Volunteers across Australia make a remarkable contribution to their communities. However, last year's COVID-19 restrictions hit volunteering hard. Volunteering Australia conducted a survey at the end of 2020, asking how the sector was faring. This report outlines the findings.

This paper is part of Demos’ work to build a different kind of democracy - an everyday democracy in which people are involved in the democratic process regularly and deeply, not once every few years with an 'X' in a box.

This paper explores tensions in the idea of citizenship from a theoretical stance and from a perspective anchored in the local experience of neighbourhood houses, and reminds us that being a citizen engaged in governance of a place is more difficult than the much more...

Using the ADI St Mary’s site to explore long standing issues in the planning and management of urban development, this paper identifies the generic nature of issues such as constraining the scale of development and empowering people in specific contexts, resulting from a complex interplay...

This paper examines the changes in policy and governance style favoured by Australian governments from the 1940s to 90s, and the shifts to and away from utilization of the market, government intervention, localism and participation over that time. It proposes a set of “governance technologies”...

Aotearoa’s success in eliminating COVID-19 is remarkable, matched by only a few other countries in the world. It required not only effective leadership and fast action by central government, but also the co-ordinated effort of thousands of local people around the country. In this report...

Without the willing contribution of the community on a large scale, there is little hope of a successful conclusion to the current public health crisis.

COVID-19 has created a crisis that threatens the existence of thousands of community sport clubs across Australia, and the communities of members, volunteers, coaches, and families that are involved with them. This survey report reveals that community sport’s shutdown has damaged the physical and mental...

Older people bring particular strengths and vulnerabilities to their communities in disaster recovery. This report draws on national and international research and policy to describe those strengths and vulnerabilities and proposes corresponding practical, community-level actions that can be incorporated into recovery plans and actions.

Since the late 1990s, the term 'commissioning' as a concept and practice has steadily gained ground. What can good commissioning look like in NSW? And what can government agencies, service providers and peak bodies do to bring this to life? These are the key questions...