016, as well as undertaking an analysis of formal party rules, we show that the ALP exhibits a high degree of organisational uniformity across its branches, and supporters of the party in all states and territories very closely resemble each other. We conclude that even though the party maintains a federal structure it is possible to study its supportership and formal structure as a national organisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the concept of labor in the Australian Labor Party's administration of state governments in Australia. Topics discussed include analysis of the ideological and policy profile of state Labor governments, policy mechanisms of state Labor governments based on a framework adopted from policy experts Armando Barrientos and Martin Powell, and the comparative profile of modern state-level social democracy in Australia.

In Australia, two‐and‐a‐half party systems are common with the Liberal and National parties, usually needing to collaborate to form governments. In Queensland, the 2008 merger of two of these state parties to create the Liberal National Party (LNP) created instead a two‐party system. This review examines the forces for the merger and prospects for the continuation of the LNP, the likelihood of change as a result of the Queensland merger in the remaining two‐and‐a‐half party systems, and how the drivers of this merger compare with those observed in studies of other non‐Australian party and electoral systems. Pressures and conditions for a merger similar to those in other, mostly European systems, were evident in the case of the LNP. The particular structure of the pre‐merger party competition and relationships was, however, a likely factor in the merger in that two collaborating parties could avoid a contested switch in party seniority. This aspect, unlikely to occur in other Australian party systems, combined with the very limited success of the LNP in gaining and holding government since the merger, does not suggest an imperative for further mergers in other Australian systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how Australia's successful campaign for a non‐permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) (2008‐12) and its subsequent term on the Council (2013‐14) both encouraged and impacted on the country's engagement with Africa. Drawing on extensive interviews with senior Australian politicians and government officials with intimate knowledge of the country's campaign for the UNSC and its time on the Council, as well as with senior African diplomats, the article contributes new knowledge on how Canberra campaigned to secure African UN votes and how it engaged with the Council's Africa‐dominated agenda. The article concludes by evaluating the legacy of this period of high engagement for both ongoing Australia‐Africa relations and Australia's new campaign for a UNSC seat during the 2029‐30 term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'suburban age' has been conceptualised as the dominant global urban spatial reality for the 21st Century, yet the politics associated with this heightened expansiveness remain underdeveloped. Of relevance is the potential for suburban discontentment across a myriad of spaces centred upon the under provision of infrastructure and employment. With urban regions often highly fragmented by local government boundaries, bottom-up inter-local government responses assume significance, including sub-regional advocacy given enduring hierarchical government dependencies. In consideration of the evolving strength of sub-regional advocacy, three institutionalist themes are introduced: credibility, coherency and coordination. Empirical insights are presented from chief executive officer (CEO)-based interviews conducted across expansive Melbourne, Australia. In Melbourne, a 'weak mayor/strong CEO' local government system predominates beneath a state government with extensive metropolitan responsibilities. Melbourne's sub-metropolitan regional structures have recently looked to strengthen their external presence through actions illustrative of the identified themes, with local government CEOs playing a key role in directing their evolving character. The global 'suburban age' must be associated with heightened sub-regional competition across enlarged urban regions, the management of which will present a growing spatial challenge for political leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section offers news briefs on politics in Australia as of June 2019. The coalition government of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has experienced disunity. The government has introduced a budget which aims to appease voters and begin to repair the damage caused by the political leadership crisis in 2018. Politician and businessman Clive Palmer has announced his decision to run as a Queensland candidate in the Senate.

The Australian Greens only formed as a national party in 1992. Here, some of the first young Australians able to inherit Greens party identity are examined. Analysis of youth cohort data from the state of Queensland, spanning 5 years (n = 2160; aged 17–22), shows that parental political affiliation (especially maternal affiliation) strongly influences Greens party identification as it does for the major parties. However, Greens are less likely than major party identifiers to exhibit stable party allegiances over time. Defections between Greens and Labor are also far more likely than between these parties and conservative parties (Liberals or Nationals). The comparatively recent formation of the Australian Greens accounts for the relative instability of Greens identity over time. Nevertheless, inter-generational transmission of Greens identity should translate into a relatively stable electoral base for the Greens, helping ensure they remain an influential presence in Australian federal politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the Gillard government formed a minority government in 2010 many commentators argued that the government would be unable to fulfil its mandate. Despite this, the Gillard government was able to pass a record amount of legislation – comparable to previous majority-led governments – suggesting the government was effective at negotiating legislative passage. Less understood is whether the Gillard government was able to keep its election promises given the constraints of minority government. This is an important empirical and normative question. In their most basic form elections are designed to allow the public to hold politicians and political parties to account for their past performance. Central to this is whether parties have fulfilled the promises they made at the previous election. But how do parties express election promises to citizens and are they likely to fulfil these promises? Does minority government status make a difference? We examine these questions in the first contemporary Australian study of promise fulfilment, examining promises made and promise fulfilment of the Gillard minority government (2010–2013). We adopt the methods of the Comparative Party Pledges Project (CPPP). Consistent with the international literature, we find that the Gillard government fulfilled most of its election promises suggesting minority government status did not have a large effect on promise fulfilment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses political issues concerning the Commonwealth of Australia as of 2019. Topics explored include the resignation of Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his succession by Treasurer Scott Morrison, the contribution of the Australian Liberal Party to the replacement of Turnbull, and the disclosure of information regarding the planned raids on Australian Workers' Union (AWU) offices by the Australian Federal Police.