"Provides the first comprehensive theoretical and empirical work on governance in the Commonwealth public sector. It addresses the issues that emerged under the Howard government as well as their handling under the Rudd and Gillard governments." - abstract.

This book looks at responsible government under the Australian Constitution. It undertakes a detailed examination of the history leading to the incorporation of responsible government into the Constitution, examining the political history and constitutional ideas which informed the framers' views. It draws on this history to develop a theory of responsible government and explore its implications for the interpretation of the Constitution and the structure of modern government in Australia. The book fills a major gap in our knowledge of the intellectual background of the Australian Constitution by explaining the constitutional ideas that have shaped the text and structure of the Australian Constitution. It contributes to worldwide debates about constitutional interpretation by showing how rigorous use of history can lead to novel interpretations of constitutions without being tied to the 'dead hands of the founders'.

Funded by taxation, public spending cannot be separated from politics and ensuring efficiency and effectiveness is always high on the political and policy agenda. Accounting, accountability, governance and auditing are essential ingredients in evaluating public sector performance. Australia and New Zealand are world leaders when it comes to public sector accounting—such as being the first to introduce transaction-neutral accounting standards. This edited collection considers current issues impacting the public sector by primarily drawing upon experiences of Australia and New Zealand. Then, by combining history (from the time of the Domesday book, early sovereignty and Shakespeare) with current practice (differential reporting, international financial reporting standards, government performance, voter turnout, joined-up government and auditing practices), we use these experiences to illuminate the global issues of public sector accounting, accountability and governance. Based on rigorous research by top public sector researchers, this edited collection offers a multitude of future research ideas to enable those interested in following this pathway—whether they are in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States of America, Africa or anywhere else in the world—an avenue to traverse.

Present day knowledge about public sector reforms in Asia is quite scattered and seldom focuses on the challenges of leadership. This book seeks to address this issue by presenting country cases that reflect the great diversity of the region.

This book attempts to understand issues of corporate governance in the case of the public sector units in India.

The International Handbook of Public Administration and Governance is a ground-breaking volume with eminent scholars addressing the key questions in relation to how international governments can solve public administration and governance challenges in

This book examines the impact of several decades of public sector reform in four Westminster systems – Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Political and managerial change has re-defined roles and relationships and how their public sectors function. Often this occurs in comparable ways because of a common administrative tradition, but choices made in different country contexts also produce divergent outcomes. In analysing the results and implications of reform, fundamental issues of and tensions in public administration and management are addressed.

The Palgrave Handbook of Global Perspectives on Emotional Labor in Public Service challenges traditional public administration theory and its disavowal of the emotive component to public service delivery. Providing a comprehensive and comparative overview of the current research in this previously understudied area, this handbook situates emotional labor within public service and establishes emotional labor within individual, organizational, cultural, and situational scenarios. With chapters spanning twelve different countries across six continents, this handbook provides groundbreaking survey research that probes the daily work experience of public servants, paying special attention to the relational aspect of public service delivery. It ultimately seeks to revise the current public service paradigm, and will be an invaluable resource to researchers, public managers, and international public service organizations as the first of its kind for the public administration market.

The last few years have seen unprecedented change taking place in the Australian local government arena. In all states the functions and responsibilities of local authorities have been subjected to extensive reform. New legislation has redefined the role of councillors. Local governments have been required to introduce more efficient and effective management practices and become more open and responsive to their constituencies. The scope of traditional regulatory practices has been altered and councils forced to develop a competitive environment for the provision of services. The place of local authorities in the intergovernmental landscape has also changed. Different forms of interaction between Commonwealth, state and local government are evolving along with the emergence of new funding strategies to encourage a regional focus. This is the first book to offer a detailed discussion of the reforms that have taken place, and at the same time provide an informative and readable analysis for practitioners and students of government, politics and public sector management.

Reform is a politicized, ideological, sometimes drifting, and chaotic process. As such, what public administration reform means, why it occurs, whose interests it serves, and whether it makes the world a better place, remain contested. Addressing these questions, this major comparative study sheds new light on existing and emerging issues in the field of public administration reform.