Suchergebnisse

For the second time in the last three federal elections Australia had to wait many agonising days before the outcome became somewhat apparent; indeed, the final seat to be determined, the Queensland seat of Herbert won by Labor's candidate Cathy O'Toole by just thirty-seven votes, was not finally decided until 31 July — fully twenty-nine days after the poll. The election, which many commentators and most electors considered a predictable affair, turned on a knife's edge with the Coalition losing a swathe of seats on election night and six other seats, considered safe for the Coalition, remaining in doubt as counting went on. Indeed, immediately after the booth count many pundits predicted the Labor Party was most likely to win, returning to minority government status (see Inside Canberra, Vol. 69, 42). Nevertheless, a rueful Malcolm Turnbull announced on 9 July his government would be returned, claiming around seventy-four seats but having secured the support of three conservative Independents; Cathy McGowan, Bob Katter and Andrew Wilkie. At that stage it was not clear whether Turnbull would be in a position to form a minority or majority government — hence the disdainful headline posted by the Australian Financial Review on 10 July in the by-line above. On Wednesday 13 July, Turnbull was able to confirm that the Coalition could form a majority government with seventy-six seats with the one North Queensland seat remaining in doubt. For some weeks after the declaration of the polls it remained unclear whether the LNP would challenge the wafer-thin result in Herbert in the court of disputed returns, as some Army personnel had been on exercises in South Australia when the poll was held — but no challenge emanated

"They took some honey, and plenty of money…" Prising Bronwyn Bishop from the Speakership, a Prelude to Leadership Transition Prime Minister Tony Abbott was begrudgingly forced to dump his personal favourite, Bronwyn Bishop, from the presiding officer's position in the House of Representatives, after her reluctance to explain or apologise for abusing her travel entitlements. But Abbott's stoic defence of his beleaguered New South Wales colleague came at a high price to his own leadership standing in the aftermath of the entitlements scandal. In August 2015 the septuagenarian Bishop became the third Speaker of the Australian parliament to be brought down in less than four years.

The Academy of Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) and the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) hosted a 'Policy Roundtable on Federalism' on the 17-18 May 2007 at the University of Canberra. Around 50 attended the roundtable comprising politicians, Commonwealth and state public servants, and academics. The roundtable was provided with a number of background papers including the Hollander-Patapan article and another produced by staff of the Commonwealth Grants Commission entitled 'Trends in Commonwealth-State Financial Relations: a Grants Commission Perspective'. The roundtable focused not only on issues and challenges but, more practically, on options and how to make federalism work better.

This article explores the bizarre circumstances that produced a change of government in Australia at the September 2013 federal election. The Labor government led sequentially by Kevin Rudd, then by Julia Gillard (Australia's first female prime minister), and again briefly by Rudd, was consigned back into opposition. After a turbulent six years in office marked by the Global Financial Crisis (2008), successive policy scandals and almost four years of leadership tension, Labor was punished electorally, regarded as divided, unstable and unfit to govern by many. Victorious at the election was the Liberal-National Party Coalition led by Tony Abbott, a former minister in John Howard s government. Yet there was no great warmth for the Abbott conservatives from a largely disaffected electorate. While Abbott managed to secure a handsome majority in the lower house, his government's control over the Senate was actually eroded, meaning he will have to win the support of cross-bench senators hostile to many of his government's policies.

'Treasury advises and assists the Treasurer, and through him the Government, in the discharge of his and its responsibilities in relation to economic, fiscal and monetary matters. The Department's main responsibilities lie in the field of general economic management', Treasury, Annual Report 1983. 'The Treasury's mission is to improve the wellbeing of the Australian people by providing sound and timely advice to the Government, based on objective and thorough analysis of options, and by assisting Treasury ministers in the administration of their responsibilities and the implementation of government decisions', 'You can't really evaluate the performance of Treasury in terms of "outputs and outcomes" in any formal or public way because most of the time we are dissuading Treasurers and governments from doing stupid things', Senior Treasury Official 2000. 'We once had a "Treasury line", but now we are more pluralistic', Senior Treasury Official 2010. 'Treasury's executive board hunts as a pack, they trust each other and they've known each other for long times', Senior Treasury Official 2010.

The union movement enjoyed a high profile in the two years prior to the 2007 election based on its campaign against the Coalition Governments unpopular WorkChoices legislation. The campaign entitled, Your Rights at Work, campaign continued into the election campaign itself. Business groups, by contrast were less united and less focused. From a union perspective the campaign was its 'Stalingrad'.

The Academy of Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) and the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) hosted a 'Policy Roundtable on Federalism' on the 17-18 May 2007 at the University of Canberra. Around 50 attended the roundtable comprising politicians, Commonwealth and state public servants, and academics. The roundtable was provided with a number of background papers including the Hollander-Patapan article and another produced by staff of the Commonwealth Grants Commission entitled 'Trends in Commonwealth-State Financial Relations: a Grants Commission Perspective'. The roundtable focused not only on issues and challenges but, more practically, on options and how to make federalism work better.

The union movement enjoyed a high profile in the two years prior to the 2007 election based on its campaign against the Coalition Governments unpopular WorkChoices legislation. The campaign entitled, Your Rights at Work, campaign continued into the election campaign itself. Business groups, by contrast were less united and less focused. From a union perspective the campaign was its 'Stalingrad'.

'Treasury advises and assists the Treasurer, and through him the Government, in the discharge of his and its responsibilities in relation to economic, fiscal and monetary matters. The Department's main responsibilities lie in the field of general economic management', Treasury, Annual Report 1983. 'The Treasury's mission is to improve the wellbeing of the Australian people by providing sound and timely advice to the Government, based on objective and thorough analysis of options, and by assisting Treasury ministers in the administration of their responsibilities and the implementation of government decisions', 'You can't really evaluate the performance of Treasury in terms of "outputs and outcomes" in any formal or public way because most of the time we are dissuading Treasurers and governments from doing stupid things', Senior Treasury Official 2000. 'We once had a "Treasury line", but now we are more pluralistic', Senior Treasury Official 2010. 'Treasury's executive board hunts as a pack, they trust each other and they've known each other for long times', Senior Treasury Official 2010.

This article explores the bizarre circumstances that produced a change of government in Australia at the September 2013 federal election. The Labor government led sequentially by Kevin Rudd, then by Julia Gillard (Australia's first female prime minister), and again briefly by Rudd, was consigned back into opposition. After a turbulent six years in office marked by the Global Financial Crisis (2008), successive policy scandals and almost four years of leadership tension, Labor was punished electorally, regarded as divided, unstable and unfit to govern by many. Victorious at the election was the Liberal-National Party Coalition led by Tony Abbott, a former minister in John Howard s government. Yet there was no great warmth for the Abbott conservatives from a largely disaffected electorate. While Abbott managed to secure a handsome majority in the lower house, his government's control over the Senate was actually eroded, meaning he will have to win the support of cross-bench senators hostile to many of his government's policies.

This chapter outlines the distinctive features and challenges of politics, governance, and leadership at the meso-level within national states, that is, provinces, regions, and states. It documents how regional interests, identities, and dynamics along with electoral and constitutional arrangements create meso-level political opportunity structures, as well as intergovernmental relations. It contrasts actor-centred and institutionalist approaches to understanding regional leadership, and discusses the various methodologies employed by scholars in this area. After critiquing what is currently a small yet disparate and conceptually poorly developed field, it concludes by sketching promising future directions.

This collection of 'critical reflections' on Australian public policy offers a valuable contribution to public discussion of important political and policy issues facing our nation and society. These essays are important not only because of the reputation and position of the various contributors, but because they are incredibly 'content rich' and brimming with new ideas.

Australia and New Zealand began engaging with the globalised economic environment from the 1960s through a gradual process of adaptation. Both countries began dismantling the 'protective state', spawning new governance practices and some new institutions. While the core political institutions of Westminster governance remained largely unchanged, they have proved particularly resilient and adaptive to change. The most pronounced impact of globalisation was evidenced through changed policy orientations and institutional behaviour at the national and sub-national levels. We focus on recent policy innovations in the fields of science and technology and tertiary education. Both cases indicate that these nations, governed at the time by parties of different political complexion, have anticipated and responded to globalisation in similar ways. We argue that these comparable policy responses can, at one level, be explained as responses to the imperatives of globalisation and international markets. However, at another level, they indicate that the 'nation-building' state has not disappeared but remains active in shaping and redirecting market mechanisms.

Australia and New Zealand began engaging with the globalised economic environment from the 1960s through a gradual process of adaptation. Both countries began dismantling the 'protective state', spawning new governance practices and some new institutions. While the core political institutions of Westminster governance remained largely unchanged, they have proved particularly resilient and adaptive to change. The most pronounced impact of globalisation was evidenced through changed policy orientations and institutional behaviour at the national and sub-national levels. We focus on recent policy innovations in the fields of science and technology and tertiary education. Both cases indicate that these nations, governed at the time by parties of different political complexion, have anticipated and responded to globalisation in similar ways. We argue that these comparable policy responses can, at one level, be explained as responses to the imperatives of globalisation and international markets. However, at another level, they indicate that the 'nation-building' state has not disappeared but remains active in shaping and redirecting market mechanisms.

Anyone who has taught courses or conducted research under the rubric of 'public administration' must have been troubled more or less frequently by two characteristics of his 'field' - its nebulous scope and its lack of any distinctive technique. He must have felt himself a Jack of all trades as he pottered amateurishly about, now on the fringes of administrative law, now at the margins of accounting and budgeting, and then at the edges of industrial relations and occupational psychology. As a teacher, how often did he face a class of public servants, each more expert and experienced in some specialty than he was in any?