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Various electronic voting channels have been introduced across a range of countries. In some countries these new channels have proved uncontroversial, while in others, they remain contentious and have even been abandoned. Relatively little is known about whether and why voters have confidence in new and old voting channels. Australia provides a useful case for researching these issues, since it is a mature democracy in which election processes and outcomes are widely accepted. The 2013 Australian Election Study results show that in this context, voters have most confidence in paper-based voting and least in voting via smartphones. Positive political attachments, ease of voting and familiarity with technology are all associated with higher levels of confidence in voting channels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prime Minister Julia Gillard released the 'Australia in the Asian Century' White Paper in October 2012, describing it as 'a roadmap showing how Australia can be a winner in the Asian Century'. This article provides a review of Australia's progress on engagement with Asia 2 years after the White Paper. It covers the political and performance status of key Asia- related initiatives following the election of the Abbott government. It finds a high level of continuity and support for individual policies and objectives in the White Paper. However, there have been some significant changes in policy, emphasis and approach and emerging areas of underperformance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the preferences and experiences of the councillor level of New South Wales (NSW, Australia) local government, concerning the public service values that guide the council staff working under a politicised employment relationship. The results of the study show that councillors perceive council staff to be as largely neutral in their behaviour as they expect them to be. The paper further reports that the council staff (in the view of councillors) do not politically respond to any unreasonable demands made by elected officials or act as the trustee of the public interest in competition with them. Data for this study were collected through interviews, a survey, and from secondary sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From its origins in the study of the European Union, the concept of multi-level governance (MLG) can contribute to understanding the capacity for, and barriers to, dynamism and innovation in the Australian federation. By placing the quality of the interactions between different jurisdictions at different spatial scales at the centre of analysis, the concept helps to underpin the argument that constitutional change in formal roles and responsibilities is not sufficient, and may not even be necessary, for reform of Australian federalism. The following steps are made in the paper. The first defines the main elements of MLG and its advantages for extra-constitutional analysis of multi-level policy coordination. The characteristics of MLG observed in contemporary Australian federalism are set out next. The final section presents a critique of the current Reform of the Federation White Paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Colombo Plan and Point Four program were programs that provided technical and economic assistance to the newly independent countries of Southeast Asia. They represented Commonwealth and American attempts to promote economic development in the region. This paper will investigate how these policies, which were framed by US policy‐makers and academics, were adopted in Australia. In so doing, it will demonstrate the ways that development was perceived as an important consideration in the foreign policies of both Australia and the United States. It will also examine the place of these programs in the Cold War and postcolonial world of the 1950s. As this paper will show, the interaction of these factors would affect Australian foreign policy for decades to come, revealing much about the complex nature of the Australian‐American relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking into consideration the November 2015 Australian Government Senate Standing Committees on Community Affairs final report on violence towards people with disability in institutional and residential settings, this paper explores the framing and epistemology of torture as practised against people with disability in sites of incarceration. Examining Giorgio Agamben’s account of biopolitical sovereignty, this paper considers torture against people with disability as facilitated by legal exception. Extending this perspective further, and drawing on scholarship which examines anti-black violence in the context of policing and mass incarceration, it is argued that torture against people with disability constitutes an epistemic problem, where people with disability are framed as available for excessive violence without recourse to justice systems. This essay argues for more attention to the links between the torture experienced by people with disability in different sites of incarceration and systemic violence against racialized populations, particularly in the context of mass imprisonment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Governments frequently develop policies that are strategic in nature. Strategic issues at the national level are those requiring long timeframes for impact, coordinated approaches across multiple tiers of government, are cross-sectoral, and require systemic approaches to design and implementation. Yet the process of how national strategic polices are developed and implemented in Australia is unclear, and largely unattended in the literature. This paper provides a foundation to understanding the characteristics of strategic polices and approaches to their development. Five national policies are compared (National Competition Policy, National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development, the Strategic Roadmap for Australian Research Infrastructure, Australia in the Asian Century, and the National Food Plan) and discussed. An analytical framework is constructed and key attributes of strategic policy identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to examine how the postpolitical era of planning has created both binaries and intersections in the reimaging of transport futures and how the latter precipitates a redefinition of democratic transport prioritisation. Focusing particularly on the point in the transport planning process when urban transport priorities are identified, the paper explores how citizens respond to the inherently political, yet not always democratic, aspects of setting transport investment priorities. This relationship is investigated through a single case study of Melbourne, Australia where a six km inner city road tunnel was deemed a ‘done deal’ by elected officials in the lead up to a state election, removing the controversial project from open public scrutiny. Drawing upon ethnographic research and semi-structured interviews with community campaigners opposing the proposed East West Link road tunnel, this analysis reveals how community-based groups and individual residents alike can evolve beyond NIMBY-focused agitation to garner a spatially dispersed re-politicisation of urban transport priorities. While the postpolitical framing of infrastructure delivery introduces a binary between state interventionist planning and citizen opposition, it is the mobilisation of action through the spaces of intersection where new political paradigms for transport planning are created. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twelve years have elapsed since the Review of Business Taxation (RBT) set out its international business tax reform recommendations in A Tax System Redesigned and 10 years have now elapsed since the Review of International Taxation Arrangements (RITA) was announced. These reviews were the first major evaluation of Australia's international tax regime since the late 1980's and early 1990's when Australia's international tax rules were 'modernised'. As tax reform is not a linear process, many recommendations have been implemented or shelved, while others have continued to evolve (eg Australia's tax treaty policy) or have been absorbed into other projects (eg Board of Taxation, Review of the Foreign Source Income Anti-deferral Regimes: Report (September 2008)). Other international tax reform measures were progressed outside the RBT and RITA processes. Given the magnitude of the changes it has been difficult to track: • what were the outcomes of the reviews; • which recommendations were adopted; • which recommendations have been enacted; and • which measures are still outstanding or have lapsed. As the Government commences to implement the recommendations of Australia's future tax system: Report to the Treasurer, released on 2 May 2010, it is crucial to catalogue the reform outcomes, particularly as the Report did not focus on international tax issues. This is done by first providing a brief overview of the key international reform processes before providing detailed history of the reform proposals and their fate in tabular form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offshore detention and bilateral free trade constitute hallmarks of Australia's international policy. This paper explores how these policy directions were originally justified in the Pacific Solution and the Australia‐US Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA). In the literature both policies are theorised as security offerings but whilst the Pacific Solution is obviously exclusionary, AUSFTA aimed at including Australia in the US's orbit. This suggests that security as a justification for policy is flexible, complex, and warrants closer observation of its practical articulations. Reviewing the speeches with which the relevant Ministers introduced their legislation, I argue that offshore detention and bilateral free trade derive from a specific language of security in which policy‐makers view individual actors as the basis of national threats. The language of security invokes a threatening international environment by focussing on the selfish and amoral components of human behaviour whilst diminishing social institutions and collective structures. Vague anarchy and simplified individualism position the state as a righteous protector rather than a rational policy‐maker. I conclude by questioning whether this is a sound basis for policy and canvass options for escaping the language of security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an examination of Australian foreign policy issues between January and December 2009. It discusses issues such as the impact of the Global Financial Crisis on the Australian economy and explores United States' response to the issue, the delivery of the Defence White Paper, which outlines the country's military expenses, the Chinese steel industry's demand for Australian iron-ore and the Australian policy on the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan and the continued deployment of troops.

In 1931, the All for Australia League and other 'citizens movements' mounted a major challenge to the established conservative parties. Traditional views of the League saw it as a reflection of economic group interests, whether of the business establishment or dissident capitalists such as manufactures. More recent scholarship has stressed middle-class concerns with 'sound finance' as the inspiration of the League. This paper instead situates the League in the historical context of centre party projects in New South Wales, and of progressivism, in particular industrial psychology. The economic crisis and the rightward shift of the nationalists enabled a group of political entrepreneurs to transform the League from a front group ]hr business into a populist movement. However, the shift of mainstream conservatism back to the political centre fatally undercut the League's support base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years the concept of 'governance' has become a widely used concept within political science discourse. Although the meanings of 'governance' are contested, its position of influence is rarely questioned. This paper contends that the term exercises a prescriptive influence that shapes understandings about how governing should be interpreted and executed in the current era. The paper begins by examining briefly several prominent 'narratives of governance' that currently frame contemporary understandings of the term's significance. Attention then turns to an analysis of the return of 'governance', conceptually speaking, to the discourse of political science in Australia. The paper identifies when this began to occur and then examines the conceptual load that scholars expected 'governance' to carry at that time. These meanings are then counterpoised against the currently dominant cluster of meanings noted earlier in the paper to illustrate that they are not the only ways of interpreting how 'governance' should be understood. Furthermore, it will also be suggested that these hegemonic meanings represent a trajectory that, paradoxically, de-politicises what was once a clearly politicised term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite substantial costs to society associated with the adverse consequences of joblessness, studies estimating actual costs are rare. This paper identifies the main costs to the Government of long-term jobless families in Australia. The costs were split into three groups: immediate support costs, immediate opportunity costs, and indirect/intergenerational costs. Using a microsimulation model, the paper estimates the fiscal costs, which include immediate support costs such as the welfare system, and the immediate opportunity costs such as potential revenue from the tax system. We estimate that welfare payments and lost taxation revenue from long-term joblessness cost the Government AU$5.55 billion per year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past two decades have witnessed the application of new forms of conditionality to Australian social security policy. This paper argues that a distinctive feature has been the attempt to link receipt of government benefits to parental behaviour in order to address concerns about the welfare of children. With a view to providing a framework that can help to inform debates regarding the merits of these new forms of conditionality, this paper outlines the historical antecedents and philosophical framework of new conditionality. The paper also examines three pertinent Australian social security initiatives: the Maternity Immunisation Allowance, the Improving School Enrolment and Attendance through Welfare Reform Measure, and Compulsory Income Management. The paper concludes with some consideration of the potential pitfalls of new conditionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines data on intra‐Australian trade and Australian international trade before and after the establishment of an Australian Customs union at Federation in 1901. The paper infers from these data that the Federation customs union cannot be simply summarised as ‘nationalising’ of Australian trade relationships. Internal trade ties did not unambiguously strengthen outside of Victoria. And while there is evidence that Victoria and New South Wales did redirect exports from the rest of the world to the rest of Australia, the data also indicate that the smaller states actually strengthened their exports to the rest of the world, perhaps as a resort in the face of a customs union that was a benefit to the larger states and not themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amid the growing ‘teacher quality’ discourse, early career teachers have increasingly been positioned as problematic in Australian education policy discourses over the past decade. This paper uses a critical policy historiography approach to compare representations of early career teachers in two key education policy documents, from the late 1990s and mid-2010s. Starting with the Government response toA Class Act: Inquiry into the Status of the Teaching Profession(1998) and moving to the Government response toAction Now: Classroom Ready Teachers(2015), it explores changing representations in the context of broader shifts in education policy related to teachers’ work over this timeframe. It argues that the early career teacher ‘problem’ is articulated in very different ways in these two timeframes, explores the antecedents of key tenets of the current policy settlement, and, using the theory of practice architectures, considers the implications of these for the preconditions that shape and frame teachers’ work in contemporary times. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper shows that the focus of Australia's 'declared' defence policy has oscillated between local and regional defence, whereas its 'operational' policy—the views contained in internal planning and guidance documents—has taken a mid-course, focusing on defending Australia's northern approaches. Australia's two policy domains coincided briefly in the mid-1980s but have since diverged as we have again begun to emphasise regional defence. This shift could signal the end of 'defence self-reliance'. While representing a setback for the Hawke government, such a result is necessary as Australia's 'operational' policy is flawed and in need of replacement. The danger is that, as in the past. Australian governments and their advisers will continue to adjust their rhetoric rather than their real policies to our changing circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizenship education in Australia is embedded throughout the school curriculum. Despite a coherent policy context for the inclusion of citizenship and civic education at all levels of schooling, the links between education and civic minded citizens are tenuous. This paper explores these connections by drawing on the views of participants in an international community service program between Western Australia and Tanzania. By situating the interview data in relation to the policy goals, the paper argues that the current policy framework 'sanitises' the political nature of modern citizenship. The results from this study demonstrate that students have little understanding of the connections between the civic, the social and the political realms of citizenship. These results suggest that the current policy context does not adequately prepare young people to position themselves in the political realm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australian government is constructing a National Broadband Network (NBN), which at an estimated cost of $43 billion will be Australia's largest ever infrastructure project. The NBN, if its full benefits are to be realized, raises a number of important, but largely unexplored, questions for planning. This paper investigates the implications of the NBN for Australian metropolitan planning focusing on the question of how these plans will exploit the NBN to improve urban outcomes. The paper examines the Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane metropolitan areas and analyses the strategies shaping the future of these regions during the rollout and implementation of the NBN. This comparative analysis reveals similarities across these three metropolitan areas in their weak stance towards the NBN. Some key findings include: (1) a segregation of infrastructure planning and metropolitan planning; (2) a lack of consistency between different policies within each metropolitan area and (3) policy gaps regarding the role of telecommunications at the metropolitan level. Considering the number of governments worldwide that are making large investments in high-speed broadband, this paper addresses policy issues that will impact upon metropolitan planning well beyond the borders of Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australian government has launched a consultation on the possible reform of domestic contract law. The Attorney- General's Department is currently seeking stakeholder views on the need to reduce inconsistencies and/or remove outdated rules, and on ways to improve legal certainty generally both for businesses and consumers alike. Its current discussion paper, though open-ended as regards next steps, appears to be talking the language of simplification and coherence that has resonated particularly in the EU for well over a decade. Yet, the ongoing, high-profile project aimed at delivering a more coherent and uniform contract law for Europe's internal market has to date proved controversial, and recent concrete initiatives have generated much adverse commentary, particularly from law-and-economics scholars. The European experience therefore offers a series of signposts but equally a number of hazard markers for the Attorney- General's Department. Indeed, many of the broad assumptions underlying developments in the EU rest on weak foundations. The European institutions have further followed a number of dead ends in the pursuit of 'coherence' that ought reasonably to be avoided. This paper explores potential risks underlying the current Australian reform process and offers a number of suggestions on a possible way forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In early 2012, the then Attorney-General published a discussion paper on codifying Australian contract law. This article examines whether such a course of action is necessary, desirable and possible. It concludes that many of the problems that are identified in the discussion paper can be more easily dealt with in other ways. A degree of scepticism is expressed about the desirability of codification. Some drawbacks are identified. The experience of codification in other jurisdictions suggests that codification will be possible. The process of producing a code will nevertheless be extremely difficult. This article concludes that, if the Australian Government is going to go down the route of a contract code, it should proceed with great caution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies what can be called the 'paradox of interdisciplinarity' (Weingart ) in Australian higher education research governance and explores some of its constitutive dimensions. In the Australian context, the paradox of interdisciplinarity primarily concerns the proliferation of a programmatic discourse of interdisciplinarity in government reports and government policy and strategy documents, often tied to notions of innovation and applicability, parallel to the persistence or even reinforcement of modes of governance and associated mechanisms that almost exclusively rely on rigid discipline-based classification systems to evaluate and fund research. Two interrelated dimensions of this apparent paradox are discussed. First, the conceptions of knowledge that underpin the use of notions of disciplinarity as well as interdisciplinarity in Australian government reports and policy and strategy papers are analysed. Second, an analysis of the Australian research governance system and its underlying mechanisms is presented, as they pertain to interdisciplinary forms of research. On the basis of these analyses, it is concluded that there is a significant mismatch between the discourse of interdisciplinarity and associated conceptions of knowledge on the one hand, and current, relatively inflexible governmental research funding and evaluation practices on the other. It is finally proposed that the occurrence and perpetuation of such a mismatch in the Australian context can only be understood properly if placed in the context of a more general paradox of research governance, where a politically charged rhetoric of innovation conflicts with the actual trend toward an increasingly diminishing scope for the self-organisation of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across the developed world, including Australia, public policymaking now rests heavily on commissioned reports generated by for-profit consultants, contrasting starkly with the earlier customary reliance on the civil service to provide informed policy advice to political decision makers. Dependence on commercial consultants is problematic, especially given the moral hazards involved in 'hired guns' providing support for policy 'solutions' desired by their political paymasters. This paper provides a vivid illustration of some of the dangers flowing from the use of consultants by examining the methodology employed by KPMG in its empirical analysis of the pecuniary consequences of proposed municipal mergers as part of the New South Wales' (NSW) Government's Fit for the Future local government reform program. We show that the KPMG (2016) modelling methodology is awash with errors which render its conclusions on the financial viability of the NSW merger proposals fatally flawed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of ‘problem-solving courts’ (e.g. drug courts, mental health courts) is claimed by some to represent a significant shift in the administration of justice. Problem-solving courts purport to address the underlying social, medical and/or psychological issues that are often understood as driving certain populations’ contact with criminal justice systems. Although there is a large body of research examining the operation and efficacy of such courts, there is minimal critical research on how these courts have been conceptualized by governments as logical, suitable ‘solutions’ to both particular ‘problems’ in society and ‘problem populations’, and the various implications thereof. In this paper, we examine these issues through an adaptation of Australian post-structuralist theorist, Carol Bacchi’s theoretical framework. Bacchi argues that policy ‘problems’ do not precede policy interventions, but that ‘problems’ are instead constituted by and given meaning through implicit policy representations. In this paper we consider how two Australian problem-solving courts – Victoria’s Drug Court and the Assessment and Referral Court List for people with cognitive impairments or mental illness – have been conceptualized by Victoria’s Parliament to target their populations, the ‘problems’ they purport to address, and with what effects for targeted populations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Australian Journal of Political Science is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Contemporary Australian public policy has come to rely increasingly on technical reports produced by commercial consultants in contrast to the traditional approach, which employed disinterested public servants to generate the specialist information required to inform decision makers. This approach is fraught with problems, not least the fact that 'hired guns' have strong incentives to create the 'answers' sought by their employers. By way of a 'cautionary tale', this paper examines the empirical evidence adduced in favour of radical amalgamation of Tasmanian local authorities in Local Government Structural Reform in Tasmania, produced by Deloitte Access Economics (DAE) (2011), and commissioned by the Property Council of Tasmania. In particular, the paper provides a critical analysis of the econometric modelling undertaken in the DAE (2011) Report. We find that if the DAE model is re-estimated - employing alternative functional forms - then the empirical evidence in support of Tasmania council merges evaporates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Victoria's Regional Management Forums were established in 2005 to facilitate collaboration between Victorian Government departments and local government in each of Victoria's eight administrative regions. At the time they were established, Regional Management Forums were a pioneering experiment in collaborative governance. Seven years after their establishment, this paper examines the Regional Management Forums to consider how they have evolved, what role they now serve, and what lessons can be learned. This paper finds that Victoria's Regional Management Forums have been able to adapt to an evolving policy and governance context. While not without their challenges, Regional Management Forums have given rise to regional-scale thinking and collaborative relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions of property rights are central to the organisation of urban space yet remain weakly theorised in the context of sexuality. Tracing battles over spaces of commercial sex in inner Sydney, this paper argues that particular claims to privacy and property underpin exclusionary actions restricting the boundaries of sexual citizenship. However, the paper also notes the potential for the emergence of ‘sexual commons’ where claims to an enhanced notion of sexual citizenship can be made. The paper concludes that property rights consist of overlapping and complex claims to space in which questions of sexuality and the sanctity of family life are often brought to the fore. In arguing this, the paper demonstrates that property rights constitute a key mechanism in the management and regulation of the (nocturnal) city. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper seeks to enter the current debate over the future of the South Australian Legislative Council by critiquing recent reform proposals and then outlining some modest suggestions for reform. The paper contends that a number of recent reform proposals are explicitly partisan and seek to enlarge the role of large parties and majority government. On the contrary others would ban political parties. The paper contends that whilst the Legislative Council exhibits many of the characteristics of an effective and useful upper house, reform of four areas would enable its review function to be improved. These areas include: the size of the Council; the term lengths of members; the method for resolving deadlocks; and the method for replacing retiring members. The paper then critically examines the proposal to ban political parties; and argues instead that instituting the Robson Rotation system would promote freedom of association and freedom of choice by voters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of state architecture on gender policy and politics is an emergent strand of feminist research. This paper contributes to this research by undertaking a detailed case study of one specific gender policy area – domestic violence policy – in old federation Australia. Drawing on the experiences of the past decade, it confirms earlier research findings that demonstrate that under certain conditions, federal structures can influence the development of gender policy in positive ways, such as providing opportunities for ‘venue shopping’ and policy innovation. The paper engages, too, with recent research on Australian federalism and challenges the consensus about the centralised nature of the Australian federal system by demonstrating that in the area of gender policy, states and territories are more than just the implementation arms of the Commonwealth government. Sub-national governments continue to play an important and autonomous role in policy relating to women and therefore remain central sites for advancing gender equality. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The global recession of 2008-09 brought Keynesian countercyclical budgeting back into vogue - conveniently for governments of the Left such as the incoming Rudd Labor government in Australia. This paper reviews some of the key moments of 20th century macroeconomic policy to assess the reasons and rationale for this revival and concludes that the lessons of those experiences are not always what they seem to be. The paper argues that: (1) Keynesianism is often confused with a narrow focus on fiscal, rather than monetary, policy and an emphasis on full employment at any cost; (2) the return of Keynesianism in Australia has only been made possible by an unusual, if not unprecedented, convergence of conducive conditions; (3) the 'automatic stabilisers' significantly reduce the necessity for discretionary fiscal policy; and (4) policy achievements must be seen in the light of Australia's external economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of what has been written on the topic of Australian rural youth migration trends and processes has often proceeded from data-free, or data-poor grounds. In this context, this paper analyses recent trends in youth (15 to 24 years of age) migration for a temporally-consistent set of Statistical Divisions (SDs) in inland rural Australia, and for local government areas within the Northern Tablelands and Slopes and Ranges of northern New South Wales and the Western Australian Central Wheatbelt. The paper finds that rates of youth loss from rural regions have increased over the past twenty years. Yet the patterns, processes, causes and impacts of rural youth migration are distributed in a spatially-uneven fashion. Some remote areas are receiving net migration gains while booming ‘sea change’ coastal regions have experienced heavy losses. While the ‘flight to the bright city lights’ syndrome is evident, relatively high proportions of young people in the Northern SD of NSW move within their immediate region. Nevertheless, some common understandings concerning youth mobility were also confirmed. Gender differentials in migration propensity between women and men are evident even at quite local scales. Young people are also more likely to search out capital cities than the rest of the population. Most inland areas still continue to experience heavy losses of local youth. A more precise understanding of rural youth migration trends is an important stepping stone in the establishment of a reinvigorated research effort into young rural people's perspectives of their changing life chances in their home communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whilst often being overshadowed by debate surrounding personal income and consumption taxes, the Howard government has also devoted significant resources to reviewing and reforming business and capital taxation. This paper provides an overview of the Ralph Review of Business Taxation and the Howard government's mixed record when it came to the implementation of the Ralph reforms. Having documented the subsequent changes in corporate income, capital gains and superannuation taxation, the paper analyses their economic impact. The paper concludes with an assessment of the longer term political significance of these changes and asks whether the concessional taxation of capital that has occurred under the Howard government represents a fundamental shift in the basis of Australian taxation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent introduction of written ‘compacts’ between government and community services organisations (CSOs) in Australia offers the promise of meaningful co-production of policy. However, recent research has highlighted that many in the community sector continue to perceive that there are significant constraints on their capacity to engage in advocacy. This paper examines the impact of the current governance regimes on the Australian community sector and explores the dimensions of these perceived constraints. The paper argues that both government and community sectors must make concessions and adjustments. Governments must accept that the use of contracting monopolies to stifle advocacy has weakened their capacity to deliver responsive services, while community organisations must accept that new governance regimes require new modes of participation in the policy process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia, one of the most cosmopolitan of contemporary western societies, has a long history of immigrant entrepreneurship, with many ethnic groups significantly over-represented in entrepreneurial activities, particularly in the small business sector of the Australian economy. This paper addresses the changing policy context that shapes the rate of formation of - and the growth and expansion of - ethnic enterprises in Australia. At a macro level, changes to Australian immigration and settlement policy and taxation policy indirectly impact on rates of immigrant minority entrepreneurship formation and survival. At the micro level, policy development that impacts directly on minority immigrant enterprises in Australia is very recent and largely undeveloped. This paper looks at immigrant entrepreneurship in Australia, including spatial dimensions, and at the impact of changing macro policy. It then reviews three key areas of micro policy responses to immigrant entrepreneurship: the education and training needs of ethnic entrepreneurs; policies designed to encourage unemployed immigrants to become entrepreneurs; and policy related to government strategies to improve communication with ethnic entrepreneurs. This paper concludes that there are few direct policy initiatives to promote immigrant entrepreneurship in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

he meaning of the term ‘community service obligation’ (CSO) has been a point of conjecture in recent years. This paper highlights the importance of CSOs within the context of the accountability of public sector organisations. In particular the paper advocates the need to formulate an agreed definition of a CSO. The paper seeks to distil such a definition by using academics and GBE representatives as authoritative opinions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores Australia's multi-level system of governance and considers its implications for urban and regional policy. The paper addresses four main questions about Australian urban governance. In what ways can Australia's federal system of urban governance be contrasted with models in other developed countries? How have shifts in recent decades within Australia's federal system affected urban governance? What have been the main characteristics of change within Australia's state/territory planning systems in recent decades, and to what extent have these affected multi-level governance of space? Finally, what lessons about the strengths and weaknesses of a federal system of urban governance can be drawn from the Australian experience? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outcome of the Symposium reported in AJPA 58(1) is said by the convenors to be that there are many different kinds of accountability and that there may be clashes between them. This paper suggests one possible reason is that the Westminster label hides the potential tensions between the increasing demands for accountability, more responsiveness and responsibility, the new public management and the institutional framework. Everyone wishes to cover perceived unmet demands and expectations, providing we remain with basic Westminster as our starting point. The paper suggests that commitment to what we call Westminster is the problem. It restricts understanding of the reality of Australian governance because it is not an uncontested term. Westminster is made to mean whatever the normative stance of the commentator requires. The paper argues that it is an opportune time to answer some basic questions about responsible parliamentary democracy in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem identified in this paper is twofold. One is the plight of public housing at the end of the decade, with State programs undermined by Commonwealth funding cuts; the other is the problem of intergovernmental reform and its consequences for discrete areas of policy such as housing. The paper traces developments in Commonwealth–State housing arrangements, beginning with the reforms initiated through the Council of Australian Governments through to the still uncertain future of public housing under the Howard government. It examines a number of inquiries into housing and recommendations for reform which served the plans of reformist governments intent on separating out the functional roles and responsibilities of the Commonwealth and the States. In particular, these inquiries advocated an ‘affordability’ benchmark which sought to blur the distinction between public and private rental housing leading, inevitably, to the residualisation of the public housing sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Facing budgetary challenges, successive Australian Governments have chosen to proportionally reduce public expenditure on universities relative to levels of activity in both teaching and research. The question asked in this paper is whether Australia’s universities increased their efficiency in a manner consistent with the demands of government to provide productivity “dividends” or efficiencies?Design/methodology/approach Using archival data for 37 Australian universities from 2007 to 2013, this paper examines changes in productivity of university groups and individual institutions using the data envelopment analysis technique.Findings Results show a statistically significant system-wide (or technological) productivity improvement of 15.2 per cent from 2007 to 2013, but there was little average individual institutional change in efficiency. Productivity improvements were clearly observable for the Group of 8 institutions with an improvement of 25.1 per cent.Research limitations/implications Universities, like other public sector bodies, can both improve individually and as an overall system. The system has improved greatly in terms of productivity at higher levels than may be anticipated.Originality/value Using data contemporaneous with a period of great change in university funding and sector competition, this study reveals how some universities benefited, whereas others struggled to maintain their relative position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2014 the Coalition government announced a 320 million dollar package for drought-hit farmers. In describing this initiative as a 'hand-up' not a 'hand out' Prime Minister Tony Abbott encapsulated more than 150 years of tension over whether government drought response should be unconditional limited relief or conditional longer-term assistance. This paper considers the long history of drought assistance in Australia as seen through government legislation, year books, newspapers and personal papers. It argues that despite changing political and social circumstances, contradictions in the approach to government drought response, as well as in public and personal reactions to those policies, have remained remarkably consistent. We further suggest that lack of consensus over the inherent nature of drought is not sufficient to explain the dilemma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the dynamic behaviour of the Okun coefficient using quarterly data (1980Q3-2014Q1). It is found that a rise in labour productivity and a fall in output can increase unemployment. A 1 per cent reduction in the unemployment rate requires only a 2.4 per cent increase in real output growth above the average growth rate, but during recessions this figure increases to 4.53 per cent. The probability of observing a higher coefficient was limited to recessionary periods. Given that recessions are now less frequent, Okun's law continues to be a useful rule of thumb in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The Commonwealth's periodic attempts at housing and urban policy reform since the 1940s have been made in the face of a federal structure that allocates responsibility for such matters to the states. This paper explores the experience of federal governments since the 1940s, considering the various styles of political leadership, varying ways in which the problem has been framed, and differing policy settings that have been employed in resolving policy challenges. The historical narrative clarifies phases of active engagement and reaction, linking these to fiscal asymmetry and distribution of federal--state responsibilities, historical 'gateway' events, and transitions in policy paradigms. We argue that housing is a perpetual concern (both a basic need and an aspirational objective) and is so integrally related to other policy domains--in which decisions may have unintended consequences for housing--that it is never conclusively resolved. The complexity (and uncertainty) consequent upon these inter-relationships ensures that housing remains a wicked problem. The visual metaphor of a complexity cascade, however, may assist a more nuanced appreciation of the direction of policy travel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australian governments are facing some confusion about public sector accountability. This paper argues that the opaque nature of accountability which persists is the result of changes being wrought, separately and together, by a number of macro factors of which public sector reform and corruption inquiries are but two. This explanation is developed by an examination of some fifteen specific issues which are symptomatic of the lack of transparency in Australian public sector accountability, and simultaneously, contribute to it. The paper contends that clarity is likely to emerge only slowly as gaps and anomalies are recognised and gradually remedied. The paper seeks to contribute to the process by offering a definition of accountability and an outline of several different types of accountability frameworks now operating in Australian governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]