One of Australia's most prominent privatisation advocates has been the head of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Rod Sims. In the Financial Review recently, he says he's 'almost at the point of opposing privatisation.' Sims told a conference in Melbourne, hosted in part by the paper, that he now believes the 'people off the...

Last year Sense about Science asked Sir Stephen Sedley, a former judge in the Court of Appeal and a new trustee of Sense about Science, to undertake an inquiry into the scale and significance of non-publication of government-commissioned research. Sir Stephen found out that: The UK government spends around £2.5 billion a year on research...

Machinery of government (“MoG”) changes are the formal transfer of functions from one department to another. These changes may occur at any time, but are most common following an election, particularly where there has been a change of government. MoG arrangements are used to align functions in a way that governments believe will assist in...

The annual Report on Government Services (RoGS) provides information on the equity, effectiveness and efficiency of government services in Australia. This report was progressively released between 27 January and 4 February 2016. This year marks the twenty-first edition of the Report on Government Services. The Report is produced by the Productivity Commission for an inter-governmental...

Following the November 2014 election, the newly elected Victorian government undertook a departmental restructure, which saw nine departments merged into seven, a reallocation of functions between departments and a number of changes to ministerial portfolios. On 27 May 2015, the Legislative Council passed a motion that the Legal and Social Issues Committee inquire into machinery...