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In contrast to some other jurisdictions, in Australia, governments relying on minor parties and independents to enact policies and especially to hold power, are readily characterised by oppositions and commentators as unstable, even chaotic and an undesirable deviation from the stability of majority parliaments. The almost unremarked exception is the Liberals' long and frequent reliance on the National Party and its predecessors to form government. This paper explores the role of the National Party in minority Coalition governments and considers why this form of minority government attracts so little comment, noting the inter-party and intra-party systems and strategies that give the appearance of stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, building on previous research into earlier Australian pork-barrel schemes, uses data from Australia's Regional Partnerships Program (RPP), and its apportioning of $104 million in constituency-level grants in 2003-4, to explore the distinctive logic of parliamentary pork-barrel politics. Results show that the Liberal-Nationals Coalition's distribution of these funds was consistent with three electoral priorities - to reward its own MPs and show voters that the government 'can deliver'; to provide vote-winning assets in the Coalition's most marginal seats, where even small vote gain can make the difference between victory and defeat; and to try to re-establish its credibility at the local level in regional seats that had proven vulnerable to inroads made by Independent candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various issues related to Australian foreign policy between July and December 2013, focusing on the Australian government's bilateral relationships, former British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, and the policies of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's Liberal-National Party coalition government. Australia's foreign relations with nations such as China are mentioned, along with the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.