Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-2n9c9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T18:31:04.720Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

There Must be Limits: The Commonwealth Spending Power

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 January 2025

Gabrielle Appleby*
Affiliation:
University of Adelaide

Extract

There is an assumption that government affects community action and implements its policy primarily through legal rules backed by sanctions. Reality however dictates that policy implementation occurs in a number of ways, one of the more significant being through the lure of money. Money has been utilised over the course of Australia’s history to impact a dramatic redistribution in federal and State power without constitutional amendment. Spending is also, by its very nature, less transparent than legislative regulation. There is growing disquiet about the unchecked and unaccountable nature of government spending which this article seeks to explore.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 The Australian National University

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable