The Queensland Commission of Audit Final Report: A Critical Review
The establishment of a Commission of Audit has been a routine measure for newly elected conservative governments since the election of the Kennett government in Victoria in 1992. Most notably, Peter Costello, Treasurer in the incoming Howard government, appointed a commission headed by Professor Robert Officer, a leading free-market economist. The primary stated task of these Commissions, as implied by the name, is to review the current and forecast condition of public finances and to make recommendations for improvement. In reality, however, the primary function has been to justify cuts in public expenditure and other policy changes. In most cases, these policy changes have not formed part of the platform on which the newly elected government campaigned and, in many cases, they represent a direct repudiation of election promises.
A care union in a time of austerity
In Australia, the community sector has historically been ‘on the edge’ in terms of the challenges that confront it even in good times. The new ‘welfare austerity’ and the ever-growing incursion of the New Public Management have, however, intensified these challenges. As is the case elsewhere in the world, abolition, cost-cutting and outsourcing of government services are forcing private sector care providers to do more with less, impacting negatively on client welfare, service delivery and employees’ pay, conditions and working environments. This article examines challenges facing the care sector in the state of Queensland and their impact on a key ‘care union’, The Services Union. Analysis of these challenges and the union’s responses makes a conceptual contribution to the role of unions in the web of care that binds together citizens – including employees, those who manage care organisations, and care recipients, their families and their advocates.
Analysis: The Agenda 2007 Proposals: Evolution or Revolution?
On 10 February 2004 the Commission published its proposal for the financial perspective 2007-2013. A week later it adopted the third report on economic and social cohesion. These two documents form the basis of the so-called ‘Agenda 2007 reforms’. They will be the greatest challenge for the enlarged EU after the intergovernmental conference, since they will determine the financial basis for EU policy-making until the middle of the next decade. The Agenda 2007 proposals certainly hint at courageous reforms, because they place a previously unheard-of emphasis on performance and quality. Under the proposals, structural operations should generate value for money, and the funds should focus on projects which generate added value at a European level. Overall the Commission’s proposals point in the right direction, because they balance, on the one hand, solidarity for the new Member States and weak regions in the old Member States with, on the other hand, investments in future tasks. Moreover, they constitute a paradigm shift. For the first time, the Common Agricultural Policy will not be the dominant expenditure category. Now it is up to the Member States to examine the proposals politically and find a compromise between sometimes very divergent interests. It is to be hoped that, during the debate over expenditure limits and division of funds, national interests do not outweigh European interests.