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 [1].
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.
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 [3]..
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. [4] See Matthew Franklin’s story in the Australian here [5]
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.