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...

This paper presents robust evidence that retirement causally improves overall life satisfaction which is subsequently explained by improvements in satisfaction with one’s financial situation, free time, health, and participation in local community activities.

The specific purpose of this rapid scoping project is to identify, describe and, where possible, map the location of the humanitarian behaviours enacted by individuals and community groups in response to the bushfire crisis. This focus of this study is on the activities and initiatives...

This report provides a summary of the design, programming and research conducted at The Living Pavilion, a regenerative placemaking project which took place at the University of Melbourne.

This study examines how innovation labs are enhancing policy capacity through collaborative and citizen-centred approaches to policy design. It examines their relationships to government and their promotion of citizen participation in public problem solving.

The patterns of health service use by rural and remote residents are poorly understood and under-represented in national surveys. This paper examines professional and non-professional service use for mental health problems in rural and remote communities in Australia.

This volume collects innovative thinking about new forms of politics, new forms of political organisation and new ways of thinking politics.

In this article, the authors address growing concerns around voter turnout decline and its consequences for the future of democracy in New Zealand.

In an era of fake news, social media and public discussions among the like-minded, can deliberation renew democracy? Sally Hussey explains.

This report explores the case for, and ways to promote, effective place-based governance and local democracy as vital elements of Australia’s federal system. It is in response to trends such as declining levels of trust in governments and politicians, the inability of ‘big government’ to...