Public Finance In Australia

Third edition of textbook covering the theory and practice of Australian public finance. Includes expanded chapters on state, local and regional finance as well as discussion of recent events associated with the 1985 White Paper on tax reform and related matters. The author is professor of economics at the University of Sydney.

Accountability as it concerns the Commonwealth Government; the obligation of governments to be financially accountable; ways in which governments answer for the use of resources taken from the public to implement social and economic policies; defining the public sector; the significance of government; the cycle of accountability in government; the structure of Australian government.

Explores financial aspects of constitutional government, focusing on central banking, sovereign borrowing, taxation and public expenditure.

How do Australian governments budget? How well do they spend and manage our money? Governments seem to be locked in a constant struggle with the problems of budgeting. Cabinet never has enough resources to go around, and while some agencies 'guard' public expenditure, others find endless ways to make new claims on budgets. Managing Public Expenditure in Australia provides the first systematic analysis of government budgeting and the politics of the budgetary process. Drawing on extensive original sources, the authors examine debates and reforms in public finance from Whitlam and Fraser to Hawke, Keating and Howard, and assess their impacts on policy development. In tracking the way governments actually spend money, Managing Public Expenditure in Australia provides an alternate and complementary political history of federal government over the past forty years. This book also includes accessible discussions on topics such as budget theory, financial management in government, and debt and deficit reduction. An explanation of new resource management techniques and initiatives help to illuminate the ongoing changes to budget and expenditure management practices. This is an essential purchase for students, teachers and practitioners of public finance, and for anyone involved in the continuing debate over the nature and role of the public sector.