Scott Prasser
Biographic Data
| ID | 694827 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Scott Prasser |
| GIVEN NAMES | Scott |
| FAMILY NAME | Prasser |
| SIGNATURE | PRASSER S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Australian Catholic University |
| ORCID | 0009-0008-7718-5935 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 22 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 14 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1981 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The ‘Dog That Didn't Bark’—The Royal Commissions That Do Not Get Appointed
Just as in the Sherlock Holmes story, ‘Silver Blaze’, when the clue to the theft of the prize horse was that the dog did not bark, then the overlooked issue about royal commissions is why governments do not appoint them. This is just as important as it is to study why they do. This highlights the theory of ‘non‐decision making’—‘a deliberate decision not to act’ when governments seek to keep issues off the agenda and in the case of royal commissi…
Fraser Government and Public Inquiries
This paper reviews the Fraser government's use of public inquiries during its nearly eight years in office. This includes both royal commissions and other non‐statutory inquiries. In addition to assessing the reasons for their appointment, roles and impacts, the paper also compares their use to its predecessor, the Whitlam Labor government. Although the Fraser government came to office to reverse the Whitlam government's expanded use of public in…
Hard bargaining—Passing Commonwealth schools funding legislation through the Senate—Successful policy but political failure
This article examines the Turnbull Coalition government's changes to the Commonwealth school funding model, inherited from its Labor predecessor, made by amendments to the Australian Education Act 2013 (Cth) passed in the Senate in June 2017 in terms of McConnell's three dimensions of policy success. By so doing, the case demonstrates both the interplay of policy, process, and political success and the challenges of sustaining successful reform t…
Assessing randomness and complexity in human motion trajectories through analysis of symbolic sequences
Complexity is a hallmark of intelligent behavior consisting both of regular patterns and random variation. To quantitatively assess the complexity and randomness of human motion, we designed a motor task in which we translated subjects' motion trajectories into strings of symbol sequences. In the first part of the experiment participants were asked to perform self-paced movements to create repetitive patterns, copy pre-specified letter sequences,…
Australian integrity agencies in critical perspective
This article reviews developments in the Australian integrity system made during the last three decades. It evaluates current organisational arrangements across national and state jurisdictions and examines the drivers and challenges involved with further expansion of integrity systems. The article argues that, while a more comprehensive system of integrity may be warranted, there have been improvements and that there are limits to further expans…
The Queensland Health Royal Commissions
Utilisation of public inquiries and royal commissions in Westminster systems of government is a source of continuing interest. That royal commissions continue to be appointed when there is an increasing array of other institutions governments can now employ and given that royal commission reports often have very adverse impacts on the appointing governments, remains a key issue. So the appointment by the Queensland government of not one, but two …
Real Constitutional Reform After Fitzgerald
The Fitzgerald Inquiry, although initially focused upon matters such as maladministration and corruption, placed significant emphasis on the reform of Queensland’s political and public administration system as a whole. It is therefore in relation to its practical impact within the context of that system that the Fitzgerald Report ought to be assesses. However, despite widespread support for the report’s recommendations, recent events in Queenslan…
Royal Commissions in Australia
The Cole Royal Commission into AWB sales of wheat to Iraq once again draws attention to questions of when should governments resort to ad hoc inquiries and, in particular, establish royal commissions with their associated prestige and statutory powers to call and examine witnesses and require presentation of documents. In this article, Dr Scott Prasser, author of ‘Royal Commisions and Public Inquiries in Australia (Lexis Nexis 2006) examines the …
Poor Decisions, Compliant Management and Reactive Change
Public Management 1996
Reviewing public administration in Australia was once akin to watching glaciers — you knew there was movement and something was happening beneath the surface, but detection required patient observation over a long period of time
The Menzies Era
Efficiency Auditing in Queensland
Public Inquiries in Australia
Research Notes and Comments Inquiries and the Fraser Government 1975–1980
Royal Commissions in Australia
The Cole Royal Commission into AWB sales of wheat to Iraq once again draws attention to questions of when should governments resort to ad hoc inquiries and, in particular, establish royal commissions with their associated prestige and statutory powers to call and examine witnesses and require presentation of documents. In this article, Dr Scott Prasser, author of ‘Royal Commisions and Public Inquiries in Australia (Lexis Nexis 2006) examines the …
Australian integrity agencies in critical perspective
This article reviews developments in the Australian integrity system made during the last three decades. It evaluates current organisational arrangements across national and state jurisdictions and examines the drivers and challenges involved with further expansion of integrity systems. The article argues that, while a more comprehensive system of integrity may be warranted, there have been improvements and that there are limits to further expans…
Public Inquiries in Australia
Public Management 1996
Reviewing public administration in Australia was once akin to watching glaciers — you knew there was movement and something was happening beneath the surface, but detection required patient observation over a long period of time
Poor Decisions, Compliant Management and Reactive Change
Research Notes and Comments Inquiries and the Fraser Government 1975–1980
Efficiency Auditing in Queensland
Public Inquiries in Australia
The Menzies Era
Public Management 1996
Reviewing public administration in Australia was once akin to watching glaciers — you knew there was movement and something was happening beneath the surface, but detection required patient observation over a long period of time
Poor Decisions, Compliant Management and Reactive Change
Royal Commissions in Australia
The Cole Royal Commission into AWB sales of wheat to Iraq once again draws attention to questions of when should governments resort to ad hoc inquiries and, in particular, establish royal commissions with their associated prestige and statutory powers to call and examine witnesses and require presentation of documents. In this article, Dr Scott Prasser, author of ‘Royal Commisions and Public Inquiries in Australia (Lexis Nexis 2006) examines the …
Real Constitutional Reform After Fitzgerald
The Fitzgerald Inquiry, although initially focused upon matters such as maladministration and corruption, placed significant emphasis on the reform of Queensland’s political and public administration system as a whole. It is therefore in relation to its practical impact within the context of that system that the Fitzgerald Report ought to be assesses. However, despite widespread support for the report’s recommendations, recent events in Queenslan…
The Queensland Health Royal Commissions
Utilisation of public inquiries and royal commissions in Westminster systems of government is a source of continuing interest. That royal commissions continue to be appointed when there is an increasing array of other institutions governments can now employ and given that royal commission reports often have very adverse impacts on the appointing governments, remains a key issue. So the appointment by the Queensland government of not one, but two …
Australian integrity agencies in critical perspective
This article reviews developments in the Australian integrity system made during the last three decades. It evaluates current organisational arrangements across national and state jurisdictions and examines the drivers and challenges involved with further expansion of integrity systems. The article argues that, while a more comprehensive system of integrity may be warranted, there have been improvements and that there are limits to further expans…
Assessing randomness and complexity in human motion trajectories through analysis of symbolic sequences
Complexity is a hallmark of intelligent behavior consisting both of regular patterns and random variation. To quantitatively assess the complexity and randomness of human motion, we designed a motor task in which we translated subjects' motion trajectories into strings of symbol sequences. In the first part of the experiment participants were asked to perform self-paced movements to create repetitive patterns, copy pre-specified letter sequences,…
Hard bargaining—Passing Commonwealth schools funding legislation through the Senate—Successful policy but political failure
This article examines the Turnbull Coalition government's changes to the Commonwealth school funding model, inherited from its Labor predecessor, made by amendments to the Australian Education Act 2013 (Cth) passed in the Senate in June 2017 in terms of McConnell's three dimensions of policy success. By so doing, the case demonstrates both the interplay of policy, process, and political success and the challenges of sustaining successful reform t…
The ‘Dog That Didn't Bark’—The Royal Commissions That Do Not Get Appointed
Just as in the Sherlock Holmes story, ‘Silver Blaze’, when the clue to the theft of the prize horse was that the dog did not bark, then the overlooked issue about royal commissions is why governments do not appoint them. This is just as important as it is to study why they do. This highlights the theory of ‘non‐decision making’—‘a deliberate decision not to act’ when governments seek to keep issues off the agenda and in the case of royal commissi…
Fraser Government and Public Inquiries
This paper reviews the Fraser government's use of public inquiries during its nearly eight years in office. This includes both royal commissions and other non‐statutory inquiries. In addition to assessing the reasons for their appointment, roles and impacts, the paper also compares their use to its predecessor, the Whitlam Labor government. Although the Fraser government came to office to reverse the Whitlam government's expanded use of public in…
Political science (12 works) · Commonwealth, Australian Politics and Federalism (10 works) · Law (6 works) · Public Administration (6 works) · Public Administration (6 works) · Business (5 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Government (linguistics (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Citation (4 works)