COMMONWEALTH STATUTORY AUTHORITIES: EXPLORING THE FIELD

In the December 1977 number of this Journal (vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 357–366), I presented a number of charts which had developed out of my consulting work on statutory authorities for the Coombs Royal Commission, and which sought to trace the pattern of creations and abolitions of such authorities over the period from 1901 to mid-1975. A supplementary list traced developments up to the end of 1976, when the article was prepared. Though I believed the listings were reasonably comprehensive, some statutory authorities are notoriously elusive, and readers were invited to suggest any additions or alterations that should be made.     

SCIENCE IN A PUBLIC SERVICE ENVIRONMENT: ARE STATUTORY AUTHORITIES THE ANSWER?*

Abstract: The Royal Commission on Australian Government Administration reported evidence of widespread morale problems among government scientists. A major contributing cause was seen as the environment under which science is conducted within a departmental structure. One solution which has been advocated by many scientists, although rejected by the RCAGA, is to transfer government scientific laboratories into statutory authorities.     

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION: THE COMMONWEALTH EXPERIENCE*

Abstract: This paper outlines the background and rationale of the Commonwealth Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation and discusses the specific nature and operation of the FOI Act, including some current issues emanating from the interpretation of some of its provisions by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) and the courts. The overall cost/benefit balance of the Act is considered, with particular reference to the recent report of the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs on the operation and administration of the Act.     

FIFTY YEARS OF THE COMMONWEALTH GRANTS COMMISSION*

Abstract: The Commonwealth Grants Commission was established in 1933 to inquire into the payment of special grants to the States. It has retained this function to the present day, and has also conducted inquiries into grants to local government, the distribution of general revenue assistance to the States, and the financial position of the Territories. Although special grants had been paid for over twenty years before the establishment of the Commission, the principle upon which grants should be based had not been determined. The first members of the Commission, after debating the merits of grants based on financial need and grants based on disabilities due to federation, adopted in their third report the principle of fiscal equalization which the Commission still follows. Under this principle grants are assessed that enable each State to provide a standard level of service to its residents so long as it levies taxes at standard rates. The Commission operates as a semi-judicial body, receiving written submissions and conducting public hearings at which witnesses from the States and the Commonwealth Treasury are examined on oath. It also conducts an extensive analysis of State government finances and other information in arriving at its conclusions. Over the years many distinguished Australians have served on the Commission, and their work has contributed to the high reputation enjoyed by the Commission in carrying out its task of maintaining a balance in the fiscal position of the States.     

CENTRAL CO-ORDINATION OF COMMONWEALTH POLICY-MAKING: ROLES AND DILEMMAS OF THE PRIME MINISTER'S DEPARTMENT

The Cabinet, in a word, is a board of control chosen by the legislature, out of persons whom it trusts and knows, to rule. the nation…A Cabinet is a combining committee—a hyphen which joins, a buckle which fastens, the legislative part of the State to the. executwe part of the State. In its origin it belongs to the one, in its funcuons it belongs to the other…The real power is not in the sovereign, it is in the Prune Minister and in the Cabinet—that is, in the hands of a committee appointed by Parliament, and of the chairman of that committee. Walter Bagehot: The English Constitution, 1867.