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POLITICAL RIGHTS OF VICTORIAN PUBLIC EMPLOYEES
Author(s) -
Plehwe R.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
australian journal of public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.524
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-8500
pISSN - 0313-6647
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8500.1983.tb00974.x
Subject(s) - parliament , politics , voting , representation (politics) , government (linguistics) , public administration , political science , law , philosophy , linguistics
The article examines the history of legal restrictions on political activities by Victorian public employees from the introduction of responsible government in 1856. As in other Australian jurisdictions, the rules have gradually become less restrictive. Special aspects of the Victorian experience examined include: (a) the short lived experiment of not excluding permanent officials from membership of Parliament; (b) the creation of separate parliamentary constituencies for public employees in 1903; (c) the attempt to devise safeguards against political pressure by public employees after separate representation was abandoned; (d) special restrictions on the police, including disenfranchisement from 1854 to 1888 and the ban on participating in elections otherwise than by voting.