Who defines the public interest?
Author(s): Tom Frame
Who defines the public interest? As the contributors to the collection have shown, the question itself is complex: which public and whose interests? The answer is controversial as well: it is not simply politicians and bureaucrats although they have a prominent role. Journalists and academics, community leaders and private citizens have all seized the initiative and asserted their entitlement as members of the public to assert shared interests and common aspirations principally in advocacy but sometimes through action. Does the authority to define the public interest come with a duty to see it promoted and protected? In addition to canvassing competing visions and contrasting expressions of the public interest and their relationship to the common good, the contributors also examine the limits of public interest claims and how a range of professional groups might discharge their obligation to act in the public interest.
Product Information
Professor Tom Frame is Director of the Public Leadership Research Group at UNSW Canberra and the Howard Library at Provisional (Old) Parliament House. The contributors to this collection include former federal and state cabinet ministers, civil servants, journalists and scholars from a number of Australian universities.
Chapters Include:
- Setting the scene -- John McMillan
- The public interest and the common good: synonymous or a subset -- Andrew Cameron
- Public interest as an accountability test -- Chris Wheeler
-The public interest: the essence of public leadership -- Tom Frame
- The public interest: the exclusive preserve of government? -- David Kemp
- Public interest and political parties -- Rodney Cavalier
- The public interest and public sector priorities -- John Uhr
- Balancing competing: public interests within the public sector -- Geoff Gallop
- The public interest and media reporting -- Shaun Carney
- Public interest and disciplinary communities -- Jane Johnston
- Postscript -- Tom Frame
General Fields
- :
- : Connor Court
- : books
Special Fields
- : Tom Frame
- : Paperback