Bruce Cohen

The accountability of ministerial staff in Australia

It is a reasonable community expectation that ministerial staff who enjoy the privilege of working at the interface of politics and public administration in Australia are subject to appropriate accountability measures. The key questions are what measures currently exist to hold ministerial staff accountable, how effective are such measures, and how could accountability be improved. While descriptions of an ‘accountability black hole’ for ministerial staff are overstated, the measures now in place do not operate uniformly across Australian jurisdictions, have on occasion developed in an ad hoc fashion and are sometimes uncertain in their application. Such circumstances highlight the need for reform, which may potentially encompass both accountability mechanisms directly applicable to ministerial staff, as well as measures that operate more broadly and apply to those with whom ministerial staff interact. 在政治与公共管理交合处工作的澳大利亚内阁工作人员需要 接受适当的问责，这是一种合情合理的社会期待。关键的问题在于目前都有哪些手段能对他们问责，这些手段能否改进。设计问责方法的关键因素是内阁工作人员特殊角色和责任，其不同于非政治的公务员，也不同于作为决策者并直接参加公共辩论的大臣。说内阁工作人员为“问责黑洞”未免言过其实，但现在的那些方法在所有澳大利亚司法辖区并未统一运行，有时以特事特办的方式存在，往往在应用上含糊不定。这种状况说明需要改革。改革可以囊括直接适用于内阁工作人员的问责机制，以及涵盖更广、适用于与他们打交道的那些人的办法。

Competition in Urban Water and Sewage: The Case of Sydney, Australia

Policy makers have long grappled with the problems associated with introducing competition into natural monopoly industries such as railways, telecommunications, electricity and gas in order to eliminate excess profits and assure efficient provision of services. In the case of water supply and wastewater disposal in urban centres this process has tended to be even more difficult. This article analyses the circumstances surrounding the granting of third party access to infrastructure facilities in the water and wastewater industry in Australias largest city, Sydney, and identifies difficulties that have been involved in this process. The effective introduction of competition into the water and wastewater industries, through robust access arrangements, would provide an additional path for the diversification of water sources, and potentially in ways that minimise environmental impacts.