Chapter Four Let's Give Democracy a Chance
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Australia Is Awash with Political Memoir, but Only Some Will Survive the Flood
Australia is awash with political memoir, but only some will survive the... https://theconversation.com/australia-is-awash-with-political-memoir-b... Academic rigour, journalistic flair September 9, 2015 8.51am AEST For publishers, Australian political memoir or biography is likely to pay its own way, at the very least. AAP Image/Lukas Coch September 9, 2015 8.51am AEST Last year more than a dozen political memoirs were published in Australia. From Bob Author Carr’s Diary of a Foreign Minister to Greg Combet’s The Fights of My Life, from Rob Oakeshott’s The Independent Member for Lyne to Bob Brown’s Optimism, one could be forgiven for thinking Australia is a nation of political junkies. Jane Messer Or that we’re fascinated by the personalities, policies and procedures that shape our Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing, political landscape. But are we really, and if not, why so many books? Macquarie University The deluge shows no signs of abating, with a similar number of titles expected this year. Already we’ve seen the release of Shadow Minister Chris Bowen’s The Money Men, reflections by Federal Labor members Mark Butler and Andrew Leigh, with former Victorian Labor leader John Brumby’s practical “lessons”, The Long Haul, in press. Liberals, once laggards in this genre, are stepping up in growing numbers. Federal Minister Christopher Pyne’s “hilarious” A Letter To My Children is out, and Peter Reith’s The Reith Papers is underway. Also in press is the genuinely unauthorised Born to Rule: the Unauthorised Biography of Malcolm Turnbull. -
Challenging Bureaucratic Elites
University of Wollongong Research Online Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive) Faculty of Arts, Social Sciences & Humanities 1-1-1997 Challenging Bureaucratic Elites Brian Martin University of Wollongong, [email protected] Sharon Callaghan [email protected] C. Fox University of Wollongong, [email protected] R Wells Mary Cawte Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/artspapers Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons, and the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Martin, Brian; Callaghan, Sharon; Fox, C.; Wells, R; and Cawte, Mary, Challenging Bureaucratic Elites 1997. https://ro.uow.edu.au/artspapers/1957 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Challenging bureaucratic elites, by Schweik Action Wollongong Challenging bureaucratic elites by Brian Martin, Sharon Callaghan and Chris Fox, with Rosie Wells and Mary Cawte First published 1997 by Schweik Action Wollongong, PO Box U129, Wollongong NSW 2500, Australia ISBN 0 646 30958 7 Also available in pdf Permission is granted for unlimited reproduction of portions or all of this text provided * full acknowledgment is given of the source; * no changes are made except with the authors' permission; * no restraint is imposed on further reproduction of the text. Cartoons copyright Illawarra Legal Centre. Used with permission. This booklet is located on Brian Martin's website. Go to suppression of dissent website Go to Brian Martin's publications email: [email protected] http://www.bmartin.cc/pubs/97cbe/index.html[1/10/2013 8:54:14 AM] Challenging bureaucratic elites, by Schweik Action Wollongong Contents 1. -
Howard Government Retrospective II
Howard Government Retrospective II “To the brink: 1997 - 2001” Articles by Professor Tom Frame 14 - 15 November 2017 Howard Government Retrospective II The First and Second Howard Governments Initial appraisals and assessments Professor Tom Frame Introduction I have reviewed two contemporaneous treatments Preamble of the first Howard Government. Unlike other Members of the Coalition parties frequently complain retrospectives, these two works focussed entirely on that academics and journalists write more books about the years 1996-1998. One was published in 1997 the Australian Labor Party (ALP) than about Liberal- and marked the first anniversary of the Coalition’s National governments and their leaders. For instance, election victory. The other was published in early three biographical studies had been written about Mark 2000 when the consequences of some first term Latham who was the Opposition leader for a mere decisions and policies were becoming a little clearer. fourteen months (December 2003 to February 2005) Both books are collections of essays that originated when only one book had appeared about John Howard in university faculties and concentrated on questions and he had been prime minister for nearly a decade. of public administration. The contributions to both Certainly, publishers believe that books about the Labor volumes are notable for the consistency of their tone Party (past and present) are usually more successful and tenor. They are not partisan works although there commercially than works on the Coalition parties. The is more than a hint of suspicion that the Coalition sales figures would seem to suggest that history and was tampering with the institutions that undergirded ideas mean more to some Labor followers than to public authority and democratic government in Coalition supporters or to Australian readers generally. -
Ministerial Staff Under the Howard Government: Problem, Solution Or Black Hole?
Ministerial Staff Under the Howard Government: Problem, Solution or Black Hole? Author Tiernan, Anne-Maree Published 2005 Thesis Type Thesis (PhD Doctorate) School Department of Politics and Public Policy DOI https://doi.org/10.25904/1912/3587 Copyright Statement The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise. Downloaded from http://hdl.handle.net/10072/367746 Griffith Research Online https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au Ministerial Staff under the Howard Government: Problem, Solution or Black Hole? Anne-Maree Tiernan BA (Australian National University) BComm (Hons) (Griffith University) Department of Politics and Public Policy, Griffith University Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy November 2004 Abstract This thesis traces the development of the ministerial staffing system in Australian Commonwealth government from 1972 to the present. It explores four aspects of its contemporary operations that are potentially problematic. These are: the accountability of ministerial staff, their conduct and behaviour, the adequacy of current arrangements for managing and controlling the staff, and their fit within a Westminster-style political system. In the thirty years since its formal introduction by the Whitlam government, the ministerial staffing system has evolved to become a powerful new political institution within the Australian core executive. Its growing importance is reflected in the significant growth in ministerial staff numbers, in their increasing seniority and status, and in the progressive expansion of their role and influence. There is now broad acceptance that ministerial staff play necessary and legitimate roles, assisting overloaded ministers to cope with the unrelenting demands of their jobs. However, recent controversies involving ministerial staff indicate that concerns persist about their accountability, about their role and conduct, and about their impact on the system of advice and support to ministers and prime ministers. -
Constitutional Law and Indigenous Australians: Challenge for a Parched Continent
2550 CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS: CHALLENGE FOR A PARCHED CONTINENT Law Council of Australia Old Parliament House, Canberra 22 July 2011 Constitutional Change: Recognition or Substantive Rights? The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG LAW COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA OLD PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA FRIDAY 22 JULY 2011 DISCUSSION FORUM CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE: RECOGNITION OR SUBSTANTIVE RIGHTS? CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS: CHALLENGE FOR A PARCHED CONTINENT The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG GETTING TO YES IN AUSTRALIA It is a privilege for any Australian, especially of my generation, to gather in Old Parliament House. To speak in the building in which the parliamentary business of our nation was discharged for more than half a century. Here are found the portraits and the spirits of the famous Australians who led this country in peace and war. The Law Council of Australia deserves praise for summoning us to consider an issue of existential importance for our continental land: the provisions of the national Constitution as they concern the indigenous people: the Australian Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders. Let us, at the outset, pause to reflect on the respect we owe to them, both to their forebears and to their Posterity1. Let us do so sincerely as the New Zealanders do; not mechanically or perfunctorily. Wrongs have Justice of the High Court of Australia 1996-2009. Chairman of the Australian Law Reform Commission 1975-1984. Honorary Life Member of the Law Council of Australia. 1 The words used in the preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America: “To secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity ...”. -
Howard's Decade
Lowy Institute Paper 15 howard’s decade AN AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN POLICY REAPPRAISAL Paul Kelly Lowy Institute Paper 15 howard’s decade AN AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN POLICY REAPPRAISAL Paul Kelly First published for Lowy Institute for International Policy 2006 PO Box 102 Double Bay New South Wales 2028 Australia www.longmedia.com.au [email protected] Tel. (+61 2) 9362 8441 Lowy Institute for International Policy © 2006 All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part Paul Kelly is Editor-at-Large of The Australian. He was of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (including but not limited to electronic, previously Editor-in-Chief of The Australian. He writes mechanical, photocopying, or recording), without the prior written permission of the on Australian and international issues and is a regular copyright owner. commentator on ABC television. Paul holds a Doctor of Letters from the University of Cover design by Holy Cow! Design & Advertising Melbourne and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Printed and bound in Australia Typeset by Longueville Media in Esprit Book 10/13 Sydney. He has honorary doctorates from the University of New South Wales and from Griffi th University, and is National Library of Australia a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. Cataloguing-in-Publication data He has been a Shorenstein Fellow at the Kennedy School at Harvard University and a visiting lecturer at the Kelly, Paul, 1947- . Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard. -
Howard Government Retrospective I
Howard Government Retrospective I “1996” Articles by Professor Tom Frame 16 November 2016 Howard Government Retrospective: 1996 Introduction Perspectives and Polemics: Assessing the Howard Government Professor Tom Frame after an event will never stand as the final word. Dispassionate historical analysis takes time and the benefits ought to be savoured. The Howard Government is now being consigned to history. I base this statement on four observations. First, the Howard Government was elected more two decades ago and defeated nearly a decade ago. The passage of time has allowed the dust to settle making the genuine successes and actual failures of the Coalition a little easier to discern. Only some of what appeared to matter between 1996 and 2007 now matters. Decisions that were hailed as triumphs and policies derided as failures are now free from the forces that obscured their character and the immediacy that concealed their significance. The introduction of the GST, for instance, did not produce the range of adverse outcomes forecast by pundits. Although supporting the new tax in the Senate contributed to the demise of the Australian Democrats, the party’s leader Meg o say that something is being ‘consigned Lees continues to believe the country needed a Tto history’ might infer that an object has consumption tax. The passage of time has made no contemporary relevance or continuing it possible for historians to apply the principles significance; that it is best forgotten and wisely of their discipline to the place of the Howard struck from memory; and, that its slide from Government in the nation’s life. -
The Challenge of Informed Voting at Constitutional Referendums
368 UNSW Law Journal Volume 39(1) 15 THE CHALLENGE OF INFORMED VOTING AT CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUMS PAUL KILDEA* AND RODNEY SMITH** I INTRODUCTION As the push for a referendum on constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples has gathered momentum, so has discussion of the importance of ensuring that Australians are well-prepared to cast a vote on the topic when the moment comes. There is broad acceptance that one of the highest priorities in this respect is building citizens’ capacities to cast informed votes. Both official reports and expert commentary have expressed concerns about Australians’ existing levels of knowledge and awareness of constitutional recognition, and the Constitution more broadly, and have proposed measures to address them. In September 2014, for instance, a government-appointed advisory panel cited survey data showing poor community awareness and understanding of Indigenous recognition and made the blunt assessment that ‘[t]he wider Australian public is not yet ready for a referendum’. 1 George Williams has written about a ‘disturbing lack of knowledge about the Constitution and Australian government’ and the need for public education on Indigenous recognition ‘so that voters can feel confident in embracing the change’. 2 An Expert Panel on Indigenous recognition recommended in 2012 that ‘[b]efore the referendum is held, there should be a properly resourced public education and awareness program’.3 * Lecturer, UNSW Law School, and Director, Referendums Project, Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law. ** Professor, Department of Government and International Relations, University of Sydney. The authors thank the anonymous referees for their helpful comments. The research undertaken for this article was partly funded by the Electoral Regulation Research Network Research Collaborative Initiative, ‘The Challenge of Informed Voting in the 21st Century’. -
The Political Representation of Ethnic and Racial Minorities Briefing
NSW PARLIAMENTARY LIBRARY RESEARCH SERVICE The Political Representation of Ethnic and Racial Minorities by Karina Anthony Briefing Paper 3/06 RELATED PUBLICATIONS • The Politics of Difference: The Political Representation of Ethnic and Racial Minorities by Gareth Griffith, NSW Parliamentary Library Briefing Paper No 029/95 • Electoral Systems and MMP in New Zealand by Gareth Griffith, NSW Parliamentary Library Occasional Paper No 4 (September 1996) ISSN 1325-4456 ISBN 0 7313 1794 7 March 2006 © 2006 Except to the extent of the uses permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means including information storage and retrieval systems, without the prior written consent from the Librarian, New South Wales Parliamentary Library, other than by Members of the New South Wales Parliament in the course of their official duties. The Political Representation of Ethnic and Racial Minorities by Karina Anthony NSW PARLIAMENTARY LIBRARY RESEARCH SERVICE David Clune (MA, PhD, Dip Lib), Manager..............................................(02) 9230 2484 Gareth Griffith (BSc (Econ) (Hons), LLB (Hons), PhD), Senior Research Officer, Politics and Government / Law .........................(02) 9230 2356 Karina Anthony (BA (Hons), LLB (Hons)), Research Officer, Law.........(02) 9230 2003 Talina Drabsch (BA, LLB (Hons)), Research Officer, Law ......................(02) 9230 2768 Lenny Roth (BCom, LLB), Research Officer, Law ...................................(02) 9230 3085 Stewart Smith -
Participation and Representation in ATSIC Elections: a Ten-Year Perspective
Participation and representation in ATSIC elections: a ten-year perspective W. Sanders, J. Taylor and K. Ross No. 198/2000 ISSN 1036–1774 ISBN 0 7315 2633 3 Dr Will Sanders is Fellow, Dr John Taylor is Deputy Director and Senior Fellow, and Ms Kate Ross is a Research Officer at the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, The Australian National University. DISCUSSION PAPER NO. 198 III Table of Contents Summary ............................................................................................................ v Acknowledgments ............................................................................................... v Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 Background........................................................................................................ 1 Nominations ...................................................................................................... 3 Voter numbers and voter turnout at national and State/ Territory levels..... 5 Some comparative evaluative comments......................................................... 9 Eligiblity criteria and administrative processes ............................................ 11 Voter numbers and voter turnout at the regional level................................. 12 Participation and representation of women................................................... 16 Participation and representation of Torres Strait Islanders ......................... 17 Conclusions .................................................................................................... -
Australian Electoral Systems — How Well Do They Serve Political Equality?
Australian Electoral Systems — How Well Do They Serve Political Equality? Prepared by Graeme Orr Law Faculty Griffith University, Brisbane for the Democratic Audit of Australia Political Science Program Research School of Social Sciences The Australian National University Report No. 2 The Democratic Audit of Australia—Testing the Strength of Australian Democracy An immigrant society PAGE ii The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author and From 2002 to 2004 the Political Science Program in the Australian National PAGE iii should not be taken to represent the views of either the University’s Research School of Social Sciences is conducting an audit to assess Democratic Audit of Australia or The Australian National University Australia’s strengths and weaknesses as a democracy. © The Australian National University 2004 The Audit has three specific aims: ISBN paperback 0-9751925-0-7, online 0-9751925-1-5 (1) Contributing to Methodology: To make a major methodological Cover: Polling day, 10 November 2001, in Burnside, South Australia. contribution to the assessment of democracy—particularly through the Thanks to the Australian Electoral Commission for this image. study of federalism and through incorporating disagreements about National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data: ‘democracy’ into the research design; Orr, Graeme. (2) Benchmarking: To provide benchmarks for monitoring and international Australian electoral systems, how well do they serve political equality? comparisons—our data can be used, for example, to track the progress of Bibliography. government reforms as well as to compare Australia with other countries; ISBN 0 9751925 0 7 (3) Promoting Debate: To promote public debate over democratic issues and ISBN 0 9751925 1 5 over how Australia’s democratic arrangements might be improved. -
Australias Constitution After Whitlam 1St Edition Ebook
AUSTRALIAS CONSTITUTION AFTER WHITLAM 1ST EDITION PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Brendan Lim | 9781107119468 | | | | | Australias Constitution after Whitlam 1st edition PDF Book Constitution would begin on March 4, For Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, and the parliamentary tradition that he invoked, national elections sufficiently legitimated even the most constitutionally transformative of his goals. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The Senate Opposition argued that a double dissolution was not justified on the grounds that:. Sawer, Geoffrey Views Read Edit View history. See Australian referendum Retirement of Judges. He had ridden into office on a election victory over Prime Minister John Howard that ended 12 years of coalition rule by the conservative Liberal Party of Australia and its junior partners, the Nationals, with one of the most dramatic vote swings in recent Australian electoral history. When Margaret Whitlam made a seemingly innocent comment to her husband, the then Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, about what she was hearing on return from a good will visit to Japan, little did she realise what she had unleashed! In , a proposed preamble principally authored by the then Prime Minister John Howard was defeated in a referendum concurrent to that on a proposal to become a republic. Once this clear line of responsibility is interfered with as with the intervention of the Senate which is not an equitably representative body in the sense that the House is the powerful concept of representative and responsible government is weakened. The Trouble Begins. Ranga added it Jul 26, Constitution Day is observed on September 17, to commemorate the date the document was signed.