Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Government–business relations
Conclusions
Businesses in Australia are becoming increasingly involved with the public and
civil society sectors in complex ways, and the government–business relationship
is increasing in importance. However, political instability, along with disruptive
technologies, mean the future of this relationship is uncertain. Further, emerging
social and political issues, such as the failure of affirmative action laws to address
gender inequalities in pay and the number of women in leadership positions in
the workplace, indicate that governments cannot solve these problems in isolation.
In the midst of decreasing trust in government in Australia, increased citizen
participation in policy making is seen as one way to improve the legitimacy of
government by bringing businesses and citizens into a system of co-governance.
Yet after a decade of political instability, and recent events suggesting that the
instability will continue, a significant departure from traditional approaches to
government–business relations is politically risky. While the study of government–
business relations may have peaked in the 1990s, it seems time for a revival of this
important field in political studies.
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