The former head of evaluation for the Australian Public Service Commission considers the tension between the public service’s role in providing ‘frank and fearless’ advice to government and its role in development and implementation of government policy.

In the wake of the High Court’s decision on prisoner enfranchisement, Graeme Orr describes the issue of prisoner disenfranchisement as a continuing ‘political football’ in this new paper.

Australia is at the forefront of professional and independent electoral administration, especially when assessed in international comparative studies. However, while there is often debate about the levels of fairness provided by the various electoral systems in use throughout Australia, less scrutiny has been applied to the electoral management bodies charged with administering these systems. Although...

Introduction A creeping authoritarianism and a pronounced lack of diversity are making their impact felt on Australia’s already fragile media landscape. Despite Australia’s traditions of freedom and its status as a long-time liberal democracy, its ranking in terms of press freedom has fallen below that of many newer democracies. In an international survey by Freedom...

Following independent MP Peter Andren's announcement that cancer has forced him to withdraw from active politics, his former chief of staff Tim Payne reviews his parliamentary career. Payne briefly discusses ten areas where he believes Peter Andren has made a significant contribution. “There are many more,” he writes, “but ten is enough to make the...