Queensland Political Portraits 1859 1952

Chapters on Qld Premiers; mentions policies and attitudes under Bowen, McIlwraith, Griffith, Philp, and McCormack.

Walter and Katie Hume coped with isolation from family and the deaths of five infants while working to establish their financial future, secured promotions for Walter and created a place for themselves among the colonial elite. They attained the ideal middle-class family life with Walter's career success providing sufficient income to educate their children overseas, reside in elite homes and angage in genteel and philanthropic pastimes.

This festschrift celebrates the extensive contribution John Wanna has made to the research and practice of politics, policy and public administration. It includes both personal acknowledgements of his work and substantial essays on the issues that he focused most closely upon during his academic career: budgeting and financial management, politics, and public policy and administration. The essays address contemporary developments in public sector financial management in Australia and overseas, changing political processes in Queensland and the Commonwealth, and public governance and administration reform trajectories in Australia and internationally, including in China. A common theme is the importance of linking research to practice, reflecting John Wanna’s own style and contribution. Essays include exploration of the interface between academia and practice, including from the perspective of practitioners. The authors of the essays in this volume include eminent Australian and international scholars of public administration, experienced public service practitioners and younger scholars influenced by John Wanna.

This book attempts to understand the nature and course of change and reform in the bureaucracies of the six colonies in Australia following the launching of responsible government in the 1850s. The trends in the development of the six colonial bureaucracies are examined to illustrate the similarity in the politics involved and problems encountered from colony to colony in initiating and managing change in colonial administration. Between 1856 and 1905, 15 inquiries encompassing the entire public service structure were undertaken in the six Australian colonies. By using a set of seven variables (context, objectives, the degree of political commitment, membership, methods and problems, nature of recommendations, and the extent of adoption/implementation of reports of commissions), each of these inquiries is analysed independently to highlight the peculiarities of its working and the implications of its results for the bureaucracy. Cross-inquiry and cross-colony comparisons are made, and judgments offered which to some degree challenged existing assumptions about the process of change in nineteenth century Australian public administration. The major issues that emerged in each colony during the first three decades of responsible government were political influence in personnel administration, the effects of 'departmentalism', the development of career principles, economy and efficiency. By the early 1880s administrative reform began to take a different course; most colonies had either accepted or began to accept new ideas---independent non-political control of the public service, open competition in the staffing process, recognition of merit and ability, and classification of positions according to value of work. Taken as a whole, the commissions of inquiry made substantial contribution to these reforms. Some were successful in terms of implementation of their recommendations; others were notable for the intrinsic value of their reports; some, admittedly, were undertaken to postpone reform while others were instituted merely to validate predetermined governmental policies. Only a few had no apparent political overtones behind their establishment. However, generally, speaking, most inquiries did make significant contribution to the administrative reform process in nineteenth century Australia and they compared favorably with similar efforts overseas.

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In this two-volume work, Ian Loveland offers a detailed exploration and analysis of 2 Australian entrenchment cases which have long been a source of fascination and inspiration to lawyers. This first volume, focusing on the McCawley case, introduces non-Australian readers to the remarkably rich legal and political history of constitutional formation and development in New South Wales and Queensland in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It culminates with a deeply contextualised analysis of the emergence of the bizarre 'Two Act entrenchment' principle which emerged in Queensland's constitutional law in 1908 and the subsequent and celebrated McCawley judgments of the Australian High Court and Privy Council. The judgments are placed in both their deep and immediate historical and political contexts; from the legal formation of New South Wales in the late 1700s, through the creation of New South Wales and Queensland as distinct colonies in the 1850s and the subsequent passage of the Colonial Laws Validity Act 1865, on to the fiercely contested reformism espoused by Labour governments in Queensland in the early part of the twentieth century.

This title was first published in 2001: Despite considerable expansion, the scholarly literature on political corruption has remained fragmentary, often polarized, consisting either of sweeping systematic statements, or case-specific examples. Perry bridges this gap and proves the need for further such study in this most worthwhile examination of the place of political corruption in Australia. The Australian experience is paid thorough, yet concise attention and then it is related to the concept of political corruption in its various and changing forms and interpretations. Assuming no familiarity with the central intellectual issues, Perry lucidly explores them in terms of their method, practice and definition with particular reference to Australia. Primarily suitable for academics interested in politics, geography, development studies, history and sociology, this book’s accessible style also makes it of interest to a general audience.

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'.