Understanding Intergovernmental Relations: Key Features and Trends

This article discusses several features of intergovernmental relations (IGR), paying particular attention to IGR in federations. A number of recent trends and challenges are identified, and implications are drawn for the analysis of IGR. The article shows how IGR has traditionally been dominated by informal processes and power relationships, but that formalisation and institutionalisation have increased and can provide greater certainty and protection for sub-national governments in dealing with central government

Restructuring Australian industrial relations: the limits of a supply side approach

From 1983 to 1996, the Australian trade union movement led an integrated industrial relations reform agenda aimed at restructuring work organisation, the training system and union structures. These reforms are the basis for the claim that Australia hasdeliberately, successfully and permanently avoided a Thatcher-Reagan route to seeking international competitiveness, in favour of a more consensual, inclusive,social democratic approach.The present paper uses an institutionalist, supply-side framework of industrialrestructuring, drawing on the work of Wolfgang Streeck to describe and assess the Australian reforms. Five institutional conditions for diversified quality production areidentified, each of which has been tackled to some extent in Australia. Technologicalchange at work is now open to union influence; employment protection has beenincreased; work organisation and skill formation have been central elements inindustrial relations reform; and most union members have been reorganised into twenty large unions. Moreover, the union agenda has been avowedly inclusive and egalitarian.Unfortunately, this 'skill oriented' strategy has not yielded the benefits promised.Economic performance has been average, union density has fallen, and manyinstitutional supports for union membership and bargaining activity are under threat. Union misjudgements, employer and government resistance, and an unfavourable institutional legacy in industrial relations (in particular, the weakness of workplace bargaining structures), are reasons for the disappointing outcomes.Morevoer, the union supply side reform agenda needs to be placed in its prope rcontext. Without complementary government policies affecting aggregate demand, industry and finance reform, supply side intervention can have only a limited impact. Unions are not strong enough to force through industrial restructuring alone.However, faced with limited alternatives, the supply side approach is still the best on offer for unions -- In den Jahren von 1983 bis 1996 verfolgte die australische Gewerkschaftsbewegungeinen abgestimmten Kurs der Reform der industriellen Beziehungen, der auf dieRestrukturierung der Arbeitsorganisation, des Ausbildungssystems und der Struktur der Gewerkschaften zielte. Auf diesen Reformen basiert der Anspruch, daß Australien bei der Suche nach internationaler Wettbewerbsfähigkeit freiwillig, erfolgreich und dauerhaft einen Weg àla Thatcher und Reagan vermieden hat zugunsten eines eher auf Konsens undMitsprache zielenden, sozialdemokratischen Ansatzes.In dem Papier wird bei der Beschreibung und Bewertung der australischen Reformen ein institutionalistischer, angebotsorientierter Theorie-Rahmen verwendet, der sich auf Arbeiten von Wolfgang Streeck stützt. Es werden fünf institutionelle Bedingungen für eine diversifizierte Qualitätsproduktion herausgearbeitet, die alle biszu einem gewissen Grad Gegenstand des genannten Reformprozesses waren, d.h.der technologische Wandel am Arbeitsplatz ist jetzt zugänglich fürgewerkschaftlichen Einfluß und der Beschäftigungsschutz wurde gestärkt. DieArbeitsorganisation und die Qualifizierung waren zentrale Bestandteile der Reformder industriellen Beziehungen. Die meisten Gewerkschaftsmitglieder wurden in zwanzig großen Gewerkschaften zusammengefaßt. Darüberhinaus sind dieMitglieder ausdrücklich in die Entscheidungen über Themen der gewerkschaftlichenArbeit gleichberechtigt einbezogen.Bedauerlicherweise hat diese qualifizierungsorientierte Strategie bis jetzt nochnicht zu den angestrebten Ergebnissen geführt. Die gesamtwirtschaftliche Leistungblieb mittelmäßig, die Präsenz der Gewerkschaften in den Unternehmen ist zurückgegangen und viele gewerkschaftliche Hilfen im Rahmen der Mitgliedschaft und bei (Tarif-)Auseinandersetzungen mit den Unternehmern stehen auf der Kippe. Fehleinschätzungen durch die Gewerkschaften, Widerstände der Arbeitgeber und der Regierung und eine die industriellen Beziehungen erschwerende Hinterlassenschaft institutioneller Regelungen (vor allem nur schwach ausgebildete Strukturen für Verhandlungen und Auseinandersetzungen vor Ort in denUnternehmen) sind Gründe für die enttäuschenden Resultate.Das auf die Angebotsseite ausgerichtete Programm der Gewerkschaften muß inden passenden Zusammenhang gerückt werden. Ohne komplementäre politische Entscheidungen der Regierung, die auf die Gesamtnachfrage und eine Industrie-sowie Finanzreform zielen, kann eine angebotsorientierte Reform nur eine begrenzte Wirkung entfalten. Gewerkschaften allein sind zu schwach, um einen Strukturwandel zu gestalten.Trotzdem: Angesichts weniger Alternativen ist derangebotsorientierte Ansatz das Beste, was für die Gewerkschaften im Angebot ist

Moving Beyond 100 Years: The "WA Approach" to National Party Survival

Since its formation in 1913, the Western Australian branch of the National Party has faced many challenges to its survival. Electoral reform removing rural malapportionment in 2005 prompted changes in strategic direction, including abandoning coalition with the Liberal Party and creating a discrete image, branding and policy approach. Holding the balance of power after the 2008 election, the party adopted a post-election bargaining strategy to secure ministries and funding for its "Royalties for Regions" policy. This "WA approach" is distinctive from amalgamation and coalition arrangements embraced elsewhere in Australia. This article updates progress of the strategy following state and federal elections in 2013 and finds that it has been a success measured by increased votes, seats and policy influence and expansion into regional Western Australia to displace Labor. However, its applicability to other branches of the National Party is likely to be limited

Commonwealth infrastructure funding for Australian universities: 2004 to 2011

This paper provides an overview of recent trends in the provision of general infrastructure funding by the Commonwealth for Australian universities (Table A providers) over the period 2004 to 2011. It specifically examines general infrastructure development and excludes funding for research infrastructure through the Australian Research Council or the research funding programme of the Education Investment Fund

Meeting the Rudd Government's equity targets for universities: three scenarios

The Rudd Government has outlined a goal that by 2025, 40 per cent of Australians aged 25 to 34 should hold a Bachelor 's level qualification and that, by 2020, around 20 per cent of undergraduate enrolments at Australian universities should be filled by students from low socio- economic-status (SES) backgrounds. The current level of low SES participation is 16.3 per cent, with substantial diversity in outcomes between institutional groupings and states and territories. This paper considers three policy options for raising national participation levels of students from low SES backgrounds: (i) uniform increases across all institutions to meet the 20 per cent national target; (ii) differential increases in indirect proportion to current levels of low SES participation by institutions; and (iii) differential increases proportional to the share of the low SES population located within each state and territory. The authors find that a national approach to achieving the 20 per cent target needs to consider both current enrolment patterns across institutional groupings as well as differences in the low SES population across the states and territories. Students' SES is currently determined by their postcode. The authors argue that this is unsatisfactory and that better measures must be developed before targets can be set for individual institutions

The effects of COAG's national reform agenda on central agencies

This report examines the effect on Commonwealth and State central agencies of the reform agenda adopted by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG), with a particular focus on the reforms proposed and undertaken since the federal election in November 2007. Collectively, these reforms could constitute the most significant changes to Australian federalism in a generation. This study considers the responses of central agencies to this COAG Reform Agenda. How are the Commonwealth and State central agencies responding, and what challenges do they face

A Comparative Assessment of Australian Student Visa Policy

Following recent falls in international student commencements in Australia, there has been a renewed call for a revision to student visa policy. In response to this discussion the Commonwealth Government established the Knight Review of the Student Visa Program in December 2010. This paper discusses several policy options following acomparative analysis of student visa systems in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand. The underlying fi nding is that Australia’s student visa system is more complex, more costly and imposes greater fi nancial obligations on international students and their families than comparable countries. Australia could benefi t from an overall simplifi cation of its student visa system, including a streamlining of the number of visas available to students and a reduction in the stringency of the tests applied in regard to financial capacity and proof of funding. In addition, attention should be paid to post-study employment options under the student visa system and the nexus between higher education attainment and immediate work options

Age Bias in the Australian Welfare State

This paper uses Australian Bureau of Statistics fiscal incidence figures to track trends across the period 1984 to 2010 in one key aspect of the Australian welfare state — whether welfare policies have favoured the elderly at the expense of the young. Our three main findings are: that there has been a substantial shift over this period in favour of the elderly; that this trend has accelerated rapidly in recent years; and that as a result of this accelerated trend, elderly households today are on average well off by comparison with younger households. We see little influence of party politics or ideology on the processes we are describing