Focused audits

These book-length reports are based on intensive audits of key issues

Focussed Audit 10

Marketing Government: The public service and the permanent campaign

Kathy MacDermott

Posted October 2008 (PDF 900kb)

Kathy MacDermott shows how the marketing of government has invaded the core business of policy development and the everyday work of public servants. Her case studies illustrate how public servants have become part of the ‘permanent campaign’, putting at risk the distinction between marketing and explaining government policy and between genuine and politically tailored data.
Focussed Audit 9

How Well Does Australian Democracy Serve Sexual and Gender Minorities?

Sarah Maddison (University of New South Wales) and Emma Partridge (University of Technology Sydney)

Posted July 2007 (PDF 200kb)

Sarah Maddison and Emma Partridge consider the status of sexual and gender minorities in Australia. They find that, whilst there has been considerable progress in the human rights of sexual and gender minorities in recent decades, significant inequalities persist, particularly in respect of relationship recognition.

How Well Does Australian Democracy Serve Women?

Sarah Maddison (University of New South Wales) and Emma Partridge (University of Technology Sydney)

Posted March 2007 (PDF 800kb)

Sarah Maddison and Emma Partridge address the question, How well does Australian democracy serve Australian women?. They find that Australia, once a leader in efforts to establish equality between men and women, has slid backwards on gender equality over the past decade, with many of the earlier gains now undone.

Read a review by Margaret Thornton in Dialogue 26 (2), 2007, pp. 78–9 here.

Political Finance in Australia: A Skewed and Secret System

Sally Young and Joo-Cheong Tham (both of University of Melbourne)

Posted November 2006 (PDF 700kb)

Sally Young and Joo-Cheong Tham address the question: how democratic is the way in which political parties are funded? They identify two central problems: a lack of transparency around the way parties are funded and the way in which their money is spent; and an inequality in the system that favours the Coalition and ALP at the expense of the minor parties.

Electronic Democracy? The Impact of New Communications Technology on Australian Democracy

Peter Chen (Monash University), Karin Geiselhart (University of Canberra), Rachel Gibson (University of Leicester, UK)

Posted August 2006 (PDF 700 kb)

Peter Chen, Rachel Gibson and Karin Geiselhart look at the way those involved in the political process, including government, political parties, MPs and civil society groups have used new technology, and the implications for democracy. On the one hand there is the potential for increased big brother surveillance of citizens, on the other for broader citizen participation and interactivity in the policy process. Little of the potential for more open government has been realised in Australia.

Representing the Disadvantaged in Australian Politics: The Role of Advocacy Organisations.

Bronwen Dalton and Mark Lyons, from the Centre for Australian Community Organisations and Management at the University of Technology, Sydney.

Posted March 2005 (PDF 3.5 mb)

In recent years, there has been debate and criticism over the influence that NGOs may have on public policy decisions. This report assesses the roles of NGOs, looking both at their external impacts through public participation and involvement in policy processes, and also at NGOs’ internal structures that provide varying degrees of democratic participation for their members. Representatives of a selected number of NGOs were interviewed for the report.

Australian Political Parties in the Spotlight

Dean Jaensch, School of Political and International Studies, Flinders University and Peter Brent and Brett Bowden, Political Science Program, Research School of Social Sciences, The Australian National University.

Posted January 2005 (PDF 5.5 mb)

Among other key concerns identified by the authors, the focussed audit of Australia’s major political parties draws attention to the lack of transparency in party funding, and the troublesome issue of internal party democracy.

Corruption and Democracy in Australia

Barry Hindess, Political Science Program, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University.

Posted August 2004 (PDF 800 kb)

Barry Hindess from the Democratic Audit Team notes in his detailed study, Corruption and Democracy in Australia, that corruption “is a more substantial problem than Australia’s impressive performance on conventional international measures would seem to indicate”.

Australian Electoral Systems – How Well Do They Serve Political Equality?

Graeme Orr, Law Faculty, Griffith University, Brisbane

Posted February 2004 (PDF 600 kb)

In a detailed audit of Australia’s electoral systems, Grame Orr asks who should be able to vote, what kinds of voting systems should be adopted, who we should be able to vote for, how campaigning might be better regulated, and how money politics and incumbency benefits can be controlled.

How Well Does Australian Democracy Serve Migrant Australians?

James Jupp, Centre for Immigration and Multicultural Studies, Australian National University

Posted November 2003 (PDF 600 kb)

An audit of the democratic rights of immigrants has found Australia does a good job of protecting citizens, but places the human rights of refugees and other non-citizens at risk. According to the report, ‘Australian democracy can claim successes but must also admit failures in its implementation of a liberal, democratic, multicultural society providing equitable access to influence and to public goods for all its citizens’.