In an interview with the ABC’s Radio National on 22 September 2015 the new Special Minister of State, Hon Mal Brough MP, indicated that he intended to pursue reform of the Senate electoral system. Citing the need to strengthen Australia’s democracy and democratic engagement by implementing a more representative system, the Minister stated that ideally the new system would be in place for the next election (due in the normal course of events in the second half of 2016). In an Interim Report released in May 2014, the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM) proposed what is perhaps the most radical overhaul of the electoral system used to elect the Australian Senate si... Read more...
A FlagPost published in May 2015 titled Electing the party leader –recent events in Australia and the UK outlined the methods used by major parties in Australia and the UK to elect party leaders. In the last few weeks new leaders have been elected by the Liberal Party of Australia and the UK Labour Party, using very different electoral systems. Liberal Party of Australia On 14 September 2015 at 4pm the Minister for Communications, Malcolm Turnbull, called a press conference to announce his resignation from the ministry and his intention to challenge Prime Minister Tony Abbott for the leadership of the Liberal Party. Members of the parliamentary Liberal Party met on the same day ... Read more...
For many who watched China’s recent parade to commemorate the conclusion of the Second World War, the numbers were the most striking aspect of the event. Twelve thousand soldiers participated, accompanied by almost 200 aircraft and 500 pieces of air and ground equipment. It conveyed the message that China is a formidable military power that will not be bullied by foreigners as it was during its ‘century of humiliation’. However, the number that captured the attention of many observers was Xi Jinping’s announcement that Beijing will reduce its military personnel by 300,000. While indisputably a large figure, particularly compared to the number of personnel in the Austr... Read more...
On Tuesday 15 September 2015 Malcolm Turnbull was sworn in as Australia’s 29th Prime Minister. This resulted from a challenge by Mr Turnbull to Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s leadership of the federal Parliamentary Liberal Party on the 14 September. Mr Turnbull stated that Mr Abbott had failed to provide economic leadership and called for the restoration of traditional cabinet government. Mr Turnbull also announced that he had resigned his position as Minister for Communications. Mr Abbott called a party room meeting for 9.15 pm on the evening of 14 September for the election of the leader and deputy leader positions, announcing that he would contest the position of leader. Mr Turn... Read more...
The Parliamentary Library has constructed two maps using Census data to illustrate the journeys Australians took to travel to work in 2006 and 2011. Click for larger images. About the data The lines on the above maps represent the net journeys between regions. The net journey is the difference between the number of people travelling to and from two regions. For example, if five people travelled from region B to region A and three people travelled from region A to region B, the net number of journeys to from region B to region A is two. No indication of direction of travel is given in these maps. A line’s thickness is representative of the net number of people trave... Read more...
The escalating Syrian refugee crisis continues to make news headlines around the world and in recent weeks European countries have been gathering to discuss what they can do to assist. Several European countries have committed to increasing resettlement places for Syrian refugees, while Germany has stated that it will process asylum applications from Syrians in Germany rather than returning them for processing to the country in which they first entered the EU, as it is permitted to do under the Dublin II Regulation. Germany expects to receive up to 800,000 asylum applications from Syrians in 2015. Read more...
In May 2015 the Parliamentary Library highlighted in its Budget Review 2015–16 plans by the Australian Government to build an interpretive centre adjoining the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux in France at a cost of more than $100 million. On 13 August 2015, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works issued its report regarding the proposed ‘Sir John Monash Centre’ (SJMC). Following the release of this report and evidence provided at a public hearing on 26 June, further details are now available. Read more...
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