Policy Agendas in Australia

Abstract

This book aims to achieve a systematic understanding of policy agendas in Australia, using the measurement scheme of the Policy Agendas Project (PAP). By coding different aspects of the policy agenda, we are able to answer important questions in Australian and comparative politics: How much legislative attention is spent on policy domains such as education and how does this change over time? Do governments respond to crises such as September 11 with radical shifts in legislative attention? Are commitments set out by the prime minister in the governor-general’s speech subsequently delivered on or, to put it another way, what is the relationship between talk and action? Is the government paying attention to policy areas the public deems to be important, and how does public opinion map on to legislation more generally? How does media attention condition legislative attention? To what extent does Australia conform to and deviate from international patterns?