THE NATIONAL COMPETITION POLICY - A STUDY OF THE POLICY PROCESS AND NETWORK

In his recent work on the Australian political system, lan Marsh argue s that interest groups and issues movements should be treated as 'pote ntial partners and collaborators with government' (1995, p. 1). He sug gests that the traditional two-party system with its inherent reliance on adversarial relations may need to mutate to cope with the demands which stakeholders are placing on the policy process and a changing po litical culture. This paper examines evidence that collaborative and c ooperative modes of interaction are developing in Australia as a featu re in the strategies used by both government and non-government player s.