This policy brief canvasses key options available for reopening parliament and seeks to examine the key obstacles to employing alternative means for parliamentary sittings, such as sitting remotely.

As the COVID-19 crisis began to escalate in Australia, a new institution, the National Cabinet, emerged. This policy brief sets out the National Cabinet’s establishment, structure, and achievements, before turning to key issues requiring attention, concerning the effectiveness, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability of this new institutional arrangement.

This policy brief places the Australian response to the COVID-19 pandemic in global perspective, focusing on how the pandemic has affected the democratic system and assessing how the government’s response complies with democratic standards.

This paper examines the state of Australian democracy and considers some mechanisms that have been said to have the potential to improve democratic representation.

The findings highlighted in this report outline a research agenda to inform community engagement in infrastructure. This is a research agenda with a difference - it has been designed by almost 200 professionals working in and with Australia’s infrastructure sector, with the guidance of researchers.