Australia's federal system of government has served it well, but improvements are in order. On 17 June 2010 the Senate established a Select Committee on the Reform of the Australian Federation. On 29 September 2010, the committee was re-established by the Senate, to: (a) inquire into and report by the last sitting day of May...

From the Chair's forward When considering electoral reforms, our priority must be: enfranchisement, not disenfranchisement. It is this philosophy that has guided this inquiry and is reflected in many of the Committee’s recommendations. This report continues the tradition of examining and reporting on the conduct of federal elections and relevant legislation which has been carried...

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 informal voting rate at the 2010 House of Representatives election was substantially higher than that recorded at the 2007 House of Representatives election and is the highest since the 1984. In every election, it is likely that a small proportion of the votes cast will not meet the specified voting requirements and will therefore...

Several existing papers explore the extent to which the cross-country variation in measures of democracy and political rights can be explained by the cross-country variation in foreign aid inflows. Using panel data, we explore the extent to which the variation over time in such measures can be explained by changes in aid inflows, thus providing...