James Walter

Who advises politicians about the issues that impact our daily lives, and how has their advice changed over time? In Australia Fair? authors James Walter and Carolyn Holbrook explore the world of departmental officials and political advisers who wield significant influence in shaping our society and assess how policy advice has changed since World War II. How has the relationship between our elected representatives and bureaucrats evolved? Have they delivered what the people want? What has been learned, and what forgotten? Focusing on three foundational policy domains - immigration, Indigenous affairs and housing - Australia Fair? reveals how social change, ideological differences and power dynamics have transformed Australia's political landscape and society. Provocative and important, Australia Fair? challenges us to reckon with a new era of policy innovation, to debate how we want to be governed and to choose what kind of society we want to be.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1874.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1874.

First published in 1998, this volume examines the work of Ronald Dworkin, the leading legal philosopher of our time, ten years after his seminal work, Law’s Empire. Its impact and influence was so extensive that the authors felt compelled to undertake both an in-depth analysis of both the book itself and its critical reaction, including a survey of the literature on Law’s Empire.

First published in 1998, this volume examines the work of Ronald Dworkin, the leading legal philosopher of our time, ten years after his seminal work, Law’s Empire. Its impact and influence was so extensive that the authors felt compelled to undertake both an in-depth analysis of both the book itself and its critical reaction, including a survey of the literature on Law’s Empire.

The prime ministership remains the main prize in Australian politics, but it is a precarious one. Leadership turnover in recent years has seen more prime ministers rise and fall than at any time since the decade after federation. What explains this volatility? The Pivot of Power is the second volume in a unique blend of collective biography and institutional history that shows the skills, limitations and passions of incumbents are only part of the story. The ways in which prime ministers thrive and fail are influenced by the resources at their command, the evolving nature of the parties they lead, the daunting public expectations they face under a relentless media gaze, and the challenges that history throws at them. Recent changes in these areas have had a destabilising effect and made the role of prime minister more onerous than ever. After decades of strong national leadership, the office has rarely seemed quite so confounding as it does for its contemporary holders. The Pivot of Power explains how this has come about. And its rich account of prime-ministerial fortune since the mid-twentieth century yields historical lessons for overcoming the current malaise.

Shakespeare's TrueLife is an unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1890. Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas such as research and science, travel and expeditions, cooking and nutrition, medicine, and other genres. As a publisher we focus on the preservation of historical literature. Many works of historical writers and scientists are available today as antiques only. Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.

The prime ministership is indisputably the most closely observed and keenly contested office in Australia. How did it grow to become the pivot of national political power? Settling the Office chronicles the development of the prime ministership from its rudimentary early days following Federation through to the powerful, institutionalised prime-ministerial leadership of the postwar era.

Ideas are at the heart of our politics. They are the means by which people are influenced and mobilised. Australian politics have been shaped by distinctive patterns of political thought from the colonial period to the Rudd government. But how have these patterns arisen? And what have been their effects on shaping what we think is politically possible or desirable? This book is not a survey of theory but an invigorating history of people trying to make sense of their world, fighting to establish the principles governing the way politics is pursued and justifying their own perspectives. What Were They Thinking? is a compelling story of winners and losers, of individuals interpreting and trying to influence their times, and of how ideas and power are linked.