FlagPost — Parliamentary Library Blog

New Zealand—a ‘Southern Link’ between China and South America?

In November 2021, the New Zealand China Council published a report entitled The Southern Link: Developing a Global Value Chain, which outlined the concept of a ‘Southern Link’ as ‘an extension of a global value chain (GVC) that involves the routing of multi-modal freight and passengers between ASEAN–North Asia and South America via New Zealand’. The plan intends that New Zealand will serve as an air and sea freight hub between East Asia and South America, facilitating e-commerce trade, tourism, and education and mediation services, and thereby providing an economic boost to post-pandemic New Zealand.  Read more...

What's new in Statistics . . . December

This month: Life expectancy, road vehicle statistics, Treasury update (2022) and National Bowel Cancer Month. Forthcoming releases If you are interested in any of the forthcoming releases or datasets, please contact the Parliamentary Library to discuss in more detail.   Statistical reports Release date ABS Managed Funds, September 2022 1 Dec ABS Private New Capital Expenditure and Expected Expenditure, September 2022 1 Dec ABS Assets and Liabilities of Australian ... Read more...

Should Australia's referendum rules be reformed?

With the Government committing to a constitutional referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, an important question has become whether the Referendums (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984 (Referendums Act) remains fit for purpose. Australia has two main pieces of legislation that cover the conduct of federal electoral events. The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Electoral Act) covers federal elections and election-related issues. Alongside this is the Referendums Act, which covers constitutional referendums. While the Electoral Act has seen various reforms over recent parliaments, including to the enrolment process and telephone voting, the Referendums Act may be showing its age. Read more...

Wish list: sitting calendar, compliant with norms and school holidays

While children—young and old—in the countdown to Christmas are probably more focused on chocolate advent calendars, parliamentarians need to settle on a new sitting calendar. Balancing the norms of a sitting calendar with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s promise not to sit during school holidays across all states and territories, requires careful programming. This Flagpost article discusses the various considerations that go into developing a sitting calendar including avoiding school holidays.  Read more...

The Suburban Rail Loop: an infrastructure case study

The Australian Government’s largest infrastructure commitment in the October 2022–23 Budget is $2.2 billion for the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) in Victoria. The October 2022–23 Budget started a budget repair fiscal narrative, which included a focus on increased ‘value for money’. The SRL funding announcement precedes the evaluation of the SRL business case by Infrastructure Australia to recommend whether the project represents value for money and should be placed on the Infrastructure Priority List. Read more...

Snapshot of employment by industry, 2022

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) releases quarterly estimates of employed people by industry (in their main job, if a person holds more than one job) in the publication Labour Force, Australia, Detailed. Quarterly data is available since November 1984, with the most recent data being August 2022. Read more...

House Estimates
AUSPIC

House Estimates

Now that the Treasurer’s Budget speech is over, the work of legislating the Budget begins. This includes parliamentarians sitting in the Federation Chamber for the Consideration in Detail (CiD) stage of Appropriation Bill No. 1 (the Bill), navigating House Estimates. If you’re not familiar with any of these terms, don’t worry – you’re definitely not alone. House Estimates gets significantly less attention than it’s Senate counterpart, so this Flagpost seeks to provide some clarity and context around this largely unknown aspect of House of Representatives procedure. Read more...

Corruption risks and political donations

The Government's introduction of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) legislation has led to discussion about the potential for political donations (particularly large donations) to have a corrupting influence. This is occurring in the context of a federal parliamentary committee inquiry into the 2022 election and two state anti-corruption agencies’ recent comments on links between political finance rules and corruption. Read more...

What's new in statistics. . .November

This month: How Australians use their time, renewable energy and National Diabetes Month. Forthcoming releases If you are interested in any of the forthcoming releases or datasets, please contact the Parliamentary Library to discuss in more detail.   Statistical reports Release date ABS Building Approvals, September 2022 2 Nov ABS Selected Living Cost Indexes, September 2022 2 Nov ABS Lending Indicators, September 2022 2 Nov ABS ... Read more...

I’m sorry senator, I’ll have to take it on notice
AUSPIC

I’m sorry senator, I’ll have to take it on notice

Observe Senate Estimates (Estimates) and you will quickly become familiar with the phrase ‘on notice’. Up to three times a year the Senate Legislation Committees hold Estimates hearings to examine the particulars of proposed or revised expenditure of departments and agencies. At these hearings senators can question the responsible Minister and senior officials from the departments and agencies. This Flagpost article examines the development of Estimates committees’ questions on notice (QoNs) and what lessons can be learnt as the Estimates hearings commence in the 47th parliament.  Read more...

FlagPost

Flagpost is a blog on current issues of interest to members of the Australian Parliament

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