The paper argues that the practical effect of banning, capping or disclosing political donations is to limit public influence. In a liberal democracy, governments should not select or limit their critics and rivals. Key points: • Campaign finance law covers the role of money in politics; this paper focuses on donations to political parties and...

The Gillard Government is committed to introducing a price on carbon pollution by July 2012 however the details of the price, the sectors of the economy that will be covered by the scheme and the design features of the compensation package that is likely to accompany the carbon price are currently being negotiated by the...

This background note provides a snap-shot of significant developments in Australian refugee law and policy under Labor’s first term in office. It begins by providing a chronology of key events from November 2007, when the ALP won the 2007 federal election to July 2010, when Parliament was prorogued for the 2010 federal election. Part I...

This background note is designed to answer some of those frequently asked questions about who was the first, youngest, oldest, most often, etc. in Australian federal politics. The focus is on records for the Federal Parliament although a few significant records relate to members of State parliaments. The information is current as at October 2010...

As there are more independent members with a party background, it could be argued that the influence of the major parties continues to be very strong, even when non-aligned candidates are successful. The dominance of the major parties in Australian politics has lead to the portrayal of independent Members of Parliament as marginal or even...