There’s a worrying thread running through decisionmaking in Canberra

Political attention over the past few weeks has been fixed on the drama of the Abbott government’s first budget – the winners and losers, the problem of broken promises, the prospects in the Senate. Beyond that, though, the budget reinforces another trend of potentially great significance for the quality of Australian democracy. Since its beginnings, the government has made a series of decisions that mean public scrutiny of its policies and their implementation is more difficult…

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