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Prime Minister Morrison’s secret appointment to five government ministries was a remarkable legal- political revelation, departing from and contesting the doctrine of responsible government. The core issues and implications of the appointments turned upon both a tension and disjuncture between a minimalist political conception of the doctrine and broader characteristics of a traditional, conventional institutional doctrine. This disjuncture created various identifiable risks to Commonwealth ministerial and parliamentary practice and government accountability standards. The Bell Inquiry exposed these risks, emerging from a bare legality of the appointments and a weakness in shared commitment to the broader institutional rationales of the responsible government convention. Several themes provide insights into and the implications of this minimalist conception of ministerial responsibility. Australian and international political and electoral studies around confidence in and contestation of Parliamentary democracy also afford perspective and context highlighting the gravity of the Bell Inquiry findings. Effective remedial responses require implementation of Inquiry recommendations and various supplementary measures, reconceptualised as part of a broader government restorative integrity project. Comprehensively understanding the characteristics of this incident will help inform responses to close a disjuncture in the conception and application of the ministerial responsibility doctrine, important through the strong Australian preference for parliamentary accountability mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the provincial statistical data of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region this paper uses the health distance model and obstacle degree model to explore the spatiotemporal mismatch of the development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei regional innovation chain and analyzes the obstacle factor affecting the healthy development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei innovation chain. The results show that: (1) In terms of timing characteristics, the overall mismatch of the innovation chain in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region shows a downward trend, and the absolute and relative difference of regional mismatch both show a "V" shaped development trend, which first decreases and then increases. (2) In terms of spatial characteristics, the mismatch of the innovation chain in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region develops from unbalanced to balanced and then unbalanced, and the spatial pattern evolves from low in the middle and high around to high in the southeast and low around. (3) In terms of the obstacle factors, scientific research and development institutions, the number of college students, and the number of innovation platforms at or above the provincial and ministerial level are the obstacle factors to the more frequent occurrence. Plain Language Summary: preface This study aims to examine the spatio-temporal differentiation of the regional innovation chain in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region of China. It investigates the mismatch between different components of the innovation chain and analyzes the factors that hinder its healthy development. The research utilizes the entropy method, health distance model, and obstacle degree model to calculate and analyze the innovation chain mismatch. Arc GIS geometric method is employed to divide the mismatch into different levels. Data from 2015 to 2019 is used to assess the evolution of the innovation chain mismatch over time and across different regions. The study reveals that the innovation chain mismatch in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has shown a declining trend during the study period. The overall mismatch has weakened, indicating significant progress in the coordinated development of the region. Beijing has played a leading role, while Tianjin and Hebei Province have also witnessed improvements, although to a lesser extent. The development difference among the three regions has been reduced, but significant disparities still exist. The findings highlight the importance of regional collaboration in promoting innovation chain development. The study provides insights for policymakers and stakeholders to enhance the coordination and integration of innovation activities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. It emphasizes the need for further efforts to reduce development disparities and enhance the efficiency of innovation development. It is important to note that this study focuses specifically on the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and the findings may not be directly applicable to other regions or countries. The analysis is based on available data and selected models, which may have certain limitations and assumptions. Further research is needed to explore additional factors and dynamics influencing the innovation chain in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public law, specifically constitutional due process law and administrative law, operates against a background presumption of no liability for omissions. To state the inverse, the majority rule is that liability applies only in the case of affirmative government actions. While this was not always the case, following DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services and Heckler v. Chaney in the 1980s, the Court has generally closed off plaintiffs from litigating government failures-to-act. Scholars have pointed at the philosophical absurdity of delineating government acts and omissions, given that in a state as regulated as ours, everything is, at bottom, an affirmative choice. But the federal judiciary has remained fairly unmoved. Against this overriding presumption of no omissions liability, however, the courts have eked out several exceptions in which they are willing to find liability for inaction. While scholars have pointed to reasons why the judiciary has been reluctant to find liability for omissions, this Note looks at why the judiciary has been willing to find liability in certain cases. It identifies the overarching reason to be administrability, motivated by two characteristics that the court either creates or constructs. First, when the court identifies or constructs an affirmative component of an omission, it is more willing to find liability. Second, when there is an ex ante regulation or statute limiting government discretion, the court is similarly persuadable. This Note identifies seven categories across public law that fall into these two areas and in which omissions liability (at least in some way) exists: state-created danger doctrine, special relationships, Monell liability, a blurred line between procedural and substantive due process, abdication of agency statutory duties, failure to perform ministerial duties, and a refusal to initiate rulemaking. As its final contribution, this Note argues that scholars, litigants, and courts should seek to broaden public omissions liability, given that society is plagued with protracted crises resulting from government inaction. Relying on the proxies for administrability that the courts are already comfortable with, the final Part marries administrability with accountability and creates broader categories for each exception to tackle contemporary ills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author analyses New Zealand's recent usage of referendums. Three theoretical approaches are utilised to underpin this analysis, namely, AV Dicey's theory of referendums, Stephen Tierney's republican theory of constitutional referendums and Adam Tomkins' theory of political constitutionalism. Dicey's and Tierney's theories only support referendums for significant constitutional matters and not social policy referendums, like the End of Life Choice or cannabis referendums. Applying Tomkins' theory, the author argues that New Zealand's recent usage of referendums is inconsistent with understandings of the political constitution. Referendums fundamentally undermine the doctrine of ministerial responsibility, thereby undermining Parliament's role as the keeper of the Government. Furthermore, the leading theories of referendums do not provide an adequate justification for inconsistency with the political constitution. New Zealand's recent practice of relying upon social policy referendums to resolve contentious political issues is unprincipled and erodes New Zealand's delicate constitution. Finally, the author considers the relationship between Te Tiriti o Waitangi and referendums, and ultimately concludes that referendums unacceptably abrogate Te Tiriti and the recognition of tino rangatiratanga of Māori. The author concludes that, despite the compelling accounts in support of constitutional referendums, New Zealand's unique constitutional history suggest that they are rarely, if ever, appropriate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In Gordon College v. DeWeese-Boyd, a social work professor at a religious college sued after she was denied promotion. The college asserted the "ministerial exception," a judicially crafted and constitutionally grounded exception to the ordinary rules of liability arising out of the employment relationship between religious institutions and their ministers. Although the plaintiff had no distinctively religious duties, the college expected her (and all other faculty) to integrate the faith into her teaching and scholarship. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) held that this obligation, standing alone, was insufficient to qualify the plaintiff as a minister within the meaning of the exception. The U.S. Supreme Court denied the college's petition for certiorari, but Justice Alito, joined by three other Justices, issued a statement respecting the denial. He criticized the SJC's view of religious education, suggested that the mere duty to infuse the faith into teaching and scholarship was sufficient to qualify a professor as a minister, and expressed willingness to review the SJC's decision after a final judgment. Nonetheless, DeWeese-Boyd's claims may proceed to litigation. Justice Alito's statement is significant both for the scope of the ministerial exception--as applied to religious colleges and other employers--and for the future of the relationship between the Constitution's Religion Clauses. Justice Alito's capacious understanding of the ministerial exception--and his view that it is grounded primarily in the Free Exercise Clause, rather than the Establishment Clause--will likely leave little room for civil courts to adjudicate claims that assert wrongful treatment by religious institutions of ministerial employees. Equally important, Justice Alito's view suggests a continued marginalization of the Establishment Clause in ways that will have effects far beyond the world of higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What are the most important ministries in Honduras? And why are important ministries important? To answer these questions, this study offers an analysis of the importance of the Honduran ministerial portfolios from 1982 to 2020. For this, this study follows the theoretical proposal of Camerlo and Martínez-Gallardo that suggests distinguishing four key dimensions (policy management public, discretionary allocation of resources, political capacity and organizational capacity). The findings of this research showed that the ministerial relevance in this country is linked to those portfolios that, in addition to having strategic value and impact, potentially have the possibility of having discretionary funds to develop clientelistic policies that have allowed traditional parties stay in power throughout the period analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are long-standing calls for reform of the Official Information Act 1982. We aim to supply a partial empirical basis for understanding these calls through a survey of ministerial compliance with the Act. We requested quantitative and qualitative information from 26 Ministers about their decisions during a three-month period to withhold requested information on the grounds that the information is, or will soon be, publicly available. We focused on this specific withholding ground because proactive disclosure is a burgeoning issue globally but is not addressed directly in the Act. This article presents our conceptual framework and methodology before setting out a summary and analysis of the results of our survey. While any conclusions drawn must be treated as indicative rather than determinative, we find that there was generally good compliance with the Act although some instances of noncompliance appeared to be serious and unjustifiable. We hope this survey contributes to debate and discussion about appropriate legislative reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ministerial advisors have become an essential aspect of executive branches worldwide, thus making the ministerial advisor office a potential route for young politicians aspiring to an expanding political class. The article studies which professions ministerial advisors migrate to following their ministerial careers, how ministerial advisors' post-ministerial careers compare to their pre-ministerial careers, and if the variance in careers can be explained by the resources that ministerial advisors obtain while in government. Empirically, the article draws on a cohort of 139 ministerial advisors in Norwegian governments between 2001 and 2009; it covers positions in the political sphere and the public, private and voluntary occupational sectors over a period from each ministerial advisor's youth to the end of 2017. The bibliographic data are combined with surveys and elite interviews. The results show that more than expanding the political class as a recruitment ground for future Members of the Parliament and ministers, ministerial advisor appointments serve as stepping-stones to careers outside of politics. Most ministerial advisors experience shifts between occupational sectors and upwards to higher positions. However, ministerial advisors' attractiveness in the labour market is surprisingly unaffected by what they actually did in office; rather, it rests on resources such as insider knowledge and networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article announces the changes in cabinet of Canada which include Filomena Tassi become Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario and Helena Jaczek become Minister of Public Services and Procurement.