Australia’s ‘tough on drugs’ policy has failed to significantly reduce domestic drug markets or confront drug-related mental health disorders, according to Andrew Macintosh. He finds that strict drug law enforcement policies have failed to dent illicit drug markets and have exacerbated the social cost of illicit drug use.This report calls on governments to shift the...

Drawing on a Newspoll survey of 1200 people, Emma Rush and Andrew Macintosh show that over 50 per cent of Australians receive unwanted Christmas presents and that 21 per cent of Australians will give presents to people they don’t want to during the festive season. Nearly three quarters of those surveyed said they would be...

Andrew Macintosh and Debra Wilkinson argue that the deal agreed by the National Party in return for its support for the sale of Telstra is remarkably similar to the deal made between the Australian Democrats and the Howard government over the Goods and Services Tax. That experience suggests that the Nationals' Telstra agreement is likely...

Deb Wilkinson and Andrew Macintosh consider the effectiveness and propriety of the Howard government's administration of the new federal heritage regime. In particular, they examine the way in which the government dealt with the nomination to include Sir Donald Bradman's birthplace on the National Heritage List and its decisions to distribute heritage funding to Bradman-related...

When the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act was passed in June 1999, the federal government and several environment groups promised it would revolutionise the Commonwealth's involvement in environmental issues and improve conservation outcomes. Andrew Macintosh and Debra Wilkinson analyse whether the environmental assessment and approval process under the Act is fulfilling its environmental objectives...