REFORMING AUSTRALIAN GOVERNANCE

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REFORMING AUSTRALIAN GOVERNANCE

• OLD STATES NEW STATES or NO STATES
• Kenneth Wiltshire

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AUSTRALIAN FEDERALISM

• Centralising Trends
• (Globalisation, Nationalism, Communication)
• Referendums
• High Court Decisions
• Financial Relations
• Executive Federalism
• Unconstitutional Actions
• Emergency Powers

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HOWARD GOVERNMENT CENTRALISM

• (Pleas for uniformity accountability and choice)
• Conditional Funding
• Bypassing States
• Overriding States
• States as service deliverers not policy partners
• Purchaser/Provider models

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CRITERIA FOR ROLES RESPONSIBILITIES

• Favouring Higher Levels
• International
• Indivisibility/Universality
• Uniformity/Mobility
• Portability/Spillovers
• Equity/Accessibility
• National Standards
• Initiator/Stimulator

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• Favouring Lower Levels
• Subsidiarity
• Responsiveness
• Local Knowledge/Expertise
• Implementation/Speed
• Monitoring
• Uniqueness/Diversity

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• Indeterminate
• Sovereignty
• Revenue Sources
• Capacity to Deliver
• Efficiency
• Effectiveness
• Accountability
• Policy/Delivery

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DEFINING REGIONS

• Community of Interest
• Large enough to achieve economies of scale
  Small enough to be responsive and encourage civic
  participation
• Identity

• Manifested by
• Geographical Features
• Patterns of Communication
• Patterns of Transport
• Remoteness
• Socio/Economic homogeneity
• Ethnicity
• Ecology/Sustainable
• Developments

• Used by
• Electoral commissions
• Telstra
• Australia Post
• ABS
• Governments

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DELIVERY TO REGIONS

• Horizontal Fiscal Equalisation
• Tax Sharing
• Grants and Subsidies
• CSOs
• Incentives
• Taxation Allowances
• Exemptions

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FUTURE MODELS

• Old States plus Fourth Tier of Regions
• No States, No Local substitute Regions
• New States
• (All options need HFE and Senate Reform)

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