{"id":4758,"date":"2013-03-22T11:28:28","date_gmt":"2013-03-22T01:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=4758"},"modified":"2013-03-26T18:39:16","modified_gmt":"2013-03-26T08:39:16","slug":"are-we-in-caretaker-mode-already","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/are-we-in-caretaker-mode-already\/","title":{"rendered":"Are we in caretaker mode already?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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With all the ‘Days of Our Lives’ action in parliament<\/a>\u00a0a new Defence White Paper seems so far down the list of political priorities as to seem almost irrelevant.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Gillard announced the election date of September 14<\/a> at the end of January this year, making it the longest election campaign in the nation\u2019s history. Thanks to the democratic system that Australia operates under, a caretaker period begins for all government agencies as the campaign enters its final throes.<\/p>\n

It’s worth understanding what that means. Here’s the formal version<\/a>:<\/p>\n

During the caretaker period, the business of government continues and ordinary matters of administration still need to be addressed.\u00a0 However, successive governments have followed a series of practices, known as the ‘caretaker conventions’, which aim to ensure that their actions do not bind an incoming government and limit its freedom of action.\u00a0 In summary, the conventions are that the government avoids:<\/p>\n