So far in Australia only the Australian Capital Territory has a Bill of Rights. Katharine Gelber looks at current gaps in rights protection and at how to win support for rights-based legislation. She draws on recent surveys of civic knowledge and social attitudes to argue there is already a pool of public support for the...

With the changeover of senators on 1 July 2005, Marian Sawer looks at democratic issues posed by government control of both houses of the Australian Parliament, particularly in relation to legislative review and executive scrutiny.

Sandey Fitzgerald provides new evidence on when and how prisoners have been able to vote in the various Australian jurisdictions and the difficulty of regaining voting rights after sentences have been served. She also discusses the long-standing ideological divide on the issue.

In this discussion paper John Uhr ranks parliaments against four key values - political equality, popular control of government, civil liberties and human rights and public deliberation. The Senate emerges in a positive light, particularly in relation to proportional representation, scrutiny of legislation and the committee system. Uhr rates negatively the low number of private...

The federal government's proposal to increase the disclosure limit for donations to political parties from $1500 to $5000 is a further blow to transparency and accountability, argues Peter Andren, the independent member for the federal electorate of Calare.