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In this research note, I discuss results from a recent study assessing the impact that New Zealand's electoral and legislative system reforms had on levels of vote consensus achieved in the House of Representatives. Using a new legislative vote data set spanning from 1987 to 2007, I find evidence that the institutional changes fostered an increase in consensual legislative vote outcomes. I also provide a brief theoretical explanation of the developments and address a few issues concerning the measure of consensus used and the interpretation of the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiculturalism has been criticised for emphasising cultural recognition over resource redistribution for minority cultural and ethnic groups. Moreover, critics argue that cultural diversity fails to provide enough common ground upon which to sustain civic nationalism. This paper examines the development of multiculturalist and biculturalist policies in Australia and New Zealand, and argues that these have in fact been justified in terms of a negotiated balance between two civic values: the value of diverse cultural expression, and social justice understood in egalitarian terms. The tension between these values has shaped the debate around multiculturalism in both cases. Both the social justice and value of cultural diversity arguments are deployed to reinforce conceptions of national identity in Australia and New Zealand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses approaches to Australian foreign policy in the Pacific Islands that compare political instability in that region to political instability in Africa. The policies of governments in Australia and New Zealand toward political instability in Pacific Island nations such as the 1987 and 2006 military takeovers in Fiji are considered. The 2003 Australian Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands is also noted.

This article aims to explain a hitherto neglected phenomenon: whereas in Australia polls show widespread support for republicanism, most New Zealanders still prefer to retain the monarchy. The main argument of this article is that this difference can only in part be attributed to the polities of the two states or the just slightly varying political cultures. Rather, there are good reasons to assume that the republican shift in Australia was mainly brought about by an intense and lasting public debate on the future of the monarchy 'down under' throughout the 1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on women in political leadership in Australia and New Zealand. It explains that studies conducted on the lack of women in the public sphere differentiate between women politicians and feminist politicians. The social movement of the 1970s is mentioned and the focus on leadership beginning in the 1980s is examined. It is explained that the 1980s ended the similarities between the two countries concerning women in politics. In Australia, more women politicians came to office and in New Zealand, feminist women became leaders. The politician Helen Clark of New Zealand is discussed.

Using New Zealand and Australian examples, this article provides evidence that neoliberalism is both coherent and diverse. An analysis of government initiatives focused on 'improving government performance' regarding indigenous outcomes and indigenous 'capacity building' illustrates how 'performance management' has legitimated and extended neoliberalism in both countries. However, instabilities contained within a performance management discourse provide spaces for contestation that may ultimately lead to further reform and reorientation. Furthermore, the particular sociopolitical contexts of each country have ensured that the forms of neoliberalism being embedded in the 21st century are highly complex, indigenised hybrids rather than a one-size-fits-all formula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The public management reforms in Australia and New Zealand have been proactive in engaging other organisations in developing partnerships and new governance structures, requiring heightened skills in the preparation stage of due diligence and effective regulatory processes to balance divergent interests. There are increasingly blurred boundaries across sectors with both private and charitable agencies providing services for the public good. The pattern of Commonwealth and state relations over the past decade has been centralist, but likely to change with the Labor's renewed sense of civic democracy. The regional contribution of both Australia and New Zealand is more focused and advances policy and implementation in areas as diverse as: security, governance, democratic engagement and climate change. Broader management skills are brought to policy formulation and implementation with lateral movement of employment across sectors, suggesting a new class of public administrator in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the efforts of the government of New Zealand to adopt legislation against the use of drug doping in professional sports. Details surrounding the provisions set forth in the "Sports Anti-Doping Bill" are given, contrasting it to the similar, but more complex, policies of Australia.