Flinders Academic CommonsBrowsing 1605 - Policy and Administration by Issue Date

An evidence-based approach is being promoted and adopted in many public service areas, but tax authorities have so far only sporadically subscribed to it. We, first, present arguments for an evidence-based approach to tax administration and outline its main features. Second, studies on the effects of tax-reporting schedules are considered to illustrate the logic, potential challenges and outcomes of such an approach. Third, we discuss the main principles of an evidence-based approach, as well as its practical and political obstacles in the context of taxation. An evidence-based approach means basing administrative practices and strategies on an understanding of relevant processes that is obtained from systematic, theory-driven and cumulative research, using various appropriate methodologies including experimental and quasi-experimental evaluation designs. However, an evidence-based approach needs to consider the challenges posed by short-term orientation and risk-averse defensive postures that result from political agendas, public media scrutiny and intra-organisational dynamics.

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Participatory democracy: drawing on C. West Churchman's thinking when making public policy

(2003) McIntyre-Mills, Janet

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Building stronger communities - 'risky' business in an environment of rising public liability insurance

(2004) Verity, Fiona Elizabeth

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In defence of the political cartoonists' licence to mock

(2004) Phiddian, Robert Andrew; Manning, Haydon Richard

In a previous issue of The Drawing Board: An Australian Review of Public Affairs, Michael Hogan discussed the role of political cartooning in Australia. Hogan argued that we ought to be concerned about how cartoons erode public confidence in politicians, parties, and democratic institutions. He sought to provoke debate on the role and value of cartooning in political debate in Australia, and we have taken up his invitation. We are more inclined than Hogan to support the licence of cartoonists to mock public figures and institutions freely. We base our view on: (1) an analysis of political cartooning as an established and understood element of free speech in Australia; (2) a provisional taxonomy of the types of political cartoon, judged by the effects they are liable to have on readers; and (3) some empirically based scepticism about the capacity of cartoons to directly influence public opinion. We conclude that cartoons make a valuable contribution to public debate that is distinct from journalism and written commentary, and that cartoonists should not be formally or informally encouraged to restrain their satirical instincts in the interests of balance or for fear of engendering public cynicism.