The annual budget is perhaps a Commonwealth government’s most important political, economic and social document. This research brief contains an overview of the main stages in the budget process, some of the key concepts underlying the content and presentation of the budget, some terms used, and issues in the budget’s focus, content, format and reporting.

This paper sets out the respective responsibilities of the Commonwealth and state governments for health care, identifying those areas where cost-shifting and duplication exist. It discusses some of the major issues in the health debate, with a view to identifying the extent to which they are connected to the federal division of responsibilities. In this...

The Australian Labor Party (ALP) has been re-elected as the party of government in Victoria, with its leader, Steve Bracks, to return as premier with an only slightly diminished lower house majority of 22 seats. Arguably the most interesting aspect of the election was the use of the Single Transferable Vote (STV) proportional representation electoral...

Australians generate solid waste at a high rate compared with most other OECD countries. Technologies and processes to avoid, reduce and recover waste are generally not used as extensively in Australia as in some other OECD countries. Non-optimal levels of waste represent lost value and opportunities, while imposing undesirable economic and environmental costs on society...

The Governments and Communities in Partnership conference held in September 2006 brought together key policy makers, community leaders and researchers from around Australia, together with leading experts from the UK, Ireland, Austria, Canada, the United States and New Zealand. The aim of the program was to deepen the academic and policy debate about the impact...