In 2010, the Commonwealth government proposed Australia's third attempt to give federal constitutional recognition to local government. In 2013, the government secured the passage through Parliament of a Constitution Alteration but, due to political events, and amid much controversy, the...

This biography of the English applied economist, Arthur (A.J.) Brown, sets his work from the 1930s to the 1980s in the context of the Great Depression, the emergence of Oxford University as a centre of applied economic research, the contraction of British colonialism in Africa, the enlarging of...

The management of water in Australia’s rivers has become one of the most urgent public policy problems facing governments at every tier of the Australian federation. This article examines the ways in which water management has been shaped and constrained by the Constitution and, in particular,...

The purpose of this article is to assess the desirability and feasibility of any point of convergence between Australia’s formal constitutional arrangements and COAG. Although several commentators have suggested that this must be the logical endpoint to the sub-constitutional reform which is...

There has long been debate about the capacity of Australian electors to cast an informed vote at constitutional referendums. However, this debate has yielded few new insights in recent years, with most commentary focusing narrowly on whether longstanding concerns about informed voting are...

This article examines the capacity of the federal Parliament under the Australian Constitution to introduce new forms of media regulation in Australia, especially for print and online media. This question is examined in light of recent proposals for reform put forward by the Finkelstein Inquiry...

This article explores the structure, management and institutional design of commissions in Australia and unpacks how these institutions operate within the Australian political landscape. Part 1 looks at the structure of Australian electoral commissions and how they maintain structural...