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The election coverage of the New South Wales, Australia, premiership by the Sydney Morning Herald was affected by the newspaper's use of a single polling firm and the gender distinctions in its surveys. John Fahey's appeal to women over Bob Carr was overstated when the data was compared incorrectly. The connection between leader choice and party support was overemphasized. Other polls and polling firms did not substantiate the original findings.

Long before the introduction of federal trade practices legislation or tariff reform, governments in Australia -- especially Labor governments -- attempted to reduce the costs or improve the quality of goods and services by establishing government business enterprises. With the rise of neo-liberalism industry policy of this kind all but disappeared. According to the National Commission of Audit (NCA), established by the Howard Government, there were only three circumstances in which Government Business Enterprises (GBEs) could be justified: when 'the private sector was seen as incapable of delivering the required products or services'; when 'the community considered it appropriate that government should own a firm that operated as a natural monopoly'; or when 'the government wanted to fulfil a community service obligation'. Thus article offers a historically-grounded critique of the NCA's position. It traces the history of GBEs as a spur to competition across the states and the Commonwealth. It shows that what counts, or doesn't count, as a government's 'core activity' is as much a matter of politics as it is of economics, and it locates the politics of the NCA within the broader neo-liberal project of limiting collective choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Social Science Research Council of Australia (SSRC) and their study of the role of women in public and political life in Australia. The SSRC began this research in 1958. Editor Norman MacKenzie was director of the project which resulted in the report "Women in Australia," published in June 1961. How the report was received in academic circles is discussed. The historiography of women in politics is also examined. The article also discusses the book "Graduate and Married," by Madge Dawson.