Minority Policy: Rethinking governance when parliament matters

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Topical and up-to-the-minute, Minority Policy- Rethinking Governance when Parliament Matters explores the influence marginal parliamentarians have on public policy. Australia has had minority governments in some form for almost 30 years, yet we have not come to terms with minority as the new norm. Prominent policy cycle theory tends to overlook the subtle but significant influence of marginal parliamentarians on public policy. Minority Policy argues that these influences not only have important implications for the outcomes of public policy, but also for the work of scholars, policy makers and advocates. Drawing on the experiences of two former policy advisers, as well as examples from the last two parliaments, Minority Policy takes the discussion up to and beyond the introduction of the new Senate in July 2014 to observe the significant impact of this much more complex Upper House.

Author Bio

Brenton Prosser was senior policy adviser to Senator Nick Xenophon during the period when the senator first shared the balance of power in the Senate. He has previously published three books on health and education policy, as well as numerous papers in the areas of parliamentary integrity, media and politics. Currently, he is a senior research fellow at the Australian National University. Richard Denniss was Chief of Staff to Natasha Stott Despoja during the period that the Australian Democrats held the balance of power in the Senate. He is now Executive Director to the Australia Institute policy thinktank. He has recently published An Introduction to Australian Public Policy- Theory and Practice with Sarah Maddison, and is co-author (with Clive Hamilton) of the bestselling book Affluenza- When Too Much is Never Enough.