This is the first occasion on which the Australian intelligence community has set out in a public document its role and functions. The six agencies covered in this information brochure are the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, the Defence Intelligence Organisation, the Defence Signals Directorate and the Defence Imagery, Geospatial Organisation...

The Learning Assistance Program (LAP) was established in 2004 with a 3-year funding period. Its purpose is to assist students enrolled in regular classes K-12 who are having difficulty in literacy, numeracy or language. It also focuses on building the capacity of classroom teachers to provide effective support to students experiencing difficulties in these basic...

Specialist committees are now a common feature of the Australian parliamentary landscape. This is especially the case in New South Wales, where parliamentary committees supervise most of the independent investigatory agencies, writes Gareth Griffiths in this survey of the role of committee.

In this research brief Thomas John provides an overview of the last 15 years of developments in whistleblower legislation in Australia and looks at some of the legal issues surrounding the topic.

Deb Wilkinson, Richard Denniss and Andrew MacIntosh highlight the need to tighten the current accountability arrangements that cover private schools in Australia to ensure that private schools teach public values. They highlight a range of exemptions that private schools curently have from anti-discrimination legislation allowing them to expel students on the basis of their sexuality...