Rozprawy doktorskie na temat „Australian political system”

This thesis examines the changing nature of efficiency and tesponsiveness of Australian public services over the past century It will examine how over the past 100 years efficiency has been improved and assessed. It will also examine how, since the 1970s, efficiency has become synonymous with responsiveness. The main argument of this thesis is that the nature of efficiency and responsiveness has changed over the past century.. Reforms introduced fiom the 1970s where the rationale at the time was improved efficiency, were essentially designed to make the public service more accountable and thereby responsive to the political executive. The study will examine: 1. the measures governments employed to improve efficiency and assess their effectiveness; 2. how responsiveness became the corollary of efficiency; 3. the resultant changes assessment of government perfbrmance; and 4. the effect these changes had on the Westminster system in Australia. The thesis is in three parts. Part one deals with the nature of public service efficiency and responsiveness. It examines the literature surrounding the nature of the terms and provides a definition of each. Part two details and analyses how public service efficiency was measured and improved from the end of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the 1970s. It will detail the rise and decline in public service boards and commissions and how they were used to initially limit patronage and then to act as monitoring agencies to ensure that public service input costs were as small as they could be 1i will also detail how other factors, such as the training and education of staff and computerisation had an increasing role in improving efficiency. The third part deals with the changes that have occurred since the 1970s. This will examine how responsiveness emerged as an issue and how it became an essential companion to efficiency when promoting bureaucratic change.. It will examine how the nomenclature of efficiency has been applied when the political executive seeks to ensure greater responsiveness from the public service. This third part will examine the main apparatus that were employed by the political executive to improve efficiency and responsiveness: progr am budgeting, corporate planthng, efficiency audits and contracts with senior staff. Finally, I will demonstrate the inability or unwillingness of many ministers and governments to detail policy objectives and their reluctance to evaluate the effectiveness of spending. This was accompanied by a greater reliance on senior employment contracts as the main lever to improve efficiency and responsiveness of the service.

This thesis seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of the extent and use of public inquiries appointed by the Commonwealth government since federation. Given the increased incidence in public inquiries since the 1970s, particular attention is given to assessing inquiries during this period. The thesis develops a clear definition of public inquiries to better identify the number established and to distinguish them from other advisory institutions and to allow more accurate comparison of their use by different governments over extended timeframes. The thesis addresses a number of key issues concerning public inquiries such as the reasons for their appointment, their roles and functions in the political system, their powers of investigation, processes of operation, their different organisational forms and their impact on policy development. In addition, the thesis seeks to explain both the long term use of public inquiries in Australia, and in particular their increased incidence since the 1970s. Supported by new data, and a more rigorous definition of public inquiries, the thesis identifies trends in the number and type of public inquiries appointed, their use by different governments, the range of issues investigated, the processes employed and the changing composition of their memberships. The thesis proposes that an important means of explaining the continuing appointment of inquiries is their intrinsic 'publicness' - their public appointment, external membership, temporary nature, open processes, and public reporting arrangements. This 'publicness' has given public inquiries a particular standing and legitimacy in the political system that for a variety of reasons, other institutions are increasingly unable to provide. Other issues concerning public inquiry appointment such as the effect of government partisanship, the impact of the electoral cycle, and the political motivations of governments are also assessed. A number of theories such as public choice are examined in relation to explaining inquiry appointment and found to have limited application in providing an overall explanation of inquiry use and their functions. These different issues are analysed by examination of many individual inquiries and supplemented by in depth assessment of three clusters of case studies. The case studies cover seven inquiries of different types and powers appointed over a twenty year period by both Labor and Coalition governments into a range of different fields including public sector reform, allegations of corruption and maladministration and financial deregulation. Each set of case studies examines why the inquiries were appointed, their classification and type, the processes employed, the form and content of their reports, and their policy impact. The thesis concludes that in examining why public inquiries are appointed and their roles in the political system, they need to be assessed not just by the effectiveness of their processes or the quality of their advice. These are important, but alone are not sufficient in explaining the persistent use of inquiries by all governments and their proliferation since the 1970s. The thesis contends that it is the 'publicness' of inquiries which distinguishes them from other advisory bodies and gives inquiries particular standing in the Australian political system to be perceived to be able to legitimately investigate and advise on a wide of issues. Despite the growth of other advisory bodies in recent times, public inquiries have continued to be appointed in increasing numbers since the early 1970s regardless of the government in power and therefore need to be seen less as an aberration of the Australian political system and more as an important, if often understudied, component. Future research areas recommended include the need for greater comparative analysis of their use with other Westminster democracies such as the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand.

This thesis examines the changing nature of efficiency and tesponsiveness of Australian public services over the past century It will examine how over the past 100 years efficiency has been improved and assessed. It will also examine how, since the 1970s, efficiency has become synonymous with responsiveness. The main argument of this thesis is that the nature of efficiency and responsiveness has changed over the past century.. Reforms introduced fiom the 1970s where the rationale at the time was improved efficiency, were essentially designed to make the public service more accountable and thereby responsive to the political executive. The study will examine: 1. the measures governments employed to improve efficiency and assess their effectiveness; 2. how responsiveness became the corollary of efficiency; 3. the resultant changes assessment of government perfbrmance; and 4. the effect these changes had on the Westminster system in Australia. The thesis is in three parts. Part one deals with the nature of public service efficiency and responsiveness. It examines the literature surrounding the nature of the terms and provides a definition of each. Part two details and analyses how public service efficiency was measured and improved from the end of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the 1970s. It will detail the rise and decline in public service boards and commissions and how they were used to initially limit patronage and then to act as monitoring agencies to ensure that public service input costs were as small as they could be 1i will also detail how other factors, such as the training and education of staff and computerisation had an increasing role in improving efficiency. The third part deals with the changes that have occurred since the 1970s. This will examine how responsiveness emerged as an issue and how it became an essential companion to efficiency when promoting bureaucratic change.. It will examine how the nomenclature of efficiency has been applied when the political executive seeks to ensure greater responsiveness from the public service. This third part will examine the main apparatus that were employed by the political executive to improve efficiency and responsiveness: progr am budgeting, corporate planthng, efficiency audits and contracts with senior staff. Finally, I will demonstrate the inability or unwillingness of many ministers and governments to detail policy objectives and their reluctance to evaluate the effectiveness of spending. This was accompanied by a greater reliance on senior employment contracts as the main lever to improve efficiency and responsiveness of the service.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Griffith Business School
Full Text

This thesis seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of the extent and use of public inquiries appointed by the Commonwealth government since federation. Given the increased incidence in public inquiries since the 1970s, particular attention is given to assessing inquiries during this period. The thesis develops a clear definition of public inquiries to better identify the number established and to distinguish them from other advisory institutions and to allow more accurate comparison of their use by different governments over extended timeframes. The thesis addresses a number of key issues concerning public inquiries such as the reasons for their appointment, their roles and functions in the political system, their powers of investigation, processes of operation, their different organisational forms and their impact on policy development. In addition, the thesis seeks to explain both the long term use of public inquiries in Australia, and in particular their increased incidence since the 1970s. Supported by new data, and a more rigorous definition of public inquiries, the thesis identifies trends in the number and type of public inquiries appointed, their use by different governments, the range of issues investigated, the processes employed and the changing composition of their memberships. The thesis proposes that an important means of explaining the continuing appointment of inquiries is their intrinsic 'publicness' - their public appointment, external membership, temporary nature, open processes, and public reporting arrangements. This 'publicness' has given public inquiries a particular standing and legitimacy in the political system that for a variety of reasons, other institutions are increasingly unable to provide. Other issues concerning public inquiry appointment such as the effect of government partisanship, the impact of the electoral cycle, and the political motivations of governments are also assessed. A number of theories such as public choice are examined in relation to explaining inquiry appointment and found to have limited application in providing an overall explanation of inquiry use and their functions. These different issues are analysed by examination of many individual inquiries and supplemented by in depth assessment of three clusters of case studies. The case studies cover seven inquiries of different types and powers appointed over a twenty year period by both Labor and Coalition governments into a range of different fields including public sector reform, allegations of corruption and maladministration and financial deregulation. Each set of case studies examines why the inquiries were appointed, their classification and type, the processes employed, the form and content of their reports, and their policy impact. The thesis concludes that in examining why public inquiries are appointed and their roles in the political system, they need to be assessed not just by the effectiveness of their processes or the quality of their advice. These are important, but alone are not sufficient in explaining the persistent use of inquiries by all governments and their proliferation since the 1970s. The thesis contends that it is the 'publicness' of inquiries which distinguishes them from other advisory bodies and gives inquiries particular standing in the Australian political system to be perceived to be able to legitimately investigate and advise on a wide of issues. Despite the growth of other advisory bodies in recent times, public inquiries have continued to be appointed in increasing numbers since the early 1970s regardless of the government in power and therefore need to be seen less as an aberration of the Australian political system and more as an important, if often understudied, component. Future research areas recommended include the need for greater comparative analysis of their use with other Westminster democracies such as the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Politics and Public Policy
Full Text

This thesis is a work of Christian theology. Its purpose is twofold: firstly to develop an adequate understanding of reconciliation at the level of peoples and nations; and secondly to make a practical contribution to resolving the problems in Australia for the welfare of all the peoples, and of the land itself. The history of the relationships between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Australia has left many problems, and no matter what the non-Indigenous people try to do, the Indigenous peoples of Australia continue to experience themselves as being in a state of siege. Trying to understand what is happening, and what can be done to resolve the problems for the peoples of Australia and the land, have been the implicit drivers for the theological development in this thesis. This thesis argues that the present generation in any trans-generational dispute is likely to continue to sin in ways that are shaped by the sins of the past, which explains why Indigenous peoples in Australia find themselves in a stage of siege, even when the non-Indigenous peoples are trying to pursue policies which they believe are for the welfare of all. The only way to resolve this is for the peoples of Australia to seek reconciliation. In particular, the non-Indigenous peoples need to repent, both of their own sins, and the sins of their forebears. Reconciliation processes have become part of the international political landscape. However, there are real concerns about the justice of pursuing reconciliation. An important part of the theological development of this thesis is therefore to show that pursuing reconciliation establishes justice. It is shown that the nature of justice, and of repentance, can only be established by pursuing reconciliation. Reconciliation is possible because God has made it possible, and is working in the world to bring reconciliation. Because land is an essential part of Indigenous identity in Australia, the history of land in court cases and legislation in Australia over the past half century forms an important case study in this work. It is shown that, although there was significant repentance within the non-Indigenous legal system in Australia, the degree of repentance available through that legal system is inherently limited, and so a more radical approach is needed in order to seek reconciliation in Australia. A final chapter considers what the non-Indigenous people of Australia need to do in order to repent.

The concepts of ‘partnership working’ and ‘intersectoral collaboration’ have become increasingly central to contemporary policy discourse on drugs and crime in Western liberal states, and the non-government sector now plays an integral role in the drug policy systems of many countries. Governments have actively sought to partner with non-government organisations in addressing drug problems and formulating effective drug policy. There has, however, been little empirical investigation of non-government policy work and their relationships with the bureaucratic state in the drugs field. This thesis responds to this gap by providing an account of the development of the idea of government/non-government ‘partnerships’ in the Australian drugs field, and presents new data on the broader role of non-government organisations in drug policy. Informed by governmentality and critical policy studies literature, this thesis adopts a qualitative approach that engages with three major sources of data: 1) Primary governmental documents including national and state and territory drug policy documents; 2) semi-structured interviews with 19 representatives from Australian non-government organisations; and 3) documents produced by non-government organisations.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Arts, Education and Law
Full Text

Utbildning skapar de grundläggande förutsättningarna för invandrare att integreras ekonomiskt och socialt i ett samhälle. Denna uppsats undersöker vilken roll integrationspolitisk inriktning  har i integrationsprocessen inom utbildning genom att jämföra två länder där frågan om integration ständigt är aktuell, Sverige och Australien. Studien följer en mest-lika design som bygger på att Sverige och Australien antas vara mycket lika vad gäller integrationspolitiken inom utbildning men trots detta påvisar olika integrationsutfall. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka eventuella skillnader i ländernas integrationspolitiska inriktning som kan tänkas förklara de olika integrationsutfallen. Som metod för att fullgöra syftet används både kvalitativ textanalys och intervjuer. Uppsatsen når slutsatsen att Australien i en högre grad en Sverige tycks fokusera på integrationspolitik avseende interkulturellt lärande och att detta i sin tur utgör en möjlig förklaring till att Australien påvisar bättre integrationsutfall än Sverige.

The thesis examines the political economy of trade policy reform in post-apartheid South Africa. It challenges mainstream accounts of contemporary trade policy in South Africa, which have advanced a solely economic rationale to explain the policy choices made by the ANC governments since 1994. The thesis argues that, far more than these accounts concede, international and domestic political economy considerations have also played a central part in the ANC governments' calculations to undertake trade reform to the degree it has. Trade reform in South Africa has been the linchpin of a global adjustment strategy pursued by the domestic political elites by which they have sought to fulfill South Africa's global, regional and domestic political and economic objectives. At the global level, the South African state has vigorously pursued trade liberalisation in order to shed its past image of international pariah and reintegrate itself into the global economy on the basis of outward-oriented growth. Restoring South Africa's international political respectability has been as important as reversing its economic marginalisation in the international division of labour. At the regional level, the South African state has used trade policy reform as a foreign economic policy tool not only to rebuild political and diplomatic relations with African countries strained during the apartheid era - but also to advance its hegemonic ambitions, particularly in Southern Africa, as well as reinforce the region's ability to engage with the forces of economic globalisation. The extent to which South Africa's regional hegemonic ambitions can be achieved, however, lies ultimately with how adeptly the country can reconcile these regional aspirations with its domestic pressures. At the domestic level, trade reform has been deployed by the decision-making elites not only to lock in the government's austere macroeconomic policy but also to curtail the power of domestic interests that have benefited from trade protectionism in the past. In return for their co-operation, the South African state has allowed these interests, notably business and labour, enhanced institutional representation in economic policymaking. In this sense trade policy has been employed to serve domestic as much as foreign political and economic policy ends.

The nature of government communication in a range of global settings has received growing attention from scholars around the world. However, no considered examination of the subject exists that provides either an account of the contemporary landscape regarding government communication, or an exploration of common and diverging themes on a cross-national basis. This thesis aims to fill this gap. It elucidates the work practices of government communication professionals in Queensland and the Netherlands and considers these practices within their political contexts and national cultures: the Westminster system and a “masculine” society in Australia versus the multiparty system and a “feminine” society in the Netherlands. The study builds on the work of Dutch-American political scientist Arend Lijphart, who found that policies supported by a broad consensus are more likely to be successful than policies imposed by a “decisive” government against the wishes of broad sections of society; as well as on research done by Dutch social psychologist Geert Hofstede, who distinguishes between so-called “masculine societies” such as Australia where “the winner takes it all” and “feminine societies” such as the Netherlands where participation is more important than winning. The degree and forms of changes surrounding the work practices of government communication professionals are to a large extent determined by the cultural and political context in which they take place and thus cannot be assumed universal.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science
Arts, Education and Law
Full Text

The government-backed invasion of the Indonesian Democratic Party's Jakarta headquarters on the morning of27 July 1996, and the resulting violent riots in which at least five people died marked a pivotal point in Indonesian politics generally, and the pro-democracy movement specifically. This was a newsworthy event which was covered extensively by the broadcast and print media globally, however the time taken to relay the story and the credibility of the reports was highly variable for domestic as well as foreign media. Coverage by a national and regional Indonesian newspaper, as well as a national and regional Australian newspaper was compared with the email discussion list Indonesia-L's coverage for the news values of timeliness and accuracy. The October 1996 reports into the incident by the Indonesian National Commission for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch/ Asia were used as reference materials to evaluate the accuracy of the media reporting. The degree of government involvement in the attack on the PDI HQ was not reported by the Indonesian daily newspapers which also under-reported the number of victims while focussing on the law and order aspect of the story. Reportage by both the national and regional Australian papers focussed on the violence of the riots which posed a threat to President Soeharto 's rule, the role of the armed forces in maintaining law and order, and also underestimated the number of victims. Indonesia-L disseminated the fastest and most accurate reports of the event with eyewitness accounts providing considerable detail. Only two of the 18 postings were found to be sensationalistic and inaccurate. Implications for the future use of computer-mediated communication, such as email discussion lists, as an alternative source of news which circumvents government control, as well as the time and commercial constraints of print media are discussed.

This work is about Australian government social security policy towards Aborigines. It begins by outlining the move from the legislative exclusion of Aborigines from the social security system in the early part of this century to their gradual legislative inclusion between 1941 and 1966. The rest of chapter 1 is devoted to clarifying my conceptual approach to the notion of policy and to outlining an approach to the study. In it I argue that policy needs to be understood in terms of patterns of governmental commitment over time, rather than as something that can be comprehended in particular documents, such as legislation, or in the words or actions of particular participants, such as government ministers. As a consequence, policy needs to be studied and analysed as it emerges from the strategic interactions of all those involved in a particular shpere of governmental activity. This approach to the study of policy commits me to examining the established patterns of governmental commitment against which recent relations between Aborigines and the social security system have emerged. For this reason, the rest of part I of the work provides background material on the general dynamics of Australian social security administration and on general governmental approaches to Aborigines. Parts II and III of the work provide a detailed empirical account of recent relations between the social security system and Aborigines. Building on a distinction between patronal and legal bureaucratic access structures for the poor, part II analyses the changing roles and resources of participants involved in this area of government activity. Chapter 4 identifies the way in which social security payments to Aborigines were, until the 1960s, largely incorporated into the existing highly patronal special purpose state-level Aboriginal welfare systems. Chapter 5 traces the transformation of this pattern of servicing through a growing DSS awareness of and commitment to it new Aboriginal clientele, while chapter 6 identifies the effects on Aboriginal access to social security payments of changes in the non-government Aboriginal welfare sector. Part III of the work inquires more closely into the processes through which this general policy change has occurred. It examines a number of specific debates in recent years over the application of particular aspects of the social security system's rules to Aborigines. Chapter 7 examines instances of the breakdown of standard DSS procedures when applied to Aborigines. Chapter 8 recounts debates over the application of the social security system's family income units to Aborigines. Chapters 9 and 10 are concerned with various aspects of recent debates over Aboriginal eligibility for unemployment benefit. Part IV of the work returns to the overall concern with policy maintenance and transformation. Drawing on the details of parts II and III, it attempts first to identify the general nature of the transformation of Aboriginal access to social security payments and of the DSS's commitment to Aborigines and second to identify some general characteristics of the processes through which this policy change has emerged.

Throughout the Cold War, US officials feared that Washington’s disloyalty to one ally would automatically cause other allies to doubt America’s security reliability. These doubts could prompt allies to adopt policies of neutrality, or even defect to the Communist bloc. This dissertation challenges the conventional wisdom—that alliance interdependence is underpinned by loyalty—by proposing the “alliance audience effect”. The alliance audience effect framework shows that discrete alliance commitments can be practically interdependent, but that this interdependence is not underpinned by loyalty. Through an investigation of Cold War case studies, using a process tracing methodology and archival research, this dissertation argues that US allies in Asia were unconcerned about whether America was loyal to other allied states. Instead, they monitored America’s behaviour in order to reassure themselves that the US was reliable: that their own alliance did not pose risks of either abandonment or entrapment. When allies feared abandonment, they encouraged America to solidify its presence in Asia and adopt a more aggressive posture. But when allies feared entrapment, they encouraged conciliatory US policies and worked to restrain Washington, thus reducing the risk of conflict. In some cases, American disloyalty to one ally was welcomed, or even encouraged, by other allies, as this disloyalty better served their own interests. Like the adage that “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter”, this dissertation shows that one state’s disloyal ally can be another state’s reliable ally. Because US allies have different interests, they will have different views of American behaviour: one ally might praise an instance of US disloyalty as proof of reliability, while another ally might condemn Washington for unreliability. In short, reliability is not synonymous with loyalty, and America does not have a collective alliance loyalty reputation. Beyond the allied perspective, this research also demonstrates how the United States managed its alliances and used alliance interdependence to achieve its own ends. This dissertation’s findings have relevance for the alliance politics literature, theories about international reputation, and the practical management of alliances.