查看文章

Background

In an increasingly globalised and rapidly changing world, decisionmaking processes associated with the development, implementation and monitoring of public policies are becoming increasingly complex. Individual governments or government departments now rarely have all the power, resources and governance structures that are required to adequately respond to public policy challenges under their responsibility and effectively govern their constituencies. This means that they are required to work with, or seek the aid of, others from the public, private, non-government organisation or community spheres, and often across a range of sectors, to achieve their objectives. Understanding and managing the issues associated with governing across a range of boundaries are thus paramount to achieving positive public policy outcomes in today’s environment.

In Australia, public debates about the constitutional status of the Australian federation, and how to create effectively functioning mechanisms for the distribution of power and resources between levels of government, do not always capture the complexity of the country’s multi-level governance (MLG) systems. There are, therefore, both practitioners and academics working in the public policy, political science and associated fields that