Institutional Adaptations (including processes within the executive and legislature and how these have evolved in recent years)

• National and provincial developments in Mainland China including any new CPC institutions and evolving decision-making processes within the Executive and with the Legislature.

• National developments in Taiwan, including Cabinet processes and legislative arrangements

• Hong Kong’s evolving institutional arrangements

• Australia’s Cabinet and Cabinet committee processes, public service advising arrangements, ministerial office arrangements and the role of the Parliament particularly where the Government lacks control.

External Involvement in Policy Advice (including clients, interest groups, international advisers, think tanks, academics and consultants and the media)

• The role international organisations and advisers play in Mainland China, how China uses international expertise.

• The increasing role of the media and civil society, and academia, in policy advising in China, and the impact in practice.

• The role of external experts, and of interest groups, in Taiwan.

• Recent more systematic processes for client and interest group engagement in Australia, including co-design and co-production.

• Developments in policy influence in Australia including the role of think tanks and professional lobbying.

Capability in Policy Advising (including skills, data, processes etc.)

• Developments in Mainland China to strengthen policy capacity, including through executive development, recruitment of expertise, building of networks of experts.

• Developments in Taiwan through training and development, recruitment and networking.

• Developments in Australia, including evidence from capability reviews and more recent responses, changes in data access for external analysis, use of public inquiries etc.

Devolved Implementation (the relationship between policy design and policy implementation)

• The role of local government (provincial, county etc) in translating central policy pronouncements in Mainland China into specific policies implemented on the ground

• The experience in Mainland China of policy experimentation, trialling policy initiatives in different localities with systematic feedback and dissemination of policy learnings.

• How implementation issues and risks are taken into account in Taiwan’s policy processes.

• The increasing focus on implementation risks in Australia’s policy decision-making processes

• The role of local discretion and policy learning in Australia.