In the recent Senate debate on Senator Nash's private member’s bill to extend the criteria for Independent Youth Allowance to Inner Regional students the issue of why so few regional students go on to tertiary education was raised and an argument made that the ability to take a gap year and qualify for Youth Allowance...

This post provides background information about the history and purpose of Ministerial Councils which have just undergone reform at the lastest COAG meeting in February. The establishment of 23 new Ministerial Councils is welcomed by COAG, enabling it to 'focus on reforms of national critical importance' with greater responsiveness and agility.

This paper examines the debate over the importance of foods high in fat, sugar and salt in childhood obesity. It also looks at policy approaches to junk food in a number of countries and consequent actions taken to control or prohibit the influence of advertising. In particular, the paper notes recent Australian government approaches to...

Recent projections of higher than expected population growth in Australia over the next 40 years has refocused the attention of governments and communities on population policy, according to this paper, and yet a focused policy response has not yet emerged. With concerns about climate change, water availability, land degradation and urban growth increasing, there are...

The 2010 federal election resulted in the first hung Commonwealth parliament and minority government for almost 70 years, though hung parliaments are common at the state and territory level. This background note provides a discussion of the hung Commonwealth parliament and associated matters including forming the minority Labor Government, voting dynamics in the House of...