The Australian Senate as a 'House of Review'

The contested term 'house of review', which is commonly applied to the Senate, is discussed in light of evidence from recent political debates. The Senate is seen to review government action in general rather than simply legislation forwarded from the House of Representatives. Review implies scrutiny of a government held responsible for decisions. It is to be distinguished from the process of negotiating over the substance of policy in which responsibility is shared between the government and other parties. If review is associated with holding responsible governments accountable, it is not an intrinsically upper house function but a parliamentary function which a Senate with an anti-government majority is better fitted to perform. Strong bicameralism is not inherently incompatible with responsible government.     

Gendered Contributions to Parliamentary Debates: The Case of Euthanasia

This paper seeks to extend our understanding of the contribution women parliamentarians make to the Commonwealth parliament. The euthanasia debate, precipitated by the 1996 Andrews Bill, provided a rare opportunity to compare male and female parliamentarians' contributions without the constraint of formal party discipline. This unusual set of circumstances allowed us to focus on whether women make a distinctive contribution to parliamentary debate, without the complicating influence of party. We have been able to show that under certain circumstances, women do bring a different focus to parliamentary debate, and in so doing, may, in sufficient numbers, alter the status quo.     

The Impact of Neoliberalism and New Managerialism on Development Volunteering: An Australian Case Study

Within the large volume of research on aid and development there has been limited study of international development volunteering generally and the ways in which it has been affected by neoliberalism. Development volunteering has undergone a resurgence over the past decade and some new forms of volunteering have emerged, but state-sponsored development programs are still a key form. These programs were relatively immune from neoliberal ideas and managerial practices until the early 2000s. An interesting puzzle is why neoliberal principles were operationalised in Australia's volunteering program at the same time as it, and other donor states, softened this focus in the rest of their aid program. These shifts in Australia's development volunteering programs have changed the logic, forms and outcomes of development volunteering.     

An Amnesty Assessed. Human Impact on Shipwreck Sites: the Australian Case.

In 1993 a nationwide amnesty was declared in Australia, calling for members of the public who were in possession of historic shipwreck relics to declare them to their respective State cultural heritage management agencies. The amnesty was instituted in response to an amendment in the Commonwealth Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976 , which introduced 'blanket protection' for all shipwrecks and associated relics in Commonwealth waters which were at least 75 years old. This paper reports on a recent assessment of the process, consequences and implications of the amnesty, and discusses the significance of the results.
© 2008 The Author     

Policy Decisionmaking Models in Practice: A Case Study of the Western Australian "Sentencing Acts"

While there is an extensive body of literature on a range of policy decisionmaking models, there is a lack of supporting case studies about the lived experiences of policymakers and the usefulness of various decisionmaking models in practice. This article examines two traditional models of decisionmaking, namely crisis theory and the rational comprehensive model, to assess their strengths and limitations in explaining the introduction of the controversial Western Australian Crime (Serious and Repeat Offenders) Sentencing Act 1992 and the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1992 (the "Sentencing Acts"). We argue that the "Sentencing Acts" cannot easily be reduced to, or explained through, a single policy analysis model, as significant aspects of policy remain hidden. Finally, we contend that to understand the emergence of the Sentencing Acts requires an approach that can account for the interconnection between structural, agenda-setting, and decisionmaking levels of analysis.     

Committee Influence Over Controversial Policy: The Reproductive Policy Case

Debates about legislative committee power have been fueled with empirical examples depending too much on distributive policies. I argue that answers to questions about the nature of committee influence can be enhanced by focusing on nondistributive policies that evoke broad national attention. For years scholars have not systematically tested committee influence over nondistributive policy because they have asserted that these policies are designed by the parent chamber or party. By using a methodology that traces the origin of legislation and identifies key policy activists, I demonstrate that committee influence over nondistributive controversial policy is more pronounced than others have maintained     

Minor Parties and the Legislative Process in the Australian Senate: A Study of the 1993 Budget

In 1993, minor parties in the Australian Senate played a prominent role in negotiating changes to the ALP government's budget. The term 'obstructionist' was widely applied by the media and the Labor Party in describing these actions, particularly when it came to the Greens' (WA) efforts to change aspects of the budget bills. This article develops a conceptual framework through which the behaviour of the minor parties in the Senate might be viewed. Using the 1993 budget as an example, the article considers the capacity of minor parties to bring about legislative changes, as well as the type and level of resistance they pose to the executive.     

Small Parties and the Senate Revisited: The Consequences of the Enlargement of the Senate in 1984

An intriguing feature of electoral systems is that apparently insignificant modifications of their constituent rules can have important consequences. One such potentially important change, following the increase in the size of the Senate in 1984, was the shift from five to six places for each state to be filled at each half Senate election. Attention has been drawn, most notably by Sharman \[1986. 'The Senate, Small Parties and the Balance of Power.' Politics 21(2): 20-3], to the capacity of this change to reduce the representation of small parties, with adverse consequences for the role of the Senate in national government. A decline in Labor's share of the vote and growth in support for minor parties are identified as the primary reasons why the predicted outcomes have not eventuated. The paper speculates about the possible future relevance of Sharman's argument.     

Framing Food Policy: The Case of Raw Milk

Policies governing the sale of raw milk—making the sales of raw milk more permissive—are gaining traction on the legislative agendas of dozens of states. This paper examines one contributor to this movement on the policy agenda: the role of competitive framing. By combining theoretical approaches from policy studies and political psychology theories of competitive framing, we offer evidence supporting the recent relative success of raw milk activists in several state legislatures. Using an Internet survey‐based experiment with a sample size of 1,630 respondents from seven Midwestern states, we show that a frame emphasizing consumer choice and food freedom is more effective than the frame that dominates among the policy establishment, that emphasizing public health risks. This is true in both one‐sided and competitive framing contexts. We further show that those previously aware of this issue were less influenced by the public health frame than those naïve to the issue. Our results suggest that the pro‐raw milk movement may be making strides on the state policy agenda because their frames are more resonant among the public. We also highlight the advantages gained from considering psychological and policy processes simultaneously to understand policy change.     

1936—1941年日本对德政策及其影响

1936—1941年,日本推动对德结盟政策的中心目标是为了实现独霸中国和向太平洋地区扩张。本文深刻地揭示日本对德政策发展演变的轨迹,展现日本对德军事同盟政策的本质特征,并深入研究日本在"南进"和"北进"的战略转换过程中,谋求对德结盟的利益最大化,并通过实证分析,论证日本对德结盟政策中的"竞争"、"对抗"心理,从而说明帝国主义间结盟的利益至上原则。同时,还对日、德、意、苏"四国军事同盟"构想及其演变过程进行考证,指出1941年的《日苏中立条约》实质是该"四国军事同盟"构想的一个畸变。这可以全面透视20世纪三四十年代日本推动对德结盟政策变化的动因和措施,以及对远东国际关系产生的重大影响。     

Challenging the Australian Government Approach Towards Expatriate Voting: The Case of Italy

In 1999 the Australian government dropped its objections to the Italian legislation that contemplated postal voting and parliamentary representation for its Italian citizens resident abroad. This was a significant turning point for the Australian government approach on the question of voting rights for expatriate communities in Australia voting in their homeland elections. Based on undisclosed government sources and interviews with former Australian diplomatic and government officials, this paper will recall and examine the Australian government's reaction to the Italian political debates leading up to, and eventual passage of, the Italian expatriate vote legislation.     

The Search for Policy Coordination: Ministerial and Bureaucratic Perceptions of Agency Amalgamations in a Federal Parliamentary System

The imperative to coordinate is strong, but the means remain contentious. One approach is to amalgamate agencies into a few large organizations, the other to encourage a diversity of policy options. Drawing on the federal amalgamations of departments in Australia since 1987, this paper reports that senior bureaucrats find more policy coordination benefits than costs from working in larger structures, while ministers report a loss of options and a risk of information overload.     

The Influence of the Ethnic Composition of Australian Federal Electorates on the Parliamentary Responsiveness of MPs to their Ethnic Sub-constituencies

This paper examines the parliamentary responsiveness of Australian MPs with respect to their ethnic constituents in the official arena of representation, the federal parliament. It first reviews the notion of representation and discusses the twofold influence that ethnicity may exert on the representational behaviour of elected representatives: the ethnicity of the electorate and the ethnicity of the elected representative. It then presents and discusses the results of a content analysis of the parliamentary interventions of MPs from 12 ethnic electorates and 10 non-ethnic electorates between 1983 and 1996. On the basis of this analysis, two indexes were constructed, the ethnic reference ratio and the ethnic distance ratio in order to compare the responsiveness of MPs to their ethnic constituents. The findings suggest that the ethnicity of the electorate does have an influence on ethnic responsiveness in absolute terms but less so in relative terms. In other words, MPs from ethnic electorates generally make more ethnic-related interventions than MPs from non-ethnic electorates, but not as much as the proportion of ethnic constituents in these electorates would suggest they should make. The ethnicity of the electorate also influences the types of ethnic issues MPs make, with those from ethnic seats more likely to make constituency-related issues. The marginality of the seat, especially in ethnic electorates, rather than the political party to which the representative belongs, would appear to have a bigger influence on the degree and type of responsiveness. Finally, the ethnicity of the MP does have an influence in both the degree and type of ethnic responsiveness.