Looking at initiatives in Australian and overseas jurisdictions, this paper explores the opportunities and challenges that technology presents for the casting and counting of votes in parliamentary elections. Digital technologies and the internet have dramatically altered the way Australians communicate, transact business and interact with government agencies. It is hardly surprising that technology’s application to...

This report provides background on recent media reviews in Australia, and assesses what they may mean for the future. Since the seventeenth century the media have been seen as the watchdogs of democracy— guardians of the public interest, protecting the people against arbitrary rule by governments. In recent times however, there has been considerable speculation...

This paper plots, by agency and year, identifiable Commonwealth expenditure in the area of Indigenous affairs over the 44 years from 1968 to 2012. The paper attempts to plot trends in the above expenditure—expressed in both the nominal and real terms, expressed as a percentage of total Commonwealth outlays and Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and...

This background note describes the current situation with regard to refugee entitlements to social security and other assistance.

This Background Note summarises the situation regarding apple imports from Japan, China, New Zealand and the United States. Primarily the paper outlines the significant stages and processes that have led to the present situation. However its scope does not include consideration of the technical issues covered by Biosecurity Australia in the respective import risk analyses...