Policy time-spaces: exploring the design and evolution of ‘No Jab’ policies in the Australian federation

This paper develops the concept of ‘policy time-spaces’ to examine how temporal logics of policy design interact with the spatial architecture of Australia’s federation. Drawing on documentary analysis and interviews with senior policy actors across four states, we analyse the evolution of ‘No Jab’ vaccination policies through three temporal categories: past-present, present-present and present-future. We show how policymakers draw on inherited trajectories, respond to concurrent developments across jurisdictions and project desired futures into present design choices. The framework illuminates how federal and multi-scalar governance structures condition the temporal dynamics through which policies are designed and evolve.