The picture that emerges from this assessment is not positive. Whereas Australia was once a leader in the global struggle for gender equality, this report makes clear that in recent years Australia has resiled from this commitment and many of the achievements of an earlier period have now been undone. This is most obviously true...

The Community Consultation and the ‘Hard to Reach’ project is investigating how community consultation is currently practised by Victorian councils, especially in relation to multiple publics and groups that councils can find hard to reach. This case study looks at the City of Maribyrnong.

Paul Malone reviews the current caretaker conventions, designed to ensure that a government does not exploit its position once an election is called. The conventions are, however, interpreted very differently between departments, particularly in relation to departmental websites. New guidelines should minimise the scope for conflicting interpretations.

Colin A Hughes, Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the University of Queensland, looks at the history of the study of campaign finance in Australia and why it has been so under-developed. in 2006 campaign finance has been a regular feature in the media. This is partly because of recent amendments to the Commonwealth Electoral...

Elisa Arcioni considers the decision to include seats for the Italian diaspora in the Italian parliament. The decision was of even greater significance since it was the results in the Australasian seat that gave the Prodi government its majority in the Senate.