There are strong arguments for and against a Bill of Rights (either statutory or constitutional) for Australia. These have been set out by people such as Peter Bailey, Justice Michael Kirby and Michael Zander. George Williams summarises the main arguments.

The independence of the auditor-general is now accepted as one of the important elements of accountability in democratic parliamentary systems like Australia. How well does the independence of Australia's auditors-general measure up though? In this paper Ken Coghill assesses each Australian jurisdiction, focusing particularly on the Commonwealth and the Australian Capital Territory.

In this audit Graeme Orr assesses key aspects of Australia's electoral systems against the ideal of political equality. Political equality means formal equality (treating people equally as electors), and it requires systems that are representative and inclusive, accessible to all and competitive (so that elections are open to outsiders and newcomers, not just to incumbents).

In this paper prepared for the Democratic Audit of Australia, Ernst Willheim notes that parliamentary procedures for tabling and disallowance of delegated legislation, together with restrictions on the remaking of regulations that have been disallowed, enable considerable scrutiny of the Executive. However, Government action in November 2003 to excise by regulation off-shore islands from Australia's...

Dr James Jupp writes that an audit of the democratic rights of immigrants has found Australia does a good job of protecting citizens, but places the human rights of refugees and other non-citizens at risk. According to the report, 'Australian democracy can claim successes but must also admit failures in its implementation of a liberal...