The meanings,origins and implications of 'the Howard Doctrine'

This article examines the background to the so-called 'Howard Doctrine' of 1999 in response to the problems that Australian diplomacy and defence policy encountered during the East Timor crisis. The article begins by examining the critical reaction both in Australia and abroad to the doctrine which appeared to imply Australia's increased reliance on the 'special relationship' with the US and its role as a 'deputy' of its ANZUS partner in the East Asia region. The article then demonstrates the historical origins of the doctrine's thinking in Australia's reliance since the post-war period on a system of serial bilateralism and special relationships with first the UK, the US and then Indonesia. However, the article also points out the essential vulnerabilities inherent in this type of serial bilateralism and its relative inability to respond effectively to the East Timor crisis. Finally, the article considers the systemic risk in Australian policy as manifested in the doctrine, and the future viability of serial bilateralism in dealing with Australia's regional diplomatic and security agenda.     

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.     

AN APPRAISAL OF AUSTRALIA'S DISASTER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOLLOWING THE ‘ASH WEDNESDAY’ BUSHFIRES IN VICTORIA, 1983*

Abstract: Australia's current disaster management system does not provide an appropriate interorganisational counter-disaster structure, nor does it ensure an efficient operational structure. Even when allowance is made for the inadequate funding provisions that characterise this area of public operations, the present disaster management system falls short of the degree of protection which society has come to expect. A recent appraisal, requested by the Victorian State Government, which considers the reorganisation of Victoria's “emergency services” fails to address many of the significant aspects that are at the heart of Victoria's and Australia's disaster management problems.     

To balance or to bandwagon? Adjusting to China's rise during Australia's Rudd–Gillard era

This article examines Australian grand strategy in the context of China's rise during the period of Labor governments between 2007 and 2013. Australia's grand-strategic posture is treated as the dependent variable, plotted along a balancing-to-bandwagoning continuum. Australia remained within the hedging zone throughout, although there were discernible shifts in posture during the period. While momentum was building towards a more overt balancing posture during the Kevin Rudd era, the various balancing and bandwagoning ‘signals’ were more contradictory after Julia Gillard unseated Rudd 2010; in short, she stabilised Australia's grand-strategic posture, meaning it remains best characterized as ‘dominance denial’.     

Australia and the China Threat: managing ambiguity

A China Threat – the fear of being taken over by China and the Chinese – has been an ever present in the politics of Australia since even before there was a Commonwealth of Australia. It was both a major cause of Federation in 1901 and a determinant of Australia's foreign policy thereafter. In the last 20 years, concerns about China have come to focus less on migration and more on economic integration and China's political influence. There are as always distinct paradoxes in the China Threat. It may be a useful vehicle for making a political point at election time but China has a place in the Australian economy that has led Australia's leaders to at least modify their resistance once in office.     

Neoconservatism,US–China conflict,and Australia's ‘great and powerful friends’ dilemma

Abstract

Following its time-honoured ‘great and powerful friends’ foreign policy tradition, Australia has been cultivating close ties simultaneously with the United States and China. Yet, as a rivalry between the two powers apparently looms large, Australia faces an acute dilemma. While the rise of China and the question of Taiwan are often cited as main causes of US–China discord, this article argues that the American neoconservative policy on China, underpinned by a belief in both military strength and moral clarity, is integral to this growing competition and is, by extension, partly responsible for the emergence of Australia's predicament. To avoid such a difficult choice, the article suggests that Australia should strive to curb the policy influence of neoconservatism both in the United States and at home by pursuing a more independent foreign policy, making clear its strategic postures on US–China relations, and helping establish a trilateral strategic forum between Australia, the United States, and China.     

Jews and coloureds in London's East End

In October 1981, Australia's Federal Commissioner for Community Relations said that the country's problem is ‘not blatant racism of the South African variety’ but ‘attitudinal discrimination’.     

A Portrait of Failure: Ongoing Funding Cuts to Australia's Cultural Institutions

Three decades of government budget cuts have placed significant financial pressure on Australia's cultural institutions. Institutions are increasingly trying to attract non‐government funding to fulfil their legislative mandates to collect, maintain, and exhibit Australian and international art, to educate and inform the public, and preserve Australia's political, social, and cultural history. Evidence suggests that, despite these efforts, sources of funding have not changed significantly. Budget cuts are impacting a range of areas including acquisitions, preservation, digitisation, as well as limiting access to researchers and the public. This paper concludes that a public review of the roles played by cultural institutions is required, including consideration of the level of public funding provided. To do otherwise is to ignore the importance of Australia's cultural heritage.     

Australia's government seeks new policy balance

Australia's new government has come into power at a critical time for foreign and security policy. It will have to strike a delicate balance in managing relations with both the United States and China.     

Defining Asia Capabilities for Australia's Public Service

Twenty‐three years ago, questions posed in this journal asked whether and how the Australian public service was prepared to engage effectively in Asia. More recent meta‐analyses of public policy scholarship suggest that Western policy scholars and administrators continue to pay limited attention to Asian policymaking, despite the rise of Asia in the 21st century. This article contributes a research‐derived Asia capabilities framework for Australia's public service, distilled from a qualitative study with public administration leaders at Commonwealth, state, and local government levels. It taps scholarly literature in ‘cultural intelligence’, global leadership competencies, and training to provide a robust conceptual underpinning for the framework. The framework defines the knowledge, skills, capabilities, and experiences vital for Australia's public service to engage effectively with the region in a rapidly changing policy environment.     

Assessing Integrity Systems: Introduction to the Symposium

The following Symposium on Australia's national integrity systems, drawn from an Australian Research Council‐funded project conducted in 2002‐2004 by researchers from Griffith University, Charles Sturt University, University of Sydney, RMIT University, Monash University and the Australian National University, together with Transparency International Australia. The first three papers examine the public integrity regimes at federal, state (NSW) and local levels. The remaining four papers develop three themes as a framework for assessing strengths and weaknesses in Australia's major integrity regimes: consequences, capacity and coherence. The papers were originally presented in sessions of the Australasian Political Studies Association (University of Adelaide, September 2004) and the 5th National Investigation Symposium (NSW Ombudsman, Independent Commission Against Corruption and Institute of Public Administration Australia NSW, Sydney, November 2004).     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Reform and Reversal: Lessons from the Coalition Government in NSW 1988—1995 MARTIN LAFFIN and MARTIN PAINTER November 1975: The Inside Story of Australia's Greatest Political Crisis. PAUL KELLY A Howard Government? Inside the Coalition. GERARD HENDERSON A Radical Tory. SIR GARFIELD BARWICK Flying the Kite — Travels of an Australian Politician Whatever It Takes. GRAHAM RICHARDSON Straight Left. TOM UREN Confessions of a Failed Finance Minister. PETER WALSH The Politics of Australian Child Care: From Philanthropy to Feminism. DEBORAH BRENNAN Power and Politics in the City: Brisbane in Transition. JANICE CAULFIELD and JOHN WANNA The Making of Medibank. R.B. SCOTTON and C.R. MACDONALD Aboriginal Self-Determination in Australia. CHRISTINE FLETCHER Australia's Cities: Issues, Strategies and Policies for Urban Australia in the 1990s. PATRICK TROY Equity and Citizenship Under Keating. MICHAEL HOGAN and KATHY DEMPSEY     

The implementation of complex social policy: Institutional layering and unintended consequences in the National Disability Insurance Scheme

In this article, we identify the unfolding unintended consequences which flow from one instance of policy layering in Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). We show how use of a causal diagram, which highlights feedback loops and emergent properties, to map complex chains of causal factors can assist policy scholars and policy practitioners to understand the likely direction of change and possible responses. In the case of Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme, our analysis suggests that the likely direction of change will work against two of the fundamental design features of the NDIS: providing participants with more choice and control, and ensuring all eligible Australians are able to access appropriate services and supports regardless of where they live. Our analysis points to the use of price regulation as the site of potential intervention because of the role it plays in subsequent feedback loops and the development of the two, unwelcome, emergent properties.     

Review Essay: Death and Delusion on the Trade Front

Books reviewed in this article: How to Kill a Country: Australia's Devastating Trade Deal with the United States Linda Weiss, Elizabeth Thurbon and John Matthews All the Way with the USA: Australia, the US and Free Trade Ann Capling Community and Local Governance in Australia Paul Smyth, Tim Reddel and Andrew Jones (eds) The Thirty Year Problem: The Politics of Australian Tax Reform Richard Eccleston Into the Future: The Neglect of the Long Term in Australian Politics Ian Marsh and David Yencken Yes, Premier: Labor leadership in Australia's States and Territories John Wanna and Paul Williams (eds) Making and Breaking Universities Bruce Williams Ethics and organisational politics Chris Provis Power Politics. The electricity crisis and you John Spoehr (ed) Markets in Vice, Markets in Virtue John Braithwaite Pensions: Challenges and Reforms, International Studies on Social Security, Vol. 9 Editors Einar Overbye and Peter A. Kemp     

Not Centralisation but Decentralised Integration through Australia's National Mental Health Policy

This article challenges dominant perceptions of Commonwealth centralisation in Australia's federal system. While recognising the Commonwealth has entered a range of policy fields not anticipated by federal founders, it argues this does not equate to a generalised unidirectional and hierarchical orchestration of state/territory functions. The crucial case of mental health policy is presented as an alternative scenario in Australia's federal experience. Theoretically key challenges from the multi‐level governance literature are proffered against the centralisation thesis. These include queries about the origins of Commonwealth directives and assumptions of zero‐sum notions of state/territory autonomy. Brief empirical analysis highlights the role of the Commonwealth as a conduit of horizontal and vertical flows of knowledge through the national mental health policy agenda. Given disconnect and diversity between national ambitions and their realisation at state/territory level, it is argued better proceduralisation through bottom‐up peer dialogue and feedback present alternative routes towards decentralised integration.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article: Geoffrey Sawer . Australian Federalism in the Courts. Stanley Brogden . Australia's Two-Airline Policy. Colin A. Hughes (ed.). Readings in Australian Government.     

Climate change policy discontinuity and its effects on Australia's national electricity market

Australia's National Electricity Market (NEM) became unstable in 2016/2017 after 20 years of consistent performance. The South Australian grid collapsed on 28 September 2016 – Australia's first black system event since 1964. Wholesale prices in the region trebled to $120+/MWh; soon after Hazelwood power station announced its exit with just 5 months’ notice. The problem spread as prices elsewhere doubled to $89/MWh from a long‐run average of $42.50. The NEM is experiencing a supply‐side crisis. Consistent with the requirement to decarbonise the system, aged coal‐fired generators are exiting but decades of climate change policy discontinuity has frustrated the entry of new plant. Long‐dated capital‐intensive asset industries like electricity supply anticipate a conventional policy cycle. What they have experienced instead is consistent with garbage can theory. Policy clarity may be emerging for only the second time in two decades. As with the NEM, its durability will depend on cooperative federalism.     

Business model–dynamic capabilities and open innovation initiatives in research-intensive organisations: A case of Australia's national science agency

Publicly funded national science agencies create value as innovation catalysts and through their scientific and research missions, they tackle wicked problems. Understanding how dynamic capabilities and business model innovation enable research-intensive organisations to seize the market in the mission is key to translating bold new science that has impact. We qualitatively explore how Australia's national science agency—the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)—has pursued open innovation to support business model–dynamic capabilities in an evolving publicly funded landscape. We reflect on the value of open innovation initiatives that have allowed the CSIRO to ambidextrously pursue world-class science while achieving impact.

Points for practitioners

• Dynamic capabilities and business model innovation are strategic tools for publicly funded national science agencies seeking to seize the market in the mission.
• We examine a case of business model–dynamic capabilities in CSIRO.
• Open innovation has been important for CSIRO as part of an ambidextrous approach.

     

National Competition Policy,Regulatory Reform & Australian Federalism*

Changes are afoot in Australia's federal arrangements concerning competition policy. While many of the proposals to enlarge the Commonwealth's sphere of influence are played out in the media, other shifts are more subtle. This article examines one of those areas of change. It looks at National Competition Policy and in particular, its regulatory reform components. It argues that the approach adopted in the 1995 agreement, which was characterised by broad principles, meticulous monitoring and substantial financial carrots, has provided the Commonwealth with a useful tool for effectively intervening in areas that have been until now, matters of state responsibility.