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Table of Contents

                            Foreword
Contributors
Part 1. Reflections on federalism
	1. Federalism and the engine room of prosperity
		
		Modern federalism
		New financial framework reforms
		Schools reform
		Transparency in school reporting
		Schools in low socioeconomic status communities
		Conclusion
	2. Does federalism work?
		
		Victoria’s reform record
		Cooperative federalism
		Making federalism work better
		Reform of ministerial councils
		Clarifying overlapping responsibilities
		Conclusion
	3. What has federalism ever done for us?
		
		What has federalism ever done for us?
		What have the states ever done for us?
		The system isn’t perfect
		Appetite for change
		Some proposals
			Education and training
			Health
			Climate change
		Opportunity for change
	4. Splicing the perspectives of the Commonwealth and states into a workable federation
		
		Griffith University’s federalism project
		Twomey and Withers’ federalist paper for the Council for the Australian Federation
		Victorian Skills Reform package
		Key challenges for the future
		COAG—a new reform framework
			Health
			Schools
		Better ways to deliver
		Conclusion and looking forward to 2009 and beyond
	5. The reform imperative and Commonwealth–state relations
		
		The reform challenge
		The need for action
		Evolving federalism
		Vertical fiscal imbalance
		National Reform Agenda
			Health
			National Innovation Agenda
			The National Reform Agenda
			GST distribution
				GST ‘black box’
			Our environmental challenges
				Climate change
			Water
		Conclusion
	6. Fostering creativity and innovation in cooperative federalism—the uncertainty and risk dimensions
		
		Framing public sector innovation objectives as a response to handling uncertainty and risk
		Choosing the best conceptual tools
		Implications for cooperative federalism
		Conclusions
Part 2. Reflections on policy and politics
	7. Cabinet government: Australian style
		
	8. Consumers and small business: at the heart of the Trade Practices Act
		
		Protection of small business under the Trade Practices Act
			Franchising
			Small business and Section 46
			Unconscionable conduct
			Collective bargaining
			National consumer law
		Summary
	9. Constitutional litigation and the Commonwealth
		
		How do constitutional cases come before the courts?
		How does the Commonwealth become aware of constitutional cases?
		By what power does the Commonwealth participate in constitutional cases?
		How does the Commonwealth participate in constitutional cases?
		What are the advantages of the way the Commonwealth participates in constitutional cases?
		Conclusion
	10. Evidence-based policy making: what is it and how do we get it?
		
		Advancing further reforms will be challenging
		Why we need an evidence-based approach
		Most policies are experiments
		Conditioning the political environment
		The essential ingredients
			Methodology matters
			Good data are a prerequisite
			Real evidence is open to scrutiny
			Evidence building takes time
			Good evidence requires good people
			Independence can be crucial
			A ‘receptive’ policymaking environment is fundamental
		Some implications for the Public Service
			Making better use of existing processes
			Effective COAG arrangements
			Building greater institutional capacity
			Better use of external contracting
			Resourcing evaluations properly
		Bottom line
Part 3. Reflections on governance and leadership
	11. The two cultures re-examined: a perspective on leadership and policy management in business and government
		
		The two cultures of business and government
		The public order and the civic order
		The political cultures of the United States and Australia
		Leadership profiles in the United States and Australia
		Telecommunications regulation in the political culture of Australia
		Appendix 11.A: Decision making in the public and private sector is different
	12. Leading the Australian Defence Force
		The basis of successful leadership in the Australian Defence Force
		Strategic direction
		Leading the Australian Defence Force
		Conclusion
	13. Essential linkages—situating political governance, transparency and accountability in the broader reform agenda
		
		Essential linkages
		Transparency
		Freedom of information is vital
		Appendix 13
			Expanding on political governance
Part 4. Reflections on adaptive change
	14. Higher education: it’s time…(to change the policy framework)
		
	15. Achieving a ‘conservation economy’ in indigenous communities: a Canadian model for greening and growing local economies
		
	16. From crystal sets to the double helix in one journalist’s lifetime
		
		The television era
		ABC—from promise to paucity
		Radio
		Decline of newspapers
		Internet
		New genres of journalism
		Double helix