Hey Myriad, I've had a bit of a look at the site. I gather they are getting close to producing some results. I hope that is useful.

There are some interesting topics there. One of my interests is FOI as I worked on both sides of it. Anyone in QLD would know that Beattie uses FOI to restrict information using what I heard someone describe as the "tea trolly" clause. Being, stick any document you want hidden on a trolley. Wheel it in and out of Cabinet and bingo. It's locked up for 30 years.

I'd like to hear others views on that when you are ready to kick off a discussion.

On the other site, I do wonder what results a committee made up of professors only might arrive at. I await such with interest.

Can you direct me to that doco please? I did a quick look 'round but (assuming not just having an ordinary Friday) couldn't spot it.

I'm very curious given your comment.

Cheers.

If nothing else, having an understanding of the different systems is certainly useful to be able to comment on our current system. And yes, it is an evolving thing.

For my money, the next big evolution for us is the move to a Republic, and what systems we put in place to enact that change.

For me, the most compelling argument for keeping the Crown is that because it doesn't utilise its Constitutional powers, it acts as a foil to executive abuse. IE it provides a vessel for those powers, but never exercises them, rendering them void.

What I've never understood regarding the Republic debate was why anyone thought we had to invest those powers in anyone or thing, if we took away Queenie. We could just as easily remove those powers, review the powers of Parliament & the PM to ensure no glaring loopholes, and settle for a President who is a figurehead, not an executive.

Ok, this is probably way more specific than what your original post scoped out, but I'll return to my first point - a new debate about a Republic is our most likely next democractic evolution, and with that, could open up a broader debate on our democratic institutions & systems.

Thanks for such an informative post.

Did you find the articles, Pegasus, at the audit site on the desparate need for an FOI Act overhaul, and also a short article on the dollar costs levied against FOI requests, using a specific ACT example? Scroll down on this link and you'll find the articles I'm talking about under the heading beginning 'Open Government'.

I'd like to return to that, as how FOI functions is to my mind a critical tool and indicator of democracy.

Hi Myriad.

See link - Democracy Assessment: Assessment Framework

Cheers.

Hey Myriad, no I haven't read far yet but I will, on some topics at least.

FOI has been an interest of mine since it was introduced. I was a public servant when that started and we were trained in what not to show people rather than the opposite. Naturally it was instantly dubbed Freedom From Information but these days the free bit doesn't apply in any way.

I loved Jim Hacker and Sir Humphrey's "Open Government," and I think those series are actually used by most political parties every day. Except it's not funny without Jim and Humphrey.

As an aside can I just say I think your writing is so well organised and easy to follow it makes even boring subjects capable of being read. Mine is a bit emotional and jumps around but that's OK, that's me.

Best.

That is not true Pegasus! Don't say things that are not true just because a woman is in the room.

Good writing is objective but is based on human feelings. Anything without feeling is a lump of garbage. And that is usual with political writing.

Myriad knows she is good. She writes that way to express that she is good to us all. Don't tell her any more that she is as she picked the surname Mint for she knows she is in mint condition.

I picked 'Mint' 'cause I love a good peice of alliteration, and it is a synonym of 'myriad'. Trite but true. ;-)

Thanks for the compliments. I will use them as a spur to improve my writing further.

Pegasus, FOI is definitely begging for a blog entry. I'll do my best to get to it soon. Next I want to continue on the theme of a fair & accurate media, and talk about two topics - the systematic attacks on the ABC (and SBS if I can find more info on it - any links appreciated); and media coverage / exposure of political donations / rorts.

Cheers.

My honest first thought? Too complex for most pollies! More seriously, I also thought the 'do it yourself' guide was a little short on info on the 'how', and I myself don't feel confident enough on the preceding more detailed info to want to try it. So I guess I'm saying it's feeling a bit too complex for me too at the moment. :o

If you'd like to expand on how we can use it, please do. Perhaps I'm over-thinking it.

Cheers.

Myriad, the new person on the ABC Board is Janet Albrechtsen, and there has been some conflict. She is as hard as nails and writes a weekly column for the Australian but also says she has no allegence to Rupert Murdoch. Of course! Ms Albrechtsen clashed with the Media Watch program after presenter David Marr accused her of misrepresenting foreign research in one of her columns.

I agree with you Myriad that a Republic is probably the next step in Australian democracy and that the whole issue has been badly handled. I think its in reference to one of your entries earlier?? I think you mentioned that an extreme conservative tactic is to cloud the debate with surface issues. I believe this was done with the current Republic Referendum. Unfortunately many monarchists threw up dust (like erroneously questioning Australia's participation in the Commonwealth Games) in order to draw attention away from the real issue and prevented any meaty debates. Now our democratic evolution, as you call it, has been put on hold because there is little chance of another referendum in the near future. Maybe I'm wrong ... but this is just another example of how the Howard Government is throwing our democracy back to the apes and before we can evolve we need to stop reversing.

Hey Len how are you doing? Been a bit of rain down your way I saw on the news. Hope you are doing OK.

Pegasus I am fine. Weather now is fine, yes it did rain. Just as I was putting on the line a peg it was sus.

Thanks for the thoughtful post, Myriad.

Jo Barraket reports on a preliminary analysis of Australian third sector, or non-profit, organisations’ attempts to mobilise citizen engagement using online technologies. She reviews recent debates about the impacts of online technologies on citizen engagement in order to identify the significance of these technologies to third sector organisations. While the organisations reviewed are using online technologies to present information about their offline activities, they are less consistent in using these technologies to mobilise civic engagement in new ways Australian Centre for Emerging Technologies & Society Online opportunities for civic engagement? An examination of Australian third sector organisations on the internet

Other papers of note: Scott Brenton examines data from the 2003 Australian Survey of Social Attitudes and the 2004 Australian Electoral Study, in considering whether there is declining confidence in Australia’s democratic institutions. He examines issues of democracy, government, politicians, parliaments, the legal system and public servants - Democratic Audit of Australia, Australian National University (PDF file) Public confidence in Australian democracy

In June 2004 the Liberal Party’s Bill Stefaniak introduced the Charter of Responsibilities Bill into the ACT Legislative Assembly Bills of responsibilities: is one needed to counter the ‘excesses’ of the ACT Human Rights Act 2004?

Jozef
Virtual Reference

New Focused Audit on sexual and gender minorities released

The latest in the Audit’s Focused Audit series, How Well Does Australian Democracy Serve Sexual and Gender Minorities by Sarah Maddison and Emma Partridge is now available. Whilst there has been considerable progress in the human rights of sexual and gender minorities in recent decades, it highlights the extent to which significant inequalities persist, particularly in respect of relationship recognition.

Download Audit Report No. 9

A limited number of hard copies are available from the Audit (first free, $10 for each subsequent copy).

The Haneef case

Following attempted terrorist attacks in the UK, a Gold Coast doctor has been charged with giving material assistance to a terrorist organisation—namely his mobile phone SIM card. Dr Haneef passed the card on to a second cousin 12 months ago when he was leaving the UK. Despite being granted bail by a magistrate, Dr Haneef has had his visa withdrawn and has been placed in immigration detention.

James Jupp (ANU) reviews the case

The Governance of Britain

As one of his first moves, the new British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has released a Green Paper, The Governance of Britain, to launch discussion of a wide range of constitutional reform.

The Green Paper is available here

Phil Larkin provides provides an overview of the Green Paper

The Audit’s Norman Abjorensen discusses the proposals relating to ministerial advisors

Government responses to committees

The latest six-monthly report on government responses to committee reports was presented to parliament on 21 June 2007. Astonishingly, it would appear that the government has failed to respond to a single report within the required three-month period. Indeed, some are still awaiting a response after several years. Whilst in a few cases the government claims a response is pending, subject to developments, in the case of the report on A Certain Maritime Incident (tabled in October 2002), the government is still deciding whether it is going to respond at all. Perhaps the most worrying thing is not that the government is reluctant to respond to reports, but that parliament allows this.

The full reports can be found in Hansard:

The Senate (from page 102)

The House (from page 94)

British votes to decide key Australian seats?

A government response to a question on notice from Sen Andrew Murray has revealed that there are still some 163,887 voters on the electoral roll who are not Australian citizens. British subjects who were on the roll in January 1984 were allowed to stay on it indefinitely, unlike the situation in Canada where Canadian citizenship was required from 1975. The Australian High Court determined in 1999 that the UK was a ‘foreign power’, making British citizens ineligible to sit in the Australian parliament because of their foreign allegiance. British citizens can still, however, decide elections in federal seats such as Brand and Canning in WA and Kingston and Wakefield in SA.

Same-Sex: Same Entitlements

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission released its report Same-Sex: Same Entitlements on 22 June 2007. This reports on the inquiry into discrimination against same-sex couples in accessing financial and work-related entitlements. HREOC found that 58 federal laws discriminated against same-sex couples, including areas such as superannuation, Medicare and child support. While same-sex couples were 'first-class tax-payers’ they were second-class citizens in terms of entitlements and this also meant a discriminatory impact on their children.' This was the inquiry that Howard government ministers instructed their departments and agencies not to make submissions to.

Read the report

NSW Election Funding Inquiry

The NSW Legislative Council has set up (27 June) a select committee to inquire into the funding and disclosure of donations to political parties and candidates in State and local government elections. The inquiry was moved by Liberal MP Don Harwin, with the support of the Greens, the Shooters Party and the Christian Democratic Party. The inquiry will look at the impact of donations on the democratic process and the advantages and disadvantages of a ban on corporate and union donations and of introducing expenditure limits. It will report by the first sitting day in March 2008. There has been continuing controversy in NSW over developer donations and their potential impact on planning laws and planning decisions.

go to inquiry home page

Parliamentary administration compared

June Verrier, currently a visiting fellow at the Audit has an interesting paper on parliamentary administration in the Australasian Parliamentary Review. Comparing experience in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK, she argues that, contrary to much opinion, improved corporate governance will not, of itself, increase parliament’s independence or effectiveness. An underpinning commitment is necessary to the kind of administrative and budgetary arrangements needed for independence, the best-practice model being a cross-party parliamentary commission. The Australasian Parliamentary Review is not yet available online, but the article is reproduced with permission.

Read the paper

Strengthening government and parliament in Victoria

The Victorian parliament’s Public Accounts and Estimates Committee (PAEC) is conducting an inquiry into strengthening parliamentary accountability. Some interesting submissions to the inquiry have been made, which are now available from the PAEC website.

WA boundary changes

The Western Australian Electoral Distribution Commissioners have released their proposed new electoral boundaries on 29 June, following a period of public comment—these proposed boundaries are the first under WA’s one vote, one value legislation. The Commissioners’ web site contains the various maps, submissions, and process timeline. Objections to the proposed boundaries need to be submitted to the Commissioners by 30 July, with the final boundaries being published on 29 October 2007.

Kenyan ministers 'bored'

The perils of coalition building have been revealed in Kenya, with 30 assistant ministers complaining they are bored and have no work to do. The number of assistant ministries has grown as the president has used the positions to reward coalition partners, but evidently has not found sufficient work to keep them busy, or has not trusted them with t responsibility. The assistant ministers are now calling for a clear statement of their duties. Cynics have, however, questioned why it has taken them until months before an election to complain.

Read more

Government communication in Australia

Audit contributor, Sally Young (University of Melbourne) has published a timely edited collection on Government Communication in Australia (Cambridge Univ. Press). The book covers issues including how governments use spin, new media and expensive government advertising to influence reporting and public opinion. It includes chapters by other Audit contributors including Graeme Orr, Brian Head, Peter Chen, Rachel Gibson, Sarah Maddison and Katherine Gelber.

Find out more

The pillars of power

Audit contributor David Solomon AM (University of Queensland), has published The Pillars of Power (Federation Press). The book examines changes in Australian political, legal and regulatory institutions, including the growth in prime ministerial power, the downgrading of parliament and the remaking of the federal system. It draws on 50 interviews with politicians, administrators and other observers.

Find out more

Democratic Audit of Australia

Political Science

Australian National University

Canberra ACT 0200

Tel: +61 2 6125 0696 or 1600
Fax: +61 2 6125 3051

Prisoner vote decision

In the wake of the High Court’s decision on prisoner enfranchisement, Graeme Orr (University of Queensland) describes the issue of prisoner disenfranchisement as a continuing ‘political football’ in this new paper for the Audit.

http://democratic.audit.anu.edu.au/papers/20071019orr_prisonervotingrights.pdf

The High Court’s reasoning is available here:

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/2007/43.html

Whatever happened to frank and fearless?

Kathy MacDermott, former head of evaluation for the Australian Public Service Commission, considers the tension between the public service’s role in providing ‘frank and fearless’ advice to government and its role in development and implementation of government policy.

http://democratic.audit.anu.edu.au/papers/20071019macdermottaps.pdf

At 8pm on Wednesday 17 October 2007, the federal electoral roll closed for enrolments and re-enrolments. Electors already on the roll but who want to change their address have until the evening of Tuesday 23 October to get their forms to the Australian Electoral Commission. You can check your current enrolled address here https://oevf.aec.gov.au/ and obtain a form here:

http://www.aec.gov.au/Enrolling_to_vote/How_To_Enrol/index.htm.

Note, however, that it is now too late for people who are not on the roll to register.

When last year the federal government legislated to close the rolls for new enrolments on the day the writs were issued, and for re-enrolments three days afterwards, it justified the change on the grounds that the week’s grace that had previously existed had placed unwanted stress on the AEC’s operations. The Commissioner agreed that it would ‘make our life easier’. It is not clear, therefore, whether the AEC welcomed the three day window that resulted from the Prime Minister issuing the writs three days after announcing the election in 2007.

However, after the election was announced the AEC advertised widely the Wednesday evening deadline, and the Sydney Morning Herald has reported a last minute ‘steady stream’ of first-time voters enrolling at the AEC’s Sydney office.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/federal-election-2007/the-rush-to-meet-cutoff/2007/10/17/1192300858119.html

Also on the subject of the electoral roll, Simon Jackman, who co-authored an Audit paper with Peter Brent in June has an update at The Bulletin’s website:

http://thebulletinelection.ninemsn.com.au/the_case_of_the_missing_200000_voters.htm

Jackman and Brent for the Audit: http://democratic.audit.anu.edu.au/papers/20070620brentjackmanaecroll.pdf

Blogger William Bowe looked at the issue in Crikey this week:

http://www.mumble.com.au/misc/20071016_crikey_williamboweonroll.htm

As did the Sydney Morning Herald

http://www.smh.com.au/news/federalelection2007news/last-roll-call-for-elections-missing-voters/2007/10/16/1192300727371.html

and the Canberra Times

http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/news/local/general/143000-voters-knocked-off-roll/1070638.html

We will have to wait until after the election to determine how well the AEC coped under the new conditions

Party donations

In the wake of the prime minister’s admission that he would welcome donations to the Liberal Party from Gunns, the company behind the proposed Tasmanian pulp mill, Ken Coghill (Monash University) has a piece on the ABC’s website on the shortcomings of the regulation of political finance in Australia.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/11/2056377.htm

Labor commitment to fixed terms

ALP leader Kevin Rudd has committed his party to a referendum on the introduction of four-year, fixed-term governments.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/10/10/1191695991663.html

Kirby calls for dissenting judiciary

Justice Michael Kirby has criticised the conservatism of his fellow High Court judges in the annual Hawke Lecture. Whilst government is inevitably constrained to a degree by the need for consensus and compromise, he argues the independence of the judiciary should see them dissenting from majority opinion in order for social progress to be achieved.

The transcript and a recording of the speech are available here:

http://www.unisa.edu.au/hawkecentre/ahl/2007ahl_kirby.asp

Campaign poster ban in NSW?

An apparently innocuous piece of legislation currently before the New South Wales parliament could have important election campaigning implications, especially for small parties and Independents. The Electricity Supply Amendment (Offences) Bill 2007 makes it an offence to enter or climb electricity works and this, it seems, would include putting up campaign posters on electricity poles. Lacking the resources of the big parties, smaller parties and independents rely on this sort of free campaigning so the bill could further skew the electoral process against them.

The bill is available here:

http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/nswbills.nsf/0/781F8891B8D0FBDFCA257306001BB0D

Another Bill of Rights?

Following a community consultation process, the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute has recommended that Tasmania become the latest jurisdiction in Australia to enact a Bill of Rights. Australia remains the only comparable country without a Bill of Rights, though the ACT and Victoria have both introduced them.

A summary of the Institute’s recommendations is available here:

http://www.law.utas.edu.au/reform/Human_rightsfinalversion_media.pdf

The full report is available here:

http://www.law.utas.edu.au/reform/Human_Rights_A4_Final_10_Oct_2007_revised.pdf

Democracy in Pacific Asia

Roland Rich, the former head of the ANU’s Centre for Democratic Institutions and recently appointed executive head of the United Nation’s Democracy Fund, has a new book examining democracy in Pacific Asia.

It’s available from Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Pacific-Asia-Quest-Democracy-Roland/dp/1588265757/ref=sr_1_1/102-8346592-6245729?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1189574202&sr=8-1

________________________

Dr Phil Larkin

Democratic Audit of Australia
Political Science
Australian National University
Canberra ACT 0200

Tel: +61 2 6125 0696 or 1600

Fax: +61 2 6125 3051

The importance of boundaries 

Colin Hughes, former Federal Electoral Commissioner and Emeritus Professor of Politics at the University of Queensland, considers the issue of electorate boundary changes. The paper provides a comprehensive review of the 2006 redistributions in NSW and Qld and summarises the history of redistributions in the two states. Hughes analyses the party political competition involved, even when the redistributions are carried out by independent electoral commissions. 

Government advertising on industrial relations 

Fred Argy, visiting fellow at ANU’s Crawford School, reviews the federal government’s publicly funded, multi-million dollar campaign to persuade the Australian electorate of the merits of the controversial WorkChoices policy.Read the paper
 

Fairfax media freedom fears

Media baron JB Fairfax has spoken of his concerns about the freedom of the press. He identified two trends of particular concern: Freedom of Information (FOI) and whistleblower protection. Governments’ ability to deem the disclosure of documents to be contrary to the public interest significantly undermines the principle of FOI. He also called for a legal right for journalist to protect their sources, except in cases of national security.More in the Geelong Advertiser

Garrett’s FOI knock-backALP

Environment Spokesman, Peter Garrett had an FOI request for documents relating to the impact of global warming on the Great Barrier Reef rejected, apparently on the bizarre grounds that it would benefit Labor’s election campaign. The executive director of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) said that, if the matter was of public concern, then the information would assist Labor’s campaign and, presumably, damage the Liberals’. Read more  

Australia improves its press freedom ranking

Reporters Without Borders’ latest annual survey of world press freedom has Australia in 28th place, up from 35th in 2006.Read more

The Australian electoral roll

The Audit’s Peter Brent and Simon Jackman (Stanford University) have followed up their Audit paper on the shrinking electoral roll, with this analysis of the latest enrolment figuresRead the analysis  

The right to vote is not enjoyed equally

A recent report by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) shows that, whilst all Australians aged 18 or over are supposedly obliged to vote, in fact certain groups are disproportionately more likely to miss out. Those with a disability, those in rural areas, indigenous Australians, the homeless, and prisoners serving sentences longer than three years, are all likely to excluded from voting for legal or practical reasons.Read the full report here  

Political campaigns website

Audit contributor Sally Young (University of Melbourne), has launched The Soapbox, a new website dedicated to political campaigns in Australia since 1901.Visit The Soapbox  

Election 2007: Voters and the Senate

Whilst governments may not like it, it seems voters prefer a Senate that is not under government control. David Denemark (UWA), Shaun Wilson (Maquarie University) and Gabrielle Meagher (University of Sydney) have a paper based on the latest Australian Social Attitudes Survey (AuSSA) that shows that 57 per cent prefer the government not to have control of the Senate, against just 14 per cent who consider it a good thing.Read more

Ruddock vs Ludwig debate

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock and Shadow Attorney-General Joe Ludwig will debate their parties’ policies as they affect Australia’s legal system. The debate will be held at NSW Parliament House on Tuesday November 6, between 9.00am and 10.00am. Booking required: phone 02 9385 2257 or email gtcentre@unsw.edu.au.   

Dr Phil Larkin

Democratic Audit of AustraliaPolitical Science

Australian National UniversityCanberra ACT 0200 

Tel: +61 2 6125 0696 or 1600Fax: +61 2 6125 3051

ANAO: Regional spending program ‘political’ 

A report by Auditor-General on the first three years of the Federal Government’s Regional Partnerships Program (2003-06) has found it to have ‘fallen short of an acceptable standard of public administration’. There has been much comment in the media and elsewhere on the use of the program for pork-barreling in the 2004 election. The Auditor-General’s report expresses concern that decisions were taken to fund certain projects not recommended by the department, and that some decisions ‘were open to the interpretation that they had been made for political reasons and not on the merits of the project’. 

http://www.anao.gov.au/download.cfm?item_id=40BC1C6C1560A6E8AAA43AAB96708E61&binary_id=40CC2B811560A6E8AABD1888AE16D9D3  

Further politicisation of the public service 

The Canberra Times reports that public servants have been compiling ‘cheat sheets’—breaking down government expenditure by federal electorate—for government MPs and candidates to use in the election campaign. The information compiled by public servants was not passed on to the parliamentary library and FOI requests have been blocked by extortionate charges quoted for scrutiny of the expenditure breakdowns. Together, Education, Communications, Defence and Family and Community Services wanted more than $50 000 to release the documents, estimating it would take thousands of hours to scrutinise the documents. The Canberra Times notes that the self-imposed regime of scrutinising the documents line-by-line has enabled agencies to ride out the election without disclosing further evidence of pork barrelling. 

http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/news/local/general/ps-used-in-cheat-sheets-for govt/1084013.html 

http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/news/opinion/opinion/improper-benefits-of-incumbency/1084428.html 

Former PMs criticise ‘culture of secrecy’ 

Former prime ministers Malcolm Fraser and Gough Whitlam have written an open letter on the decline of responsible government and the failure to observe the principle of ministerial accountability. They have urged the winners of the November 2007 general election to launch a full, independent inquiry.

Read the letter:  http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22740912-5000117,00.html  

Relating to the former PMs' open letter, Spencer Zifcak and Victor Perton have an article in the Australian calling for a revamped code of ministerial accountability, as recommended in the Australasian Study of Parliament's Be honest, minister! 

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22746287-7583,00.html  

How should I vote?

GetUp has an online questionnaire designed to find the candidate who most closely matches your opinions. Candidates in all electorates answered 20 questions and their responses were recorded. You answer the same questions and your answers are matched with the candidates standing in your electorate. A personal How To Vote card is then generated. It's good fun and the site has been independently checked for fairness, though not all candidates have answered the questionnaire.

http://www.howshouldivote.com.au/ 

Australian democracy special edition In the wake of the Federal election, the Centre for Policy Development is publishing a special edition of InSight, its online journal, on the state of Australia’s democracy. It is to be published on 28 November 2007.   

http://cpd.org.au/insight/reclaiming-democracy  

ASIO criticised 

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) have been roundly criticised by a judge for their conduct, including false imprisonment and kidnap, in bringing terrorism charges against a Sydney medical student.  

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22743153-953,00.html  

MPs’ activity 

The Daily Telegraph has audited the activity of members of the House of Representatives. It finds that members who are stepping down are generally less active and hard-working than those standing for re-election and that coalition members in marginal seats are more likely to ask ‘Dorothy Dixers’ at Question Time. Read more here: 

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22807311-5001021,00.html  

Tightening up the New Zealand political finance regime The Justice and Electoral Committee of the New Zealand parliament has just reported back on the Electoral Finance Bill. The Bill is intended to close loopholes revealed in the last election when the Exclusive Brethren was the third largest known spender. Read more here: 

http://www.parliament.nz/NR/rdonlyres/B3855C0D-338F-42C8-8E8F-C82715337CA7/69335/DBSCH_SCR_3906_5586.pdf 

Accountability failings in Canada 

The regulations to govern lobbyists under Canada’s much publicised Federal Accountability Act have still not come into force, although the Act received royal assent in December 2006. The party launched its bid for government at the last election with a strong commitment to closing the 'revolving door' between lobbyists and government.  Despite promises, little has been done to curb the power of lobbyists, and now Prime Minister Harper has come under fire over the appointment of the head of an industry lobby group, the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association, to lead the Conservative research bureau. 

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5i35JuPuX69RC7aZIaZQn6bq0kfJQ Hate speech Audit contributor Katherine Gelber (UNSW) and Adrienne Stone (University of Melbourne) have edited a collection on the laws governing hate speech.More details are available here:  http://www.federationpress.com.au/bookstore/book.asp?isbn=9781862876538    

Dr Phil Larkin

Democratic Audit of Australia

Political ScienceAustralian National UniversityCanberra ACT

0200 Tel: +61 2 6125 0696 or 1600Fax: +61 2 6125 3051

Removing partisan bias from Australian electoral legislation – An Audit discussion paper

The ANU’s Brendan McCaffrie discusses a way of removing partisan bias from the formulation of Australia’s electoral laws.  His proposal for an Independent Electoral Law Committee seeks to remove the partisan influence of the major parties from electoral law-making.  Although the major parties may be loath to give up this control, there are international precedents, as McCaffrie discusses. 

Read Brendan’s paper here.    

Not so special anymore: The demise of SBS television – An Audit discussion paper

Monash University’s Emma Dawson assesses the state of SBS as a public broadcaster reflecting the concerns of ethnic Australia.  Dawson discusses how SBS management has responded to being caught up in the culture wars, attempting to adequately respond to the interests of its viewers, and its political masters.   

Read Emma’s paper here.  

Informal voting at the 2007 election – Preliminary notes

In this commentary piece, the Audit’s Peter Brent notes the decrease in informal voting (from 5.18 to 3.95 per cent) at the 2007 federal election.  However, the level of accidental informal voting still appears to be significant, and Brent identifies the relationships with different voting systems at the state level, as well as the level of non-English speaking voters. 

Read Peter’s comments here. 

Rudd government support for NGOs’ advocacy role

The Rudd Labor government has announced that it will amend contracts with the non-government sector to allow NGOs to resume their advocacy role without the need for prior government vetting.  The previous government had restricted the advocacy function of NGOs by requiring public statements to be scrutinised by government officials prior to release.  In an influential discussion paper for the Audit in June 2006, drawn on by ACOSS in their recent discussions with government, Joan Staples (UNSW) discussed the impact that think-tanks such as the Institute of Public Affairs were having on the Howard government's policies towards NGOs. 

Read her article here  

See Matthew Franklin’s story in the Australian here 

WA human rights report

The government-appointed Consultation Committee has reported on the proposed Human Rights Act for Western Australia.  The Committee received 377 submissions (including one from the Audit), and has recommended that additions be made to the original draft Bill. Recommended additions include the right to an education and adequate housing.  The WA government is reluctant to include additional rights, and has deferred further action on human rights legislation pending Rudd government consultation on possible federal legislation. 

Report of the Consultation Committee (3.7MB)Consultation Committee’s website (includes links to the report and submissions

Attorney General Jim McGinty’s media statement  

Article on voter ID laws

American electoral law specialist Professor Rick Hasen draws parallels between US and Australian voter ID laws in this Canberra Times article.  Hasen highlights problems in requiring voters to produce ID at the time of voting.    

New House of Representatives’ petitions committee

The Rudd government has announced that a 10-member parliamentary committee will be established to review and report on petitions presented to parliament.  Up to now there has been no formal action on petitions after they have been tabled.  Given the number of petitions presented to parliament (over 900 in the previous parliament, according to The Australian here), it will be interesting to see how the committee establishes its priorities.  For example, one of the largest generators of petitions (both in number of petitions, and number of signatories) is the Falun Gong issue in China.  

Kind regards, Norm  

Norm Kelly

School of Social Sciences,

Faculty of Arts

The Australian National University

Rm 2156 Haydon-Allen Building

Ph: (02) 6125 4209

Mb: 0414 493 749

Em: norm.kelly@anu.edu.au

Priorities for Electoral Reform

The election of a new government means an opportunity to fix some of the things that have been going wrong with Australia’s electoral system.  Australia has been making it harder to enrol and vote, and easier for private money to influence electoral outcomes.  Read the Audit’s priorities for electoral reform here.   

Discussion paper – Time to introduce automatic enrolment in Australia

With the Rudd government looking at making changes to the Electoral Act, the Audit’s Peter Brent places automatic enrolment as a high priority.  In this paper, he highlights the mass of database information which the Australian Electoral Commission has access to, but cannot efficiently use for updating the electoral roll.  Peter calls for the AEC to be given the power to update the roll automatically – doing away with the need for citizens to fill out lengthy enrolment forms.  Read his paper here.    

NSW elections database

Antony Green has produced an excellent database of NSW Legislative Assembly election results dating back to 1856 (the first general election under responsible government).  Produced for the NSW parliament, the information includes seat by seat results for every election and by-election, an alphabetical listing of every candidate that has ever stood in NSW (listing all contests each candidate has stood in).  Very easy to navigate around, this is not only a valuable research tool for election nerds, but a useful reference point for anyone with an interest in the history of NSW politics.  Access the database here  

NSW 2007 election inquiry

The NSW parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters is currently conducting an inquiry into the conduct of the 2007 general election.  The deadline for submissions is 29 February.  For information on making a submission, visit the Committee’s web site here.  

Political finance - Call for restrictions on donations

In a recent opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald, David Humphries argues that Australia should follow the Canadian example by putting limits on the size of political donations, and prohibiting foreign donations.  It should be pointed out that there is a small error in the piece – Canada now prohibits all donations from corporations and trade unions.  Only donations of less than $1 000 from individuals are now allowed.  Read David Humphries’ article here.   

Pace-setting FOI Discussion Paper from Queensland

One of the first actions of the new Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh, was to commission Dr David Solomon to head a review of Queensland's Freedom of Information Act. Its Discussion Paper has now been released (30 January 2008) and suggests fundamental changes. These are relevant beyond Queensland and, for example, would help repair the notoriously weak Commonwealth FOI Act. 

The Queensland discussion paper refers approvingly to the principle underlying the New Zealand approach to FOI, where the default position is to release even Cabinet documents unless it can be shown this would damage the public interest. It suggests all FOI exemptions in the Queensland Act be subject to an over-riding public interest test. At the federal level the Rudd Government is so far only committed to removal of conclusive certificates and the setting up of a FOI Commissioner, not to reducing currently exempt areas or introducing an over-riding public interest test. 

For the Discussion Paper (Enhancing Open and Accountable Government) click here.  Submissions to the review close on Friday 7 March.  

For Jack Waterford's analysis in The Public Sector Informant (February 2008) click here.  

Civil unions - Self-government for the ACT?

The ACT Attorney-General, Simon Corbell, has called for the removal of the provision in the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988 that gives the Governor General (i.e., the Commonwealth government) the power to disallow laws passed by the Territory Assembly. This is what happened to the Civil Unions Act 2006. The Howard Government objected to the Civil Unions Act on the grounds that it equated civil unions with marriage and would have authorised marriage celebrants to conduct civil union ceremonies. 

Following the Governor-General's disallowance of the 2006 ACT legislation, Labor, Green and Democrat Senators (Ludwig, Nettle and Stott Despoja) moved a motion in the Senate to disallow the Governor-General's action and were joined by ACT Liberal Senator Gary Humphries. The motion was defeated, however, when the Family First Senator sided with the Government. 

After the change of federal government a new Civil Partnership Bill was presented to the ACT Legislative Assembly in December 2007. The Bill creates 'civil partnership notaries' to witness the declarations of those entering into formal domestic partnerships and provides the opportunity for this to be a public ceremony. This change of language, from the celebrants referred to in the 2006 Act, was intended to underline that a civil partnership was different from marriage.  The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, said that his government would not over-ride the legislation as it was a matter for States and Territories.  

In 2008, however, the Commonwealth Attorney-General, Robert McLelland, has repeatedly claimed the public ceremony aspects of the ACT Bill are 'unacceptable'.  His preference is for relationships registers that do not involve a ceremony before an official. Hence the ACT Attorney-General's statement that existing provisions allowing the Commonwealth to over-ride Territory legislation are undemocratic and should be abolished. 

Unfortunately the ACT seems to have little pull in the federal parliament, having no representation in the Cabinet or Ministry and ACT votes being worth less than votes in any other jurisdiction in House of Representatives elections. 

For a comprehensive assessment on the proposal for civil unions in the ACT, including the various political forces at play, read this article from Carol Johnson (University of Adelaide) at On Line Opinion.   

Audit moves to Swinburne

This is the final email update from the Audit team at ANU.  Future updates, and management of the Audit, will be handled by Brian Costar and Peter Browne at the Institute for Social Research at Swinburne University.  However, we will remain involved in the Audit’s aims and work, particularly with finalising The State of Democracy report, and the Marketing Government focused Audit report, due out in the coming months.

Regards, Norm  

Norm Kelly

School of Social Sciences,

Faculty of Arts

The Australian National University

Rm 2156

Haydon-Allen Building

Ph: (02) 6125 4209

Mb: 0414 493 749

Em: norm.kelly@anu.edu.au

This is the first Democratic Audit Update from the Audit’s new home at the Institute for Social Research, Swinburne University of Technology. Readers won’t notice any dramatic changes – the Audit will continue to draw on a network of researchers around Australia, including the team at ANU, who’ve kept up a remarkable flow of reports, papers and news over the past six years. Particular thanks to Marian Sawer, Peter Brent, Norm Kelly and Norman Abjorensen for helping with a smooth transition. Contributions to future newsletters are welcomed; please send them to Brian Costar – bcostar@swin.edu.au.

Democratic Audit submission to NSW inquiry

The Audit’s Dr Phil Larkin has made a submission to the NSW Legislative Council Inquiry into Electoral and Political Party Funding, highlighting three issues: the relationship between funding regimes; the timeliness of donation disclosures; and the structure of the Election Funding Authority.

• Read the full submission here

Colin Hughes on political funding

The former Electoral Commissioner, Professor Colin A. Hughes, has told the NSW Legislative Council Inquiry into Electoral and Political Party Funding that “[t]he essential components for an election finance system without which the system must be suspect are, first, machinery to enforce, monitor and recommend, and second, continuous, comprehensive and total disclosure of both income and outgo. All else is bells and whistles.”

• Read the full Hughes submission here

• Visit the inquiry’s webpage here

JSCEM members announced

The membership of the federal parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM) has been finalised: the chair is Labor’s Daryl Melham MP and the deputy chair is Liberal MP Scott Morrison.

• A full membership list is here

McEwen goes to the Federal Court

The contested result in the federal division of McEwen is set down for a directions hearing in the Federal Court of Australia (Melbourne) on 28 March 2008, before Justice Tracey.Foreign political donationsIn this briefing note Senator Andrew Murray argues that Australia – like countries including the United States, New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom – should ban foreign donations to domestic political parties to stop foreign influence in domestic political affairs.

• Read this paper here

Dear Minister, ignore public service experience at your peril

Writing in the Public Sector Informant supplement to the Canberra Times, Patrick Weller argues that the public service prospers when it is well led by ministers who know what they want and how to use the skills of the public servants who work with them.

• Read page 1 of this article here
• and page 2 here

Politics/Media Conference proceedings

Convened by the Media and Communications Program, University of Melbourne, on 12–13 February 2008, this conference brought together researchers and practitioners in Australian politics, media and political communication. Conference papers covered political reporting from both a research and practitioner point of view, with a number focusing on the 2007 federal election campaign and others taking a broader view of political communications in both theory and practice. The full text of most papers in available at The Soapbox, an elections database established by the Media and Communications Program.

• Find the papers here

Will the latest aNiMaLS be CUTSies or go CaCTUS?

In 1996 the infamous National Media Liaison Service (known as “aNiMaLS”) became the equally infamous Government Members’ Secretariat. Will the Rudd government’s Caucus Committee Support and Training Unit perform the same role, asks Mark Davis in the Sydney Morning Herald on 25 February 2008. Not so, says Senator Robert Ray: there will be “no media monitoring; no research on the Opposition; no direct campaigning in elections and the like…”

• Read Mark Davis’s article here

Branch stacks and smokestacks

Linton Besser, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald on 8 March 2008, reveals branch stacking to influence candidate pre-selection has played a roll in the troubles besetting the Wollongong City Council.

• Read the full article here

The Everyday Democracy Index

Demos in the UK has developed this index as “a tool for assessing the democratic health of European countries across many different dimensions”. According to a paper launched on 31 January, everryday democracy “includes not just formal dimensions of democracy but also more everyday features of democracy – how important democratic principles and practices are to the cultures of workplaces, to people’s community life, to the way they interact with public services, and even to the way they talk to their friends and family.”

• Read the full report here

First moves on lobbying

The Cabinet Secretary, Senator John Faulkner, released an exposure draft of the proposed Lobbying Code of Conduct on 2 April 2008. In this Audit Discussion Paper John Warhurst assesses the proposal. While welcoming the code, he writes that in important respects "it is timid and narrow".

• Read this new Audit Discussion Paper here

Electoral green papers

A few days earlier, on 28 March 2008, Senator Faulkner, who is also Special Minister of State, announced that the government would prepare two Green Papers on electoral reform and will seek the cooperation of the State and Territory Premiers and Chief Ministers in the drafting process. The first paper, to be released in July 2008, will look at disclosure, funding and expenditure issues; the second, to be released in October, will examine a broader range of options aimed at strengthening a range of other elements of electoral law.

• Read the transcript of Senator Faulkner's media conference here

Funding and disclosure reforms

At the same media conference, Senator Faulkner announced five immediate measures: reducing the campaign donation disclosure threshold level to $1,000, banning donations from overseas or from non-Australian companies, tying election funding to reported and verified electoral expenditure, removing the loophole whereby separate divisions of a political party are treated as separate entities, and increasing public scrutiny of donations by setting six-monthly disclosure timeframes. In an article for the Canberra Times on 7 April, the Audit's Norm Kelly broadly supported the proposals but took issue with the requirement that candidates must verify campaign expenditure in order to trigger public funding.

• Read Norm Kelly's article here

Federal electoral inquiries underway

The Joint Select Committee on Electoral Matters is currently conducting two inquiries: an inquiry into Schedule 1 of the Tax Laws Amendment (2008 Measures No.1) Bill 2008 - the schedule applying to political contributions and gifts - with a closing date for submissions of 18 April 2008, and an inquiry into the 2007 federal election, with a closing date for submissions of 16 May 2008. The Democratic Audit is making submissions to the both of these inquiries; these will be available soon.

• More details of the inquiries are available at the JSCEM's website

NSW inquiry

The Legislative Council Select Committee on Electoral and Political Party Funding Inquiry has held public hearings and a public forum. Submission 107A outlines the Labor Party's recently announced proposal to ban all private donations to political parties.

• Submissions can be found here

Audit members at the 2020 Summit

Three people associated with the Audit - Marian Sawer, who headed the Audit from 2002-2007 and is now Director, Democratic Audit ANU, and Audit contributors Sally Young and George Williams - will attend the federal government's Australia 2020 Summit late this month. Marian Sawer will chair a session on parliamentary democracy.

• Summit background papers, prepared by the Summit steering committee in consultation with ministerial co-chairs and their departments, are available here
• A short Audit paper on political financing prepared for the Summit is available here

Major parties looking after themselves

In the Sydney Morning Herald on 5 April 2008 Alan Ramsey reported on changed arrangements for federal budget night which will enable the major parties to use Parliament House facilities for fund raising.

• Read the article here

North American electoral reforms

On 11 April 2008 on ABC Radio National's The National Interest, Peter Mares interviewed Amy Loprest, Executive Director of the New York City Campaign Finance Board, on its regime of in-time disclosure of political donations and Professor Fred Fletcher of York University on Canada's new political donation and expenditure laws.

• Listen here

UK looks to Australia (among others)

In January Britain's Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, the Rt Hon Jack Straw, issued the report, Review of Voting Systems, which considers the various voting systems used in the UK and a selection of those of other countries, including Australia's system of preferential voting. The Guardian reported that Michael Wills, the constitutional affairs minister, praised the alternative vote system - what Australians call preferential voting - at a meeting on electoral reform last month. "The alternative vote has many attractions," he said, "including the fact that you have to get 50% plus one in that constituency, therefore you have a greater legitimacy."

• Read the report here

Election timetable updated

The Parliamentary Library's occasional publication Australian Elections Timetable has been updated. The paper lists the dates of the next Commonwealth, state and territory elections, where they are fixed, or gives the earliest and latest possible dates on which they may occur.

• Read Australian Elections Timetable here

Relics of a bygone era  

Peter Brent examines the regional structure of the Australian Electoral Commission and argues that the existence of permanent District Returning Offices is wasteful and is holding back the adoption of world's best practice enrolment procedures. 

Read the discussion paper.

Young democratists 

The Institute for Social Research at Swinburne is holding the third of its Emerging Scholars' Workshops on the theme of Democracy. Applications are sought for places at the workshop. 

Find out more here 

Donations, disclosure... 

The Electoral Matters Committee of the Parliament of Victoria is conducting an Inquiry into Political Donations and Disclosure. Submissions close on Friday 27 June 2008.

Details here 

… disputation 

The case of the disputed election in the Division of McEwen is set down for hearing in the Federal Court of Australia, Melbourne, in courtroom 8D on 21 and 22 May at 10.15 am

… and more donations 

The Australian Electoral Commission has released details of electoral donations from the 2007 federal election.  

They can be found here 

Undeclared donations ... 

The NSW Election Funding Authority has asked the Crown Solicitor to prosecute 800 donors who failed to declare $8 million in donations to parties and candidates at the 2006 state election, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on 3 & 4 May 2008. 

More details here 

... and deductible donations 

The Democratic Audit of Australia supported limited tax deductibility on small political donations in its submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters Inquiry on Tax Deductibility of Political Donations. 

Read the submission here and the transcript of the public hearing held in Canberra on 29 April 2008 here.

No four-year terms for Queensland 

"Talks have again broken down between the Bligh Government and the Queensland Opposition over a referendum on fixed four-year terms," reported The Australian on 1 May.  

The full item is here 

And some late arrivals ..... 

electoral changes in the Senate 

The government has today introduced its changes to the Electoral Act into the Senate.

Senator Faulkner's media release is here: http://www.smos.gov.au/media/2008/mr_162008.html 

lobbyist register website 

As well, the federal government's lobbyist register website is now up and running, and can be viewed here: http://lobbyists.pmc.gov.au/lobbyistsregister 

The lobbyist register will be fully operational from 1 July. Crikey's Bernard Keane reports today that Senator Andrew Murray "has referred the register to the Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration to consider ways that it could be improved, including the key issue of whether in-house lobbyists should be included, and whether it should be extended to all members of Parliament. However, as a ministerial code rather than a regulation or legislation, the Register requirements are in force, and lobbyists have until 30 June to register themselves." 

reviewing the 2007 federal election 

Some readers will also be interested to download a copy of the Parliamentary Library's research paper on the 2007 federal election, written by Scott Bennett and Stephen Barber, which includes a narrative discussion of the election campaign and its outcome and a comprehensive set of statistics: http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/RP/2007-08/08rp30.pdf

Different donors

In a new Audit discussion paper, Joo-Cheong Tham from the University of Melbourne argues the case for treating trade union financial contributions to political parties differently from those of corporations. The paper is a response to growing support for restricting or banning political donations from all organisations.

• Read the discussion paper

Citizenship: the Audit view…

The Democratic Audit of Australia has made a submission to the Woolcott committee reviewing the Citizenship Test. The Audit submission argues that if a test is to be retained it should be an oral one, dealing solely with the rights and responsibilities of being an Australian citizen.

• Read the Audit submission

… and the Woolcott view

On ABC Radio’s Sunday Profile program on 15 June the chair of the committee reviewing the Citizenship Test, Richard Woolcott, was asked “Do you personally think that there should be a citizenship test?” to which he replied, “No I don’t…”

• Read a transcript of the interview, including Mr Woolcott’s criticism of the Becoming an Australian Citizen booklet, here

Deductibility inquiry reports

The federal parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters has released its report on Schedule 1 of the Tax Laws Amendment (2008 Measures No1) Bill 2008. The committee, which heard evidence from the Audit’s Graeme Orr, recommends removing the tax deductibility of political donations.

Read the report 

Queensland FOI committee reports

Queensland’s FOI Independent Review Panel has released its final report, The Right to Information: Reviewing Queensland’s Freedom of Information Act. The panel, chaired by barrister, author and former journalist, David Solomon, has made 141 recommendations to Premier Anna Bligh. These amount to “not merely an upgrade of the legislation, but a new model … a radically different but more effective legislative architecture for FOI”. Government information should be released “routinely and proactively” without the need for individual requests. A Right to Information Act should replace the existing legislation. Cabinet material should be accessible unless it compromises collective ministerial responsibility, and released completely after ten years instead of thirty. The Queensland review could be a model for changes in other states and the Commonwealth.

• Read the report

NSW funding committee reports

New South Wales Legislative Council has released its report on Electoral and Political Party Funding in NSW. Among other things, the committee recommends a $1,000 cap on private donations and a ban on corporate donations. “Political donations and election spending would be disclosed in a timely, transparent and accessible manner,” says the report. “There would be greater policing of the electoral funding scheme, and tougher penalties for non-compliance.”

• Read the report

NSW legislation introduced

Meanwhile, the Electoral Funding Amendment (Political Donations and Expenditure) Bill 2008 and the Local Government and Planning Legislation Amendment (Political Donations) Bill 2008 were introduced into the NSW Parliament on 19 June 2008.

• Read the minister’s second reading speech here

Canada sets a “radical” example

In an article for the Canberra Times, the Audit’s Marian Sawer reports on Canada’s electoral funding reforms and suggests that they have lessons for Australia. The first wave of reform, in 2004, was prompted by the “sponsorship” scandals under the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien. The Conservative government of Stephen Harper went even further in 2006 to remove the influence of corporate money from the electoral process. Still more legislation is currently before the Canadian parliament, designed to close loopholes regarding “loans” to parties and candidates.

• Read the article here

Participation inquiry

Victoria’s Electoral Matters Committee has commenced an Inquiry Into Voter Participation and Informal Voting. Submissions close on 27 June 2008, and public hearings will be conducted at Parliament House Melbourne on 23 and 24 July 2008.

• More details here

Regulating lobbying

In this paper Gareth Griffith from the NSW Parliamentary Library discusses the regulation of political lobbyists as at 2 June 2008. Taking a comparative approach, he looks at current and proposed schemes in Australia and in selected overseas jurisdictions and asks: what is the best and most effective regulatory scheme to safeguard and nurture confidence in the democratic system?

• Read the paper here