New Directions in Royal Commissions and Public Inquiries : Do we need them? edited by Scott Prasser

ISBN  9781922815255

Paperback, 410 pages, $49.95

Feb 2023 Release

This new edited volume has been developed because governments in Australia and overseas continue to appoint public inquiries in considerable numbers. Public inquiries are those temporary, ad hoc bodies appointed by executive government to report on corruption, calamitous events and many different policy issues. Using Australian and international case studies, this new volume explores why royal commissions and public inquiries are appointed, their processes and their impacts. It provides an up-to-date review of current Australian and international developments. Contributors include leading academic specialists and practitioners from across Australian and international jurisdictions.

 

Contents

Introduction: Why another book on public inquiries?

Section 1: Inquiries – their place in Australian history

1 Trends in public inquiries in Australia – Scott Prasser

2 Royal commissions of the Bruce-Page Government, 1923–29 – David Lee (UNSW)

3 Australian tax inquiries: Forms, processes, and impacts – Paul Tilley (University of Melbourne)

Section 2: Inquiries in action: what they do and how they do it

4 Developments in Victoria since the commencement of the Inquiries Act 2014 – Anita Mackay (La Trobe University)

5 The multiple uses of evidence in public inquiries – Sue Regan (Volunteering Australia)

6 Drowning in data: The Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry – Margaret Cook (Griffith University)

7 The 2018-19 Thodey Review into the Australian Public Service: A Lost Opportunity – Paddy Gourley (former Commonwealth Public Servant)

8 Fit for the future: Public inquiries and NSW local government – Andrea Wallace (UNE)

Section 3: Impacts of inquiries

9 Measuring public inquiry success – Alastair Stark (University of Queensland)

10 Impacts: Are inquiries worth it? – Marlene Krasovitsky (Advocate, facilitator and consultant)

11 The fiscal implications of public inquiries – Robert Carling (Centre for Independent Studies)

12 Protecting Children at risk: Th limitations of public inquiries in organisational learning from child deaths – Dominic Elliott (Dublin City University)

13 Can – and should – royal commissions provide policy advice? – John Phillimore and Peter Wilkins (Curtin University)

Section 4: Other countries’ inquiries – experiences and lessons

14 Judge-led public inquiries in the United Kingdom: The gold standard? – Sarah Cooper and Owen Thomas (University of Exeter, UK)

15 Learning through hindsight: New Zealand’s statutory inquiries – Wendy McGuinness (McGuinness Institute, NZ)

16 US Presidential Commissions: An Update – Ken Kitts (University of North Alabama)

17 Commissions of inquiry in the Nordic countries – Kira Pronin (University of Pittsburgh, USA)

Section 5: Conclusions: Where to next with inquiries?

18 So where to next for public inquiries? – Scott Prasser