This paper reviews recent allegations of electoral misconduct, especially in the context of pre-selections in the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and the Liberal Party, and evaluates the various responses and methods to counteract such behaviour, including electoral and criminal offences, investigative commissions and parliamentary inquiries. The related issue of the autonomy of political parties is...

On 27 February 2001 the Green MLC Ian Cohen moved a notice of motion to introduce a private members Bill to legalise voluntary euthanasia. The purpose of this paper is to update the legal situation, review recent developments in the euthanasia debate, and to present an overview of the issues involved. Where appropriate, particularly in...

The purpose of this paper is to comment upon the relationship between MPs and copyright law and to analyse the impact of the law of parliamentary privilege upon it. That relationship can be approached from at least three perspectives which can be categorised as the 'governmental', 'parliamentary' and 'private'.

It has been over 10 years since the State Owned Corporations Act 1989 was introduced into Parliament, and five years since major amendments were introduced by the Carr Government in 1995. This paper analyses the differences between types of State owned corporations and, using case studies, looks at the operation of some corporations and the...

In 1996 the Parliamentary Library Research Service published a Briefing Paper (No 6/1996) on majority jury verdicts. This paper canvassed the arguments for and against majority jury verdicts. The purpose of this update note is to present an overview of the position in other related jurisdictions where jury verdicts in criminal and civil trials are...