Suchergebnisse

This book grew out of my long-standing interest in Northern Territory politics and constitutional development and my association with statehood policy-formulation as a Ministerial Officer for the Chief Minister in 1986 and 1987. Both Chief Ministers for whom I worked, Ian Tuxworth and Steve Hatton, were supportive of my historical research and made available the resources that enabled me to assemble the necessary archival and interview material on which the book is based. While it should not need to be stated, the historical analysis and interpretation herein are mine alone. In any case, the bulk of the study deals with events antecedent to 1986. Many other people made this book possible, not all of whom I could possibly mention here. But, in particular, I would like to thank the fifty or so people - all in some way major participants in the politics of self-government and statehood - who freely offered their recollections and often documentary material. Without their involvement, such a recent historical process, constrained by the usual archival limitations, would have been difficult to deal with in any adequate academic way. My appreciation is also extended to all those people - in many depositories in both Canberra and Darwin - who assisted me with the location of relevant information. Finally, to Dee Sarev, colleague and friend, who contributed so much to the preparation of the manuscript, I owe a deep debt of gratitude.

This study was commissioned by the Darwin City Council in mid 1983 to commemorate the first 25 years of the Council's post-war history to 1982. However, it seemed wise to go further in order to tell the story of developments and activities up to mid-1984. But even that truncates ongoing processes. The manuscript was completed in August 1984; where appropriate, footnotes are included to update the material to January 1986.

This article reviews the evolution of administrative arrangements in the Northern Territory since the 1970s, covering both the devolutionary phase and, with somewhat more emphasis, the self‐government period since 1978. The article centres on the theme of political management which, as in the recent work by Halligan and Power (1992), has become a major focus in the study of Australian administrative reform. Political management involves a 'modernising reform agenda. internal in orientation and concerned mainly with making the organizational and human resources of the executive branch more responsive to the priorities of superordinates' (Halligan and Power 1992: 249). Particular attention here is given to the evolving pattern of relationships between the political and bureaucratic arms of the Northern Territory executive.

The period under review in this chronicle—December 1980 to mid‐August 1981—was, like 1980, characterized by relative political and administrative stability and consolidation. Such a climate of stability was, of course, to be expected as the system instituted with self‐government was newly established and refined. Moreover, most of the election pledges which involved significant administrative implications had been implemented in the first months of the Third Assembly. If any major alteration to administrative structure or process is to occur (and there is no present indication of such intention by the government), it is likely to take place after the budget session in August.

As a consequence of the constitutional development which has occurred in the Northern Territory since 1976, a veritable administrative revolution has taken place. The devolution of State‐type functions from Commonwealth to local control and the legal establishment of a Northern Territory government on 1 July 1978 necessitated fundamental changes to the administrative structure. However, the pace and scale of change, so dramatic a feature of the period between 1977 and 1979, were much less pronounced in 1980 which was a year of relative stability. In political terms, the highlight of 1980 was the Legislative Assembly elections in June which resulted in the return of the Country‐Liberal Party government. Its continuation in office was an important factor in ensuring a climate for administrative stability.

Abstract: The literature on statutory authorities has concentrated largely upon matters of structure and administrative arrangements. One significant dimension which has received scant treatment is the idiosyncratic role of chief executive officers in such organisations and their ability to capture both the agency and policy‐direction, often in ways immune from government control. This article mainly examines one example from the Northern Territory, the Darwin Trade Development Zone, but evidence is included to support the contention that similar processes occur in other statutory authorities both locally and elsewhere in Australia. It is argued that structural reforms cannot by themselves remedy the gap between expectation and policy‐delivery. Avenues for reform are discussed, including the more orthodox accountability linkages, and the conclusions drawn argue for greater attention to be given to the appropriateness of chief executive appointments within a context of more disciplined and coherent policy‐direction.