Parliamentary terms    (published: 2/2005)

posted: 7/02/2005

Author(s): Norm Kelly (Australian National University), Marian Sawer (Australian National University) Category: Parliament; Electoral; - Audit paper      (pages: 4)   download Marian Sawer and Norm Kelly consider the length of terms in Australian parliaments. Traditionally terms have been for three years, but in recent decades terms have been extended to four years in most parliaments. There has also been a trend to stipulating a fixed term or election date.

What price integrity? Funding Australia’s integrity systems    (published: 2/2005)

posted: 1/02/2005

Author(s): A.J. Brown (Griffith University), Brian Head (Griffith University) Category: Public service/statutory bodies; Accountability; - Audit paper download A. J. Brown and Brian Head compare the level of resources different Australian governments give to anti-corruption watchdog agencies. On the combined measures of staffing and budget (as percentages of total public sector), Queensland agencies are best resourced, followed by NSW and Western Australia. Victoria, a perennial straggler since 1990, has now overtaken the Commonwealth.

The Commonwealth Ombudsman—Time for independence?    (published: 1/2005)

posted: 14/01/2005

Author(s): John T D Wood (International ombudsman consultant and former Deputy Commonwealth Ombudsman.) Category: Public service/statutory bodies; Accountability; - Audit paper      (pages: 6)   download John T D Wood, an international ombudsman consultant, and former Deputy Commonwealth Ombudsman, looks at the role of the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s Office, one of the largest in the world in terms of the volume of complaints heard. While it has greatly enhanced the accountability of government to individual citizens, he notes however, that its effectiveness has been curbed through resource cutbacks and conflicts of interest in funding arrangements (PDF).

Report no. 4: Australian political parties in the spotlight    (published: 1/2005)

posted: 1/01/2005

Author(s): Brett Bowden (Australian National University), Peter Brent (Australian National University), Dean Jaensch (Flinders University) Category: Focussed Audits; Parties/Independents download Among key concerns identified by the authors, the focussed audit of Australia's major political parties draws attention to the lack of transparency in party funding, and the troublesome issue of internal party democracy.

Audit values: Reflecting the complexity of representative democracy    (published: 1/2005)

posted: 1/01/2005

Author(s): Marian Sawer (Australian National University) Category: ; - Audit paper download Marian Sawer considers the two principles inspiring the international democratic audit framework - (1) popular control over decision-making and (2) political equality in the exercise of that control. There are good reasons to add (3) human rights/civil liberties and (4) deliberative democracy, to highlight the tensions experienced in many western democracies with the rise of populism. Majoritarian interpretations of popular control and political equality are competing with other values associated with representative democracies, as seen in the recent Norwegian audit.

The independence of statutory bodies

posted: 1/01/2005

Author(s): () Category: Public service/statutory bodies; Accountability; - Breaking news/external links http link Implementation of the recommendations of the Uhrig Report may be proceeding slowly but it threatens to damage the autonomy of the statutory bodies from Government and so effectively undermine their purpose. Whilst the stated aims of the Report are to improve the accountability of these bodies, this is to be achieved by strengthening the control of the Government over their operations, with little attention paid to the role of Parliamentary oversight. The Uhrig Report is discussed in more detail in a paper by Roger Wettenhall. The Parliamentary Library has produced a briefing paper on the report: briefing paper on the report

A SLAPP in the face of democracy    (published: 12/2004)	posted: 20/12/2004
Author(s): Sharon Beder (University of Wollongong) Category: Rights; NGOs/participation; - Audit paper      (pages: 3)   download Sharon Beder from the University of Wollongong takes a look at the increasing use of ‘Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation’, or SLAPPs, by corporations against individual citizens and groups for exercising their democratic rights (PDF).

Determining parliamentary parties—A real status symbol    (published: 12/2004)

posted: 15/12/2004

Author(s): Norm Kelly (Australian National University) Category: Parliament; Parties/Independents; - Audit paper      (pages: 4)   download Norm Kelly, a former Member of the Legislative Council of Western Australia and a soon to be member of the Political Science Program at the Australian National University, looks at the advantages that follow when minor parties achieve parliamentary party status (PDF).

The role of the media in the public disclosure of electoral funding    (published: 12/2004)	posted: 1/12/2004
Author(s): Robin Tennant-Wood (Australian National University) Category: Media; Political Finance/Govt Advertising; - Audit paper      (pages: 11)   download Focusing on the issue of transparency and disclosure in party funding, or the seeming lack thereof, Robin Tennant-Wood of the ANU analyses the 'symbiotic relationship' between Australian political parties and the Australian media (PDF).

Senate voting - speech to the Senate    (published: 11/2004)

posted: 14/11/2004

Author(s): Bob Brown ((Leader of Australian Greens)) Category: Electoral; - Breaking news/external links      (pages: 3)   download On Thursday 9 December 2004, Senator Bob Brown gave the second reading speech on his Private Senator’s Bill designed to amend the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. The Bill addresses some of the democratic issues associated with Senate ticket voting. These issues have been highlighted in previous Democratic Audit discussion papers by Peter Brent and Marian Sawer. The text of Senator Brown’s speech as recorded in Hansard is reproduced here.

Select Page(s): | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |     (list all records on one page)