Senators and members receive an annual allowance by way of basic salary - $111 150 from 1 July 2005. In this research note, Leanne Manthorpe explains the legislative basis of, and the fixing and linking mechanisms for, the allowance.

In this e-brief Janet Phillips and Adrienne Millbank summarise recent developments and key issues in the debate about mandatory detention in Australia. They provide links to web sites and material covering detention policy and practice in Australia, and detention and removal policies and practices in the UK and other comparable countries.

This Research Note explores these issues by discussing the market for hospital care, and the available evidence on the relationship between private health insurance and public hospital waiting lists.

Debate over unequal access to information and communication technology services between regional and metropolitan Australia often focuses on infrastructure. But, as Jeffrey Robertson explains in this research note, infrastructure is just one aspect of a wider host of problems that reinforces the 'digital divide'.

The 2005 British election was held on 5 May. Scott Bennett reviews the campaign, the results and the fall-out, and looks at the controversy over Britain's first-past-the-post voting system.