Jennifer Curtin

Public policy in Australia and New Zealand: The new global context

Australia and New Zealand have shared in the current wave of interest in globalisation. Indeed, it may well be that some of the dimensions of globalisation are more pressing for nation-states like Australia and New Zealand. Both nations have relatively small economies and neither fits particularly easily into trans-national, regionally based groupings of nation-states that offer one way for smaller economies to adjust to global change. Yet where once the thrust of policy was to shut out external economic forces, for the past two decades governments in Australia and New Zealand have been pro-active in adapting to changes emanating from beyond their shores. The repercussions of this process of active engagement with global economic forces have been felt to varying degrees in all policy areas and it is the resulting policy change and its consequences we seek to map in this special issue of the journal. In the present article we set the scene for such an examination by reviewing the various empirical indicators available for charting the process of globalisation. We identify the institutional similarities and differences between the two countries that may constrain or facilitate globalisation, and consider a number of issues and questions that are important when analysing comparative policy development in Australia and New Zealand in a global context.

Women and Political Science in New Zealand The State of the Discipline

This article examines the state of the political science discipline in New Zealand, focusing on the numbers of women in the profession, the representation of women in the discipline’s journal, and the place of gender in the political science curriculum. While women in New Zealand political science have been active as a community for at least 30 years, there has been no systematic review documenting the status of women in the profession. This article provides an analytical starting point through a review of the data that does exist on New Zealand and comparable countries. It discusses the factors that may account for current trends and concludes with some recommendations for the future. It is clear that women have made visible gains in terms of numbers, but continued progress is precarious and dependent on both institutional and individual initiatives.

Global rankings and domestic realities: Women, work and policy in Australia and New Zealand

At the beginning of the 1990s, according to the UN gender-sensitive Human Development Index, Australia was ranked sixth and New Zealand was eighth. A decade later, Australia ranked second while New Zealand ranked seventeenth. In other words, according to the United Nations, gender equality is more advanced in Australia than New Zealand. Yet a closer look reveals that in recent years New Zealands public policy developments have been significantly more ‘woman-friendly’ than has been the case in Australia. In this article we seek to explain this dissonance between the global rankings and the policy reality. We review the similarities and differences in the nature of womens labour market participation and the way Australian and New Zealand national governments have attempted to support that participation. While the policy environment in both Australia and New Zealand is dominated by discourses associated with free-market activity and global competitiveness, there are significant differences in the positions held by the Labour government in New Zealand and the (conservative) Coalition government in Australia around womens rights. We conclude that the UN ranking reflects only part of the story around womens equality in Australia and New Zealand. While a strong economy can facilitate womens economic well-being, this does not equate with a commitment to gender equality. A range of supportive policy mechanisms are needed to continue to ensure that well-being, including wage-setting mechanisms that incorporate a commitment to pay equity. In addition, it is likely that because of the time lag, current policy developments around labour market (de)regulation are yet to have an impact on UNDP calculations.

Negotiating coalitions: Comparative perspectives

Recent elections in the English-speaking world have thrown up results that were both unpredictable and history-making. In particular, the advent of multi-party and minority government in Britain and Australia, neither of which have proportional representation, raises questions about the capacity of major parties to remain dominant, and the place of minor parties and independents in the future. Here we argue that while the idiosyncrasies of the Australian political system have fostered the rise of independents in ways we are unlikely to see elsewhere, other features of the post-election negotiation process in the wake of the 2010 Australian election highlight the adaptive and innovative potential of major parties seeking office, and the resilience of smaller parties or independents seeking policy and votes.

New Zealand Initiatives to Pay Parents: Possibilities for the Antipodes?

In 1998, a private members Bill, the Paid Parental Leave Bill, was introduced into the New Zealand Parliament. Although it was subsequently defeated, the Bill stimulated debate over paid parental leave in both New Zealand and Australia - two countries conspicuous in international terms for their lack of such provisions. It showed that a progressive approach could be devised to fit the New Zealand context, and raised hopes that increasing political pressure would stimulate a move towards extension of parental rights in the Antipodes. Ultimately, the Bill proved too much of a challenge within the present New Zealand system, and the potential for change was confounded by lack of political support. However, future political compromises around the issue of paid parental leave remain a possibility in the volatile New Zealand political system.

More than Male-Gazing: Reflections on Female Fans of Rugby Union in New Zealand, 1870–1920

ABSTRACT The presence of women in and around rugby union in New Zealand remains on the margins of the histories of the game of rugby and the more social and cultural histories that explore rugby’s impact on the formation of a New Zealand national identity. Yet, as this article demonstrates, women have long since engaged with rugby union in ways that may well have assisted in its ascendancy and ultimate claiming of the title of New Zealand’s national game. Through readings of newspapers, magazines, and club histories covering the period from the 1870s through to the Great War a picture emerges: women from both the middle and lower classes of New Zealand society supported the game of rugby as spectators, supporters, and fans. They did so in a manner that was sometimes acceptable but at other times regarded as distinctly inappropriate. In addition, women’s involvement was informal and localized – most obvious at the community level – and it is this feature that helps to explain women’s virtual invisibility in the histories of rugby union in New Zealand.

Counting the costs of coalition: The case of New Zealand’s small parties

Unlike most coalition studies, which are primarily concerned with the major parties, this article focuses on the costs of coalition for small parties. As the experiences of a number of countries demonstrate, the costs of coalition are unevenly shared, with major parties generally incurring low costs and small parties high costs. This article will focus on the impact of coalitions on New Zealand’s small parliamentary parties by considering whether the benefits of increased representation and influence under a proportional voting system have outweighed the costs. In particular, it will look at the implications of joining a coalition for a small party’s internal stability and votes. In exploring the risks that are associated with the various governing arrangements, it will propose a framework consisting of three variables: bargaining power; ability to make decisions based on the party’s future success; and proximity to government. Attention will be paid to the various cost-reduction strategies, including accepting portfolios whilst remaining outside government. Finally, the article will ask whether public criticism of a small party’s coalition utility and efficacy are particular features of countries with long two-party traditions.

Women and Proportional Representation in Australia and New Zealand

Abstract This article examines the recent impact of proportional representation on womens parliamentary presence in four Australasian political systems: New Zealand, the Australian Senate, the lower house in the state of Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territorys (ACT) Legislative Assembly. The question asked is: Why have women not achieved an equal presence in these parliaments, given the presence of proportional electoral systems? While it is evident that there is now a critical mass of women standing as candidates in all four constituencies, in only four of the 12 elections reviewed here, has the proportion of women elected reflected the proportion of women candidates. Moreover, women have yet to constitute more than 35 percent elected to these legislatures. Overall, the representation of women in these four systems seems to have stagnated, suggesting that proportional representation should be seen as only part of the solution to the under-representation of women.

Before the ‘Black Ferns’: Tracing the Beginnings of Women’s Rugby in New Zealand

Abstract Women’s rugby union in New Zealand has increased in popularity over the past decade, preceded by two decades of dominance at the international level and much activism to have the women’s game recognized and supported, nationally and provincially. However, as this paper reveals, women’s engagement with the game, as players, began more than 100 years before the Black Ferns won their first international tournament. Through an examination of several fleeting ‘episodes’ of women’s attempts to play in earnest, as represented in digitized newspapers from Papers Past, it becomes apparent that women’s foray into the hyper-masculinized team sport of rugby challenged dominant sensibilities but was not wholly resisted. The ‘events’ investigated here suggest that gender roles may have been more porous than traditionally invoked by the categories of ‘Victorian’ and ‘New Woman’, contested, albeit intermittently, by the actions of Pākehā and Māori women around the colony.

Rural and regional Australia

Limited attention was paid to rural and regional Australia in the 2007 federal election. Only six of the governments eighteen marginal seats lay there and it seemed to have weathered the ‘rural backlash’ of previous years. The election campaign saw only a few explicitly rural policy differences between Government and Opposition. These involved broadband delivery, wheat marketing and climate change. Yet, the ALP made considerable inroads into the Coalitions non-metropolitan bastion. The swing to the ALP was greater there than the national average and it won more than half of the seats to change hands in rural and regional Australia. While the Coalition still holds a slight edge in non-metropolitan seats, many of these have now become more marginal.