This report provides an insight into the domestic and international economic, political and policy environment, giving policymakers and organisations an insight into the operating environment in the year to come.

Peter Van Onselen considers the implications of the WA government’s decision to downgrade several independent watchdog posts. The decision, affecting the Electoral Commissioner, the Commissioner for Public Sector Standards, and the Information Commissioner, has obvious implications for the standing of these posts within the public service and for the ability to recruit candidates of the...

In the lead-up to Western Australia's state election on 26 February, Peter van Onselen examines questions regarding the state's electoral process. Issues addressed include malapportionment, prisoner voting, public funding and media coverage.

Peter van Onselen provides an overview of the way the databases function and the purposes for which the major political parties use them. He shows they impinge negatively on the value of political equality through entrenching incumbency, both of the government of the day and the major parties collectively over competing minor parties.

The potential benefits and pitfalls of electronic democracy are already on display in the use of voter tracking software by Australia's major political parties, argue Peter van Onselen and Wayne Errington in this paper from the CPP's Australian Electronic Governance Conference. The use of such technologies, which contain a host of information about voters and...