A majority of Australians want the ABC’s independence protected from political interference, and agree the ABC must do more to defend its political independence new research from The Australia Institute shows.
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The Australia Institute surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,459 Australians about which current and former Ministers they had heard of.
In the November 2018 poll, despite no longer a Minister, more Australians still recognise Julie Bishop (82%) than current Prime Minister Scott Morrison (75%).
“The Australia Institute has been polling ministerial recognition since 2016 and it is no surprise that former Deputy Prime Minister Julie Bishop has always ranked highly,” said Ben Oquist, Executive Director of The Australia Institute.
34 former judges from across Australia have penned an open letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, calling for the urgent establishment of a National Integrity Commission.
Signatories to the open letter include The Hon Sir Gerard Brennan AC QC, former Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, The Hon Mary Gaudron QC, former justice of the High Court, and The Hon Tony Fitzgerald AC QC, former Federal Court judge and head of the Fitzgerald Inquiry.
The open letter states in part:
New Analysis from The Australia Institute has predicted that South Australia will play a key role in the next Federal Election, with a range of parties and candidates vying for a handful of seats in the Senate that will likely hold significant weight in balance of power outcomes in the new Parliament.
"When it comes to the Senate, all eyes will be on South Australia come election night," said Noah Schultz-Byard, SA Projects Manager at The Australia Institute.
"South Australia has a strong history of supporting independent, micro and minor party candidates and our analysis shows there's a high chance of that happening once again in 2019.
New analysis from The Australia Institute has shown that, even under the most optimistic predictions for a potential future Labor Government, it will likely still need to work with the Greens and at least one or two members of the crossbench to get legislation passed through the Senate.
With the Coalition similarly incapable of taking control of the Senate in their own right, based on current predictions, the crossbench will almost certainly continue to play a significant role in Australian politics, with a few key Senators poised to wield significant power after the next election.
In this report series, we present and analyse the results of Senate voting intention polls to project the potential makeup of the Senate following one or more elections.
On current polling, future elections are likely to return a crossbench that is about as large and divided as the current one. Future governments – whether Coalition or Labor – should prepare for a number of possible crossbenches: one where Greens votes are necessary to pass legislation, one where micro-parties and independents are necessary to pass legislation, and one where Greens, micro-parties and independents are all necessary to pass legislation.
New research from The Australia Institute shows that, while treasurer, Scott Morrison rushed a $260 million deal with the Northern Territory Government through in a matter of days, at exactly the same time that the NT announced it would overturn its moratorium on fracking.
The report shows that even under FOI the Government has blocked access to numerous documents regarding the deal, including a letter from Morrison to the NT Government where he first committed to the $260 million in funding, sent three days after the moratorium was lifted.
The report outlines:
Scott Morrison rushed through a $260 million payment to the Northern Territory in a matter of days at the same time the NT Government overturned the moratorium on gas fracking.
Morrison committed to the funding just three days after the fracking decision, in a letter of offer to the NT that also refers to that decision.
The Federal Government holds many documents referring to both fracking and federal funding to NT, but refuses to release them under FOI, because their decisions or deliberations are not already disclosed.
New analysis from The Australia Institute has shown that the different designs of various anti-corruption bodies at a State level yield significantly different results and has reinforced the need for a proposed Federal body to have adequate resourcing and powers.
A panel of former judges that make up The Australia Institute’s National Integrity Committee have supported the report and are calling for the establishment of a National Integrity Commission with broad jurisdiction and strong investigative powers, including public hearings.
“A watchdog with no teeth would be a terrible outcome,” Ben Oquist, Executive Director of The Australia Institute, said.
A National Integrity Commission is needed to investigate and expose corruption and misconduct in our federal government and public sector. Currently there are significant gaps in the jurisdiction and investigative powers of the federal agencies responsible for scrutinising the public sector and government. No federal agency has the power to investigate corrupt conduct as state-based commissions do, which includes any behaviour that affects the honest and impartial exercise of public office. No agency can investigate misconduct of MPs, ministers or the judiciary.
