Anna Olijnyk

Ellen Rock pulls off an impressive feat in Measuring Accountability in Public Governance Regimes (‘Measuring Accountability’). The book’s two central insights are, on the one hand, usually overlooked in administrative law scholarship and, on the other, so convincing as to elicit a reaction of ‘yes, of course!’ Rock points out, first, that claims of ‘too much’ or ‘not enough’ accountability make little sense without a normative benchmark of the ideal amount of accountability. Secondly, she argues the existence of an accountability deficit or overload must be assessed at a systemic level, rather than by focusing on single accountability mechanisms in isolation.

In this post, I explore how these insights might shed light on the (non)development of novel grounds of judicial review addressing serious forms of administrative injustice (‘substantive grounds of review’) in Australia.

John McMillan

Accountability has become an accustomed concept in our professional and public life.

We are constantly reminded in the workplace that we are accountable for how we discharge functions and the impact of our actions on others. We are equally likely to draw on accountability principles to question the professional conduct of others. A familiar line in daily media stories is that government officials must be held accountable if allegations are substantiated about matters as diverse as Robodebt collection, flood prevention, grant allocation, COVID enforcement, workplace abuse, conflict of interest, privacy breaches, wasteful spending and misleading promises. Those of us engaged in teaching or legal practice are likely to rely on accountability as an overarching norm to explain how public (and private) sector entities and officers should be answerable for what they do.

What more can be said? Dr Ellen Rock dives straight in! While explaining accountability theory both comprehensively and lucidly, she takes the discussion further by focussing valuably on two practical dimensions.

Geoffrey Watson SC

In the 1970s Australia was poised to move ahead of the world in allowing access to government information. Just before the federal election in 1972 the Australian Labor Party promised legislation for that purpose – but Mr Whitlam faced a hostile Senate and could not get the …