This paper is a response to the Federal Government's criticism of an Australia Institute report that examined conflicting estimates of carbon emissions. This paper argues that the Federal Government's National Carbon Accounting System (NCAS) is not transparent. Members of the public cannot gain access to crucial NCAS data (for example, maps of identified Kyoto forests...

Scott Bennett gives an overview of Australian federalism, noting its strengths and weaknesses, and asks: where does the system go from here?

The report cannot be assessed or applied in isolation. It sits within wider paradigm and evolutionary shifts in Australian public administration, management, and law. That point affects both the conceptual design and the operational implementation of the Uhrig Report, as well as the standards and guidelines that also require development, customisation, and adaptation in that...

Current frameworks for considering the structural situation of Indigenous peoples are increasingly focused on State and Territory jurisdictional levels. While this may ease access to data and help determine federal-state responsibilities, it provides little guidance regarding the spatial underpinnings of Indigenous disadvantage.

Australia’s system for sentencing federal offenders should be significantly overhauled to provide greater consistency, fairness and clarity, according to this report, which includes a detailed analysis of over 25,000 fraud and drug cases handled by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions between 2000 and 2004. The report shows a significant disparity in both the type...