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Global Public Affairs Database 2010

Australia
1. Overview

Key figures
Population 21,445,441
Labour force 10.95 million
GDP $908.8 billion
Currency AUS$
Budget revenues $321.3 billion
Unemployment rate 4.4%

Background
-Democratic, federal-state system recognizing British
monarch as sovereign.
-Capital: Canberra
-English is the national language. English is the only
language spoken in the home for around 80% of the
population. The other most common languages are
Chinese, Italian and Greek.
-The Commonwealth of Australia is a country in the
southern hemisphere comprising the mainland of the
world's smallest continent, the major island of
Tasmania, and a number of other islands in the Indian
and Pacific Oceans.
-Australia has an enviable, strong economy with a
per capita GDP at par with the four dominant West
European economies.

2. Decisional structure / Key figures for successful lobbying

- Australia’s system of government is founded in the liberal democratic tradition. Based on the values of
religious tolerance, freedom of speech and association, and the rule of law, Australia’s institutions and
practices of government reflect British and North American models. At the same time, they are uniquely
Australian.
- Australia’s government is based on a popularly elected parliament with two chambers: the House of
Representatives and the Senate. Ministers appointed from these chambers conduct executive government,
and policy decisions are made in Cabinet meetings. Apart from the announcement of decisions, Cabinet
discussions are not disclosed. Ministers are bound by the principle of Cabinet solidarity, which closely
mirrors the British model of Cabinet government responsible to parliament.
-Policy actors with vested interests do not feature well or prominently in theories of deliberative
democracy. Indeed, interest-based politics symbolizes much that deliberative procedures seek to
overcome - partiality, competitiveness, and bargaining. In contrast, collective decisions under the
deliberative model are determined through reflective public reasoning.Though theorists are divided on the
finer details of what this exactly entails, deliberation in its strictest sense is a social communicative

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Global Public Affairs Database 2010
process in which free, equal, and relatively impartial participants consider arguments on issues in view of
the collective good.
-Advocates argue that under such conditions, deliberation produces informed rational decisions; fairer,
more publicly oriented outcomes; and improved civic skills.

3. Main political issues

-The Environment Issue - The environment is a vitally important issue in Australia, an issue which unites
large numbers of people as political allies. Support for many of the environmental organisations crosses
traditional political boundaries, yet the "greenies" can be very influential in determining the course of our
national development.
-The Euthanasia Issue - The Northern Territory of Australia enacted what may well have been the most
controversial piece of legislation in the world: the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995. Hailed by its
supporters as at last conferring the "right to die" and reviled by its opponents as an attack on the
fundamental "right to life", the RTI Act was overidden by the federal Euthanasia Laws Act 1997. The
issue is so tremendously important to the shape of our future society that both sides will stop at nothing
which may further their cause.
-The Shredding Issue - An issue variously known as "The Lindeberg Affair", The "Heiner Inquiry
Coverup" or "Shreddergate" has been simmering on the back burner of Australian Politics for some time
now. Shreddergate is set to boil over with spectacular results, especially now that the spectre of a
paedophile cover up has been raised by the issue.
-The MAI Issue - There has been considerable interest recently in the Multilateral Agreement on
Investment. The MAI has the potential to touch every one of our lives. If Australia signs the agreement
the political future of our country will no longer be driven solely by Australian interests, but we will be
part of a global economy. Many people oppose this threat to our national sovereignty while others look
forward to entering the potential new markets of an integrated global economy.

4. Political organization

The Commonwealth of Australia is a constitutional democracy based on a federal division of powers. The
form of government used in Australia is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of
government. Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of Australia, a role that is distinct from her position as
monarch of the other Commonwealth realms. The Queen is represented by the Governor-General at
federal level and by the Governors at state level. Although the Constitution gives extensive executive
powers to the Governor-General, these are normally exercised only on the advice of the Prime Minister.
The most notable exercise of the Governor-General's reserve powers outside the Prime Minister's
direction was the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in the constitutional crisis of 1975.

4.1 Administrative divisions


-Australia has six states, two major mainland territories, and other minor territories. The states are New
South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia. The two major
mainland territories are the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). In most
respects, the territories function like the states, but the Commonwealth Parliament can override any
legislation of their parliaments. By contrast, federal legislation only overrides state legislation in certain
areas that are set out in Section 51 of the Constitution; state parliaments retain all residual legislative
powers, including powers over hospitals, education, police, the judiciary, roads, public transport, and
local government.

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4.2 The executive


-Queen of Australia ELIZABETH II is the chief of state (since 6 February 1952); represented by
Governor General Her Excellency Ms Quentin BRYCE AC (since 05 September 2008).
-Prime Minister Kevin RUDD (since 3 December 2007); and Deputy Prime Minister Julia GILLARD are
the head of government (since 3 December 2007) .
-Prime minister nominates, from among members of Parliament, candidates who are subsequently sworn
in by the governor general to serve as government ministers.
-The monarch is hereditary; governor general appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the
prime minister; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or leader of a majority
coalition is sworn in as prime minister by the governor general.

4.3 The legislative

-Bicameral Federal Parliament consists of the Senate (76 seats; 12 members from each of the six states
and 2 from each of the two mainland territories; one-half of state members are elected every three years
by popular vote to serve six-year terms while all territory members are elected every three years) and the
House of Representatives (150 seats; members elected by popular preferential vote to serve terms of up to
three-years; no state can have fewer than 5 representatives).
-Senate elections last held on 24 November 2007 (next to be held on or before 16 April 2011); House of
Representatives elections last held on 24 November 2007 (next to be held on or before 16 April 2011).

4.4 The judiciary


-High Court (the chief justice and six other justices are appointed by the governor general).
-The High Court of Australia and other federal courts. Appeals from Australian courts to the Judicial
Committee of the Privy Council in the United Kingdom ceased when the Australia Act was passed in
1986.

5. Entity/Contact/Role Statistics

Contact Outreach %
5.1 Organizations 381 Address 100%
5.2 Contacts 1414 Telephone 99%
5.3 Job Titles (Roles) 2860 Fax 95%
E-mail 28%
Photos 81%
Bios 81%

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Global Public Affairs Database 2010
Contact Categories Service Pack
Academia Audience ‘On-Demand’ directories
Autonomous Customized collections
Organization Data cleansing - data cleansing through our ETL (Extraction Transform
Business Associations Load) framework.
Business Partners Internal Data integration
Central Government
Financial Services Collection Method:
Organization Manual (dedicated collection teams specialized in the region and
Local Government countries).
National Agencies Automated (specialized Web crawling technology to capture publicly
NGO available information from the Web), Newsletters, public publications,
Other Embassies and media.
Political Party Online Subscription.
Regional Government Audience coverage:
Tech-Trade Organizations Approx. 1414 influential Contacts covering wide spectrum of the
country.

Update Frequency:
Tier 1 contacts: Monthly
Tier 2 contacts: Quarterly
Tier 3 contacts: 2 X per year
Tier 1 contacts (President, Ministers, head of cabinet,
parliamentarians…) are usually refreshed within two weeks)
2 months post General Elections.

Use specially, “in-house” developed tools as well as Media subscriptions


for maintaining freshness of the collected data.

Languages supplied:
English

Commercial Information:
Role :
Basic roles, address, phone and email of contacts.
o Indicative Pricing:
around ___ € per contact first year ___ € subsequently
Basic roles, address, phone and email and Photos of contacts.
o Indicative Pricing:
around ___ € per contact first year, ___ € subsequently

Full Biographies
Contacts address, telephones, fax, emails
Contact ‘s roles with the organizations, job titles
Election zones (Constituencies)
Political Parties and groups
Biography items (Past Career, Training/Schools, Books, Awards, Civil
Status and personal information)
Picture
Organization Name, Address, Category
Geographic referential (ISO)

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