The Engagement Pendulum: Australia’s Alternating Approach to Irregular Migration

This paper examines the Australian federal government’s use of regional engagement to stop irregular migration. It shows that Australia’s policy elites have long debated whether regional cooperation is useful or necessary for stopping irregular migration. The debate among policy elites bears little relationship to the academic and ideological controversy over Australia’s “engagement” with Asia. Rather, this controversy is defined by pragmatism and operates akin to a pendulum, with an action–reaction cycle occurring where governments seek alternative approaches to what they perceive as the failures of their predecessors. This paper shows that the governments who have championed Asian engagement have been no more willing to seek a regional approach to irregular migration than those who seem to downplay engagement. Differing perspectives on regional cooperation is an important and largely under-examined aspect of Australia’s broader national debate about irregular migration. Given the significance of this issue to Australian politics, it also serves as an important case study in the wider context of Australia’s relationship with and attitudes towards the Asia-Pacific.     

The failure to learn from others: Vertical fiscal imbalance,centralisation, and Australia's metropolitan knowledge deficit

This paper questions the routes to knowledge of metropolitan governance elsewhere in the world and then explains how and why these are rendered more difficult in Australia. The paper begins with the policy literature on the exchange of knowledge relevant to metropolitan governance. The paper next explains the constitutional and fiscal backdrop to metropolitan governance in Australia; the ‘unique’ role of state governments in the funding, planning, and management of cities, and the powers adopted by the federal government that are made possible by vertical fiscal imbalance and funding conditionality. The paper then explores horizontal knowledge exchange of metropolitan governance in the form of transnational municipal networks, corporations, international organisations, and consultants. The final section of the paper considers the thesis that were Australia's cities to function independently, as metropolitan governments, the potential for knowledge exchange would be optimised. Knowledge of smart city technologies is used for case study purposes.     

澳大利亚检察机构及检察官的设置与管理

澳大利亚法律体系属于英美法系,各州从20世纪70年代逐渐开始设立独立的检察机构。笔者通过在新南威尔士州检察总署实习培训期间的调研,对澳大利亚检察机构的设置及其职权、检察官的设置及其管理、证人服务机构以及检察机关与其他国家机关的关系作以阐述。     

Unequal Voices: ‘Strategic’ Consultation in South Australia

In 2006, the South Australian government undertook the largest consultation ever to take place in the state. Over 1600 South Australians were involved with the consultation on the revision of South Australia's Strategic Plan (SASP). This ‘big‐picture’ consultation was a significant attempt to connect with, and gain feedback from, the South Australian ‘community’ on the Rann government's vision for the state. This article is the first formal evaluation of the 2006 consultation on the SASP. To critically evaluate the consultation process, this article uses Pratchett's framework which examines participative processes through the two principles of responsiveness and representativeness. The article concludes that the state government's rhetoric about the success of the consultation obscures a number of deficiencies and tensions that underpinned the consultation process. This critique of the South Australian consultation provides some key insights for the current trend for strategic planning at the state level in Australia.