Overview: The recent result of the Irish referendum and the decision of the United States Supreme Court in favour of same-sex marriage has given the Australian campaign for marriage equality new momentum. The most recent same-sex marriage bill was introduced in early June 2015 and is now one of four bills on the subject before...

Overview: This Quick Guide provides information about Indigenous Australian federal and state parliamentarians, from the election of the first Indigenous Australian to federal Parliament - former Senator Sir Neville Bonner - until June 2015. For the purposes of this Quick Guide, ‘Indigenous parliamentarian’ refers to a parliamentarian identifying as Indigenous or having Indigenous ancestry. This...

Overview: The main purpose of this Briefing Book is to provide Members of Parliament, new Members in particular, with a brief but authoritative account of key issues in NSW politics, providing relevant context and legislative history. State issues are ones that affect people most directly, health and education, transport and public safety, housing and child...

This paper reviews the reforms introduced over the life of the 55th NSW Parliament, from 2011 to 2015, intended to address concerns about integrity in government Overview When the Coalition came to government in 2011 they did so with a Five Point Action Plan, a major plank of which was to renew trust in the...

In the course of Tonga's political reform, the devolution of executive powers was incomplete due to the retention by the Monarch of several specific powers that have remained defined in the Constitution ever since its promulgation in 1875. Why did this occur? Abstract The subjects of this paper are the Kingdom of Tonga, its Monarchy...