While the Commonwealth will receive a windfall of more than $10 billion per year in revenue from auctioning pollution permits, state and local governments will transfer more than $2 billion a year to the Commonwealth Government. In addition, the states will be liable for tens of billions of dollars-worth of expenditure associated with adapting to...

This project sought to consider the existing research on young Australians’ participation in democracy. This was undertaken with the purpose of developing a series of recommendations to promote the active citizenship and participation of young people in the democratic life of Australia.

This paper considers the best legal arragements to ensure a balance between the need to protect some Commonwealth information and the need to maintain an open and accountable government through providing appropriate access to information. The ALRC has identified and considered 507 secrecy provisions scattered across 175 pieces of legislation, including 358 distinct secrecy offences...

This paper was developed as background for the meeting of the Australian Council of Local Government in June 2009. It looks at the economic downturn and its implications for local government and regional economies with particular reference to the Australian Government response.

'Consultation' has become something of a mantra in contemporary governance. This book maps out the principal approaches used by governments to consult with and engage affected communities of interest. Governments well understand that policy occurs in a highly contestable environment in which there are multiple, and often competing interests. They well recognise the political imperative...