While a large battle looms once again for the APL leadership, this paper provides an insider's view of a more orderly, though no less intense, ALP contest and Andrew Leigh's eventual preselection for the Canberra seat of Fraser. Fear and loathing on ANZAC eve? For eight aspiring Federal politicians and 241 ALP Members 24 April...

This short paper discusses the constitutional issues associated with the proposed amendments in the Election Funding, Expenditure and Disclosures Amendment Bill 2011 relating to caps on electoral expenditure. Significant issues of interpretation remain to be clarified in relation to the implied freedom of political communication. Furthermore, the issues identified in this paper can only be...

This paper considers the implications of Taiwan's election result for China, the US, Australia and Taiwan itself. Leaders in Washington, Beijing and Canberra breathed a quiet sigh of relief when Taiwanese President Ma Ying Jeou was elected for a second term on 14 January. Ma’s re-election will see him continue to propel Taiwan along a...

This paper examines recent local government reform in the Northern Territory from two perspectives. The first is a quantitative perspective on population and finances, which focuses on the mixing of diverse interests in the recent changes. The second is a more observational perspective gained from working with one pre-reform local government and now the new...

Providing the ADF with state of the art equipment can be a challenging business. Sometimes the world market can provide a proven solution with the right level of capability, but often that isn't the case. Then it's a matter of either accepting a more modest level of performance or going down the path of developing...