This collection of `critical reflections¿ on Australian public policy offers a valuable contribution to public discussion of important political and policy issues facing our nation and society. These essays are important not only because of the reputation and position of the various contributors, but because they are incredibly `content rich¿ and brimming with new ideas.

Migration and its associated social practices and consequences have been studied within a multitude of academic disciplines and in the context of policies at local, national and regional level. This edited collection provides an introduction and critical review of conceptual developments and policy contexts of migration scholarship within an Australian and global context, through: political economy analyses of migration and associated transformations; sociological analyses of ‘settling in’ processes; multi-disciplinary analyses of migrant work; a historical review of scholarship on refugees; a Southern theory approach to cultural diversity; sociological reflections on post-nationalism; Cultural Studies analyses of public culture and ‘second generation’ youth cultures; interdisciplinary and Critical Race analyses of ‘race’ and racism; feminist intersectional analyses of migration, belonging and representation; the theorising of cosmopolitanism; a transdisciplinary analysis of gender, transnational families and care; and a comparative, transcontextual analysis of hybridity. An essential contribution to the current mapping of migration studies, with a focus on Australian scholarship in its international context, this collection will be of interest to undergraduates and postgraduates interested in fields such as Sociology, Cultural Studies, Geography and Politics.

Policy Analysis in Australia offers a distinctly Australian interpretation of policy scholarship with eighteen chapters strongly reflecting the outstanding contributions of Australian scholars to the field of public policy. It provides a coherent overview of the strengths and opportunities for policy analysis in Australia. It recognises that government agencies are no longer regarded as the sole source of sound policy analysis, and takes a broad view of policy analysis capacity, both within institutions at all levels of government, and beyond government in the media, political parties, business, and non-government associations. It provides a valuable contribution to Australian scholarship about policy analysis in academic, professional, teaching and learning contexts, and is a key addition to research and teaching in comparative policy analysis and policy studies more generally.

In order to address major social policy problems, governments need to break down sectoral barriers and create better working relationships between practitioners, policymakers and researchers. Currently, major blockages exist, and stereotypes abound. Academics are seen as out-of-touch and unresponsive, policymakers are perceived to be justifying policy decisions, and the community sector seeks more funding without demonstrating efficacy. These stereotypes are born out of a lack of understanding of the work and practices that exist across these three sectors. Drawing on ground-breaking research and partnerships, with contributions from senior public servants, this book explores the competing demands of different actors involved in policy change. It challenges current debates, assumptions and reflects a unique diversity of experiences. Combined with differing theoretical perspectives, it provides a uniquely practical insight for those seeking to influence public policy. This innovative text provides essential reading for community sector practitioners, academics and advanced level students in public policy, social policy and public administration, as well as for public service professionals.

Important policy problems rarely fit neatly within existing territorial boundaries. More difficult still, individual governments or government departments rarely enjoy the power, resources and governance structures required to respond effectively to policy challenges under their responsibility. These dilemmas impose the requirement to work with others from the public, private, non-governmental organisation (NGO) or community spheres, and across a range of administrative levels and sectors. But how? This book investigates the challenges—both conceptual and practical—of multi-level governance processes. It draws on a range of cases from Australian public policy, with comparisons to multi-level governance systems abroad, to understand factors behind the effective coordination and management of multi-level governance processes in different policy areas over the short and longer term. Issues such as accountability, politics and cultures of governance are investigated through policy areas including social, environmental and spatial planning policy. The authors of the volume are a range of academics and past public servants from different jurisdictions, which allows previously hidden stories and processes of multi-level governance in Australia across different periods of government to be revealed and analysed for the first time.

This book aims to develop a conceptual framework upon which to draw for analysis of new and existing national reforms in Australia. Due to growth in the volume and complexity of national uniform legislation, law reform agencies, the Commonwealth, state and territory governments and policy institutions have more, rather than less, to do. This book explores how they are required to respond to debates among actors from divergent geographical, commercial and ideological backgrounds, who sometimes demonstrate irreconcilable differences in values and perspectives. From a policy implication perspective, this book summarises a vast quantity of original and complex data so that it can be applied in the field—among policymakers, reformers, legislative drafters, students and the wider audience of legal practitioners working with harmonised legislation in federations. This book acknowledges that uniform legislation is not a panacea for all legal challenges currently faced by federations. However, this book takes a step towards demystifying the many confusing factors that have obscured the underlying general principles. A working theory of ‘federal harmonisation’ enables ‘the art of the impossible’ to become a practical reality. This book condenses data on legislation in models. The models enable transparent, evidence-based decisions in the process of a federation’s harmonisation to progress regulatory best practices and achieve more reliable, sustainable results.

Using empirical data, this book uniquely presents the dynamics of innovation within public sector organisations and identifies the most crucial factors that promote innovation or the determinants that enhance innovation activities. It presents a macro and micro analysis of workplace innovation in the Australian public sector written by a combination of practitioners and academics to provide both theoretical and practical insights. The book reviews the relationship between culture and workplace innovation as a multi-dimensional, subjective and context-specific phenomenon operating dynamically as organisational innovation, organisational climate for innovation, team and individual innovation. It identifies a variance in the perception of workplace innovation and organisational culture between public sector employees with different demographic and employment characteristics. The demographic and employment characteristics confirm that employees in a Public Sector Department of State exhibit significant differences between various groups in how culture impacts on workplace innovation. This knowledge assists practitioners in developing positive cultural environments that support the development of workplace innovation and raise awareness in considering the differences within organisations caused by an individual’s characteristics. Lastly, the book reviews public organisations around the world and provides a cross cultural comparison of public sector innovation and leadership. This includes a review of the major forms of public sector systems in operation and how this relates to innovation and leadership. Innovation and Leadership in the Public Sector is written for academics and students interested in the public sector innovation field. It’s suitable for both graduate and undergraduate students and researchers in the fields of public administration, management policy, organisational behaviour, human resources management (HRM) and human resources development (HRD) courses. Additionally, this book is suitable for middle-to-senior-level administrators or managers who wish to develop more innovative public sector organisations.

This important and challenging volume of essays draws on insights from leading academics and public servants from Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada and elsewhere. It provides an excellent series of critiques of both the systemic accountabilities and the policy processes of government by drawing on meticulously researched, topical and real-world case studies of governance. Its contribution to the understanding of the applied processes of government in this way is exemplary. Topics covered include: restoring trust in government, parliamentary scrutiny of the APS, administrative law and FOI, budgetary reforms, implementation issues, competition policy, indigenous administration, collaboration with the NGO sector, educational reforms and the changes to the Auditor- General’s mandate.

In recent years, controversy has surrounded the role of top government lawyers in the United States and the United Kingdom. Allegations of bad lawyering and bad ethics in public office over the ’torture memos’ in the United States and the political pressure placed on the Attorney-General in the United Kingdom to approve the legality of the Iraq war, have seen these relatively obscure group of government lawyers thrust into the public debate. Unlike its Anglo-American contemporaries, Australia’s chief legal adviser, the Solicitor-General, has remained largely out of the public eye. This collection provides a rare and overdue insight into a fundamental public institution in all Australian jurisdictions. It provides a historical, theoretical, practical and comparative perspective of this little known, but vitally important, office at a time when the transparency and accountability of government has taken on an increased significance. Of interest to anyone interested in the integrity of government, the book will be particularly useful to government, political parties and the academy. It will also be a valuable reference work to those working towards a redefinition of the role of top government legal advisors.