There’s a worrying thread running through decisionmaking in Canberra Political attention over the past few weeks has been fixed on the drama of the Abbott government’s first budget – the winners and losers, the problem of broken promises, the prospects in the Senate. Beyond that, though, the budget reinforces another trend of potentially great significance...

The number of federal offences finalised in Australia's criminal courts increased by nine per cent in 2012-13, despite a four per cent decrease in the number of federal defendants.

This audit assessed the effectiveness of the Parliamentary Budget Office in conducting its role since being established in July 2012. Audit objective, criteria and scope The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the Parliamentary Budget Office in conducting its role since being established in July 2012. In order to form a conclusion against...

There are expected to be four redistributions occurring prior to the expiration of the 44th Parliament. This paper outlines the reasons why. Key points: The periodic redrawing of electoral boundaries is required by law to maintain electoral divisions of roughly equal enrolment size within a state or territory. Redrawing of boundaries is known as a...

This paper presents an analysis of the impact of tax and benefit changes under the Coalition Government, commissioned by the Opposition. Introduction Following the 2014-15 Budget, NATSEM undertook analysis of the impact of tax and benefit changes under the Coalition Government, commissioned by the Opposition. The work involved the estimation of the distributional impact on...