As previously identified by the Democratic Audit of Australia, the making of politically tainted appointments to non-departmental public agencies can undermine the public value of these institutions and obstruct democratic processes.1 In most cases, independence from government is one of the major reasons for the establishment of these agencies. Parliament has decided that certain functions...

Marian Sawer describes how the Democratic Audit of Australia has separated out the values of political equality, popular control of government, civil liberties/human rights and deliberative democracy in order to highlight the threat posed by populist majoritarianism. Attacks on the 'non-elected' intermediary institutions essential to accountability and rights protection in representative democracy undermine popular control...

With public funding of political parties proposed in Western Australia, Senator Andrew Murray argues that a quid pro quo is required in the form of higher standards of governance, transparency, and accountability, from the parties that receive it.

James Jupp analyses the local government elections held on 4 May in England, which saw the Labour vote at 26 per cent fall below that of both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. There was a doubling of the seats held by the anti-immigration British National Party but also an increase in the number of Muslim...

In the wake of the AWB bribery scandal, Jürgen Kurtz reviews Australia’s commitment to combating bribery of foreign officials. Despite ratifying the OECD’s anti-bribery convention in 1999 and passing its own anti-bribery legislation in 1999, Australia has yet to establish proper implementation machinery or to charge any companies or individuals.