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Recent cases of partisan-motivated prorogations of parliaments at the federal and provincial levels in Canada have focused attention on this phenomenon. While such prorogations are uncommon in the mature Westminster-style parliaments, the Canadian cases are not unique. Systematic study of partisan-motivated prorogations in the Australian states has illuminated the factors commonly associated with such cases. This paper outlines the results of this literature and then tests whether the Canadian cases fit the pattern. It shows that, on balance, these factors do apply. The paper thus concludes that, while partisan-motivated prorogations may not be predictable, it is possible to identify circumstances in which there is a substantially greater risk of their occurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article addresses contemporary security challenges related to borders within Oceania, focusing on trans-Tasman relations. We address border security between Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia as a matter of an ascendant relationship, based on coordination and cooperation. By interrogating shared and divergent attributes between the nations, we are able to provide an overview of approaches towards regional threats. Behind these approaches are socio-political contexts, including drivers and authorities for cooperation as well as cultural and political identities. Importantly, the evolution of shared practices between the nations and a future scan of security in the region lead to important geopolitical considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Commonwealth functions in contemporary international relations as a ‘mini’ version of multilateralism, encompassing issues of geopolitics, the global economy, climate change, and human rights and democracy. While essentially an organisation of developing countries, it also includes the United Kingdom and the ‘old Dominions’. There is a particular focus on the role of small states, even though the Commonwealth also includes some very large developing countries. Apart from its global role, the Commonwealth can be significant in regional contexts where there is some concentration of Commonwealth members. The Commonwealth also has a role as a context for civil society organisations. The article provides an assessment of the role of the Commonwealth within these various settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between the Pacific islands and the region’s ‘bigger brothers’ – Australia and New Zealand – is often seen in two-dimensional terms with the latter appearing to act in concert and in terms characterised by underlying neo-colonial attitudes and a determination to dominate the regional agenda. Given that both are former colonial powers with considerable political and economic resources and are the major aid donors in the region as well as being members of the powerful geopolitical entity known as ‘the West’, it is not difficult to sustain an image of neo-colonial dominance. But to do so also requires casting Pacific island countries in a certain role, not only lacking agency but also cohering around a common identity and set of interests. This article examines key aspects of regional relations as played out through the region’s premier organisation, the Pacific Islands Forum, and assesses the extent to which a simple political divide between Australia and New Zealand on the one hand, and the island states on the other, can be maintained. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

For most of the twentieth century, New Zealanders could cross the Tasman Sea freely to live and work in Australia, with access to citizenship and social welfare benefits, similar to those enjoyed by Australians who moved to New Zealand. Migration was not difficult as the systems were similar. From 2001, however, while Australians living in New Zealand could still gain access to citizenship with social welfare benefits, many New Zealanders moving to live in Australia have been unable to become citizens and, despite paying taxes, cannot receive some social welfare benefits or have rights to permanent residence. Effectively, they are in welfare limbo. Clearly, Australian political processes drove changes to welfare eligibility for New Zealanders living in Australia. This ‘limbo’ raises the question, however, as to whether New Zealand governments could have done more to protect the rights of New Zealanders living in Australia. This intriguing social issue has implications for other similar close nations in the Commonwealth managing political tensions and social prejudices in integrating supranational entities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

National parties in the Canadian and Australian parliamentary federations, despite the differences in their federal systems, are dependent for their success in mobilising electoral support on a similar network of local and subnational partisan activity over which they have, at best, only limited control. We find that, over the last 100 years, national parties in both federations have moved through a similar sequence of structural changes, none of which has altered their reliance on subnational agencies for mobilising local support. We argue that these regularities flow from the nature of parliamentary government in these two federations, their origins as federations by aggregation, and the use of single member districts for electing the lower house of their national legislatures. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]