This country note on Australia outlines the regulatory and institutional frameworks on anti-corruption and public integrity. It provides contextual factors, and reports on lobbying, conflict of interest, political finance, access to public information, judicial integrity, prosecutorial integrity and disciplinary system for civil servants. It benchmarks Australia's performance against other OECD countries.

Australian federal Members of Parliament and Senators are entitled to over $3 million in pay, resources and benefits over a three-year election cycle. These resources can be used to boost re-election chances. Combined with changes to electoral laws coming into force, this paper finds that these threaten to make Australian elections less competitive than ever.

This report argues major reform to the Commonwealth Parliament and Government is needed to enable brave policymaking. Out of 34 potential reform ideas, the report identifies seven key reform areas that will improve government in Australia, including limiting political donations, fixing parliamentary terms and more rigorous processes for appointing and terminating Secretaries of Commonwealth Departments.

This factsheet identifies six key reforms to redress the unfairness created by the Commonwealth’s new political finance laws, and make real progress on combatting the influence of vested interests on the exercise of public power.

This paper reviews features of the Australian democratic system with consideration to reshaping that system to better serve a liberal democracy. It argues that reform must focus on how the political system can be improved so that it represents the views and values of ordinary Australians. The paper is intended to generate debate and provides...