Some upmarket weekend further reading today, courtesy of the Australian National University’s fantastic Democratic Audit of Australia project:

Ethics in Public Service:Andrew Podger,
National President of the Institute of Public Administration Australia
(IPAA) and former Public Service Commissioner, considers the role of
ethics in the Australian Public Service.

Terror and accountability:Jenny Hocking of Monash University criticises the new anti-terror measures and their potential impact on political scrutiny and debate.

Compulsory voting and turn-out rates:Jonathon Louth and Lisa Hill
review the relationship between compulsory voting and turnout rates.
They find that when compulsory voting is efficiently administered, as
in countries such as Australia, Belgium and The Netherlands (before
1970) it is the best means for guaranteeing high turnout across all
social groups. Without it, they argue, Australian democracy would be
experiencing the same voter disengagement, particularly among the young
and marginalised, as other western democracies.

Mind the minders: Lord Birt, a member of Tony Blair’s Strategy
Unit, has refused to appear before the cross-party Public
Administration Select Committee of the House of Commons, apparently at
the Prime Minister’s request. This breaches the Government’s
undertakings to allow Special Advisors to appear to give evidence in
such inquiries as well as Parliamentary rules that the relevant
minister should appear before a Committee if they prevent an official
from doing so. Remind you of anything? More here.