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Appendix 3E Recent Media Reports Calling for the Abolition of State Governments

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Appendix 3E Recent Media Reports Calling for the Abolition of State Governments 3E-1 Appendix 3E Recent Media Reports Calling for the Abolition of State Governments Table 3E-1 below contains extracts from 509 media reports from 1986 through to 2006 which describe support for the abolition of State governments, including 1 article from 1986; 1 from 1988; 9 from 1989; 4 from 1990; 17 from 1991; 10 from 1992; 45 from 1993; 8 from 1994; 9 from 1995; 6 from 1996; 16 from 1997; 46 from 1998; 28 from 1999; 39 from 2000; 68 from 2001; 32 from 2002; 41 from 2003; 60 from 2004; 48 from 2005; and 21 from 2006. These 509 reports contain numerous references to costs, duplication, waste and inefficiency within and across Australia's nine Commonwealth, State and Territory health systems, and contain specific words as follows, for example: • "abolish" 238 times, "abolition" 153 times, "abolishing" 88 times, "abolished" 54 times, "abolitionist" twice and "abolishes" and "abolishment" once each; • "duplication" 148 times, "duplicated" 19 times, "duplicating" eight times, "duplications" seven times, and "duplicate" three times; • "waste" 43 times, "wasteful" 14 times, "wasted" nine times, and "wastes" five times, "wastage" three times, and "wasting" and "wastefully" once each; • "efficient" 46 times, "inefficient" 36 times, "efficiency" 39 times, "inefficiency" 11 times, "inefficiencies" nine times, "efficiently" eight times, and "efficiencies" six times, and "inefficiently" three times. Table 3E-1: Recent Media Reports Calling for the Abolition of State Governments Heading and Publication Reporter(s) and Date of Extracts from Report or Author(s) Report if Known State Governments, the Senate, and the position of Governor-General should be abolished, Sydney 'MPs? Too according to a former Federal Labor Minister, Mr Jim McClelland. Australia was one of the most Morning Many, Says over-governed countries in the world, he told a hearing of the Constitutional Commission in Herald McClelland' Sydney yesterday. "Tasmania has 69 full-time (Federal and State) politicians . that's one for 11 Sep 1986 every 4,000 people. "There can't be anything much more absurd in the world," he said. 3E-2 Table 3D-1 (Continued) Heading and Publication Reporter(s) and Date of Extracts from Report or Author(s) Report if Known EVEN BEFORE he arrived in Canberra for his first Premiers' Conference, Nick Greiner called it "a circus of monumental proportions". ... Many lament the difficulty of achieving reform in Australia, epitomised by the success rate of referendums to change the Constitution - eight out of 38 since Federation. Voters seldom accept that there can be any noble intentions in proposals to vary the Constitution. ... The financial arrangements between the Commonwealth and the States make a mockery of all that politicians say about the importance of States' rights. You know the arguments: we are closer to the people, we know their needs best, we can deliver the services most efficiently and we can take account of regional differences. Canberra, on the other hand, is too remote, too centralised, too big. ... It was an argument for giving the States a greater say in their own affairs. And yet the States accept, indeed insist on, the most centralised system of revenue raising of any modern federation, 'Quit Bleating coming to Canberra each year with their begging bowls and taking whatever Big Bad Brother Sydney Chaps, the feels like doling out. The premiers might like to portray this as a system imposed by Canberra. Morning Solution is But it was the States which handed over their income tax powers to the Commonwealth in 1942 Herald Plain To See', and which, ever since, have refused to take them back. It was the premiers who responded to 13 May 1988 by Mike Malcolm Fraser's offer to allow the States to levy an income tax surcharge, or give a rebate, as Steketee though he had dropped a polecat in their laps. It was the States yesterday which complained about being given the power to tax Commonwealth authorities. The result is that the Commonwealth raises 80 per cent of total government revenue, compared with 15 per cent by the States and 5 per cent by local government. This compares with ratios of 70-20-10 in the US, 55-35-10 in Canada, and 48-52 (with the latter figure including local government) in West Germany. ... But the States have no real cause for complaint. If they genuinely believe in States' rights and want to spend more money, then they can raise the revenue to do so, particularly after the Section 92 ruling. But it should be up to them to convince voters of the merits of more taxation. If they want to keep relying on the Commonwealth, then we might as well go the whole hog and abolish State governments altogether. Then the Commonwealth could spend the money directly and save a great deal on politicians and bureaucracies. At the very least, it would spare us from more repeat performances of the longest-running circus in Canberra. Sir Ninian also raised the prospect of the abolition of State Governments, saying he did not believe 'Sir Ninian Sydney Australians were as strongly committed to the present Federal system as they were to unity and Gives the Pot Morning democracy. He said he believed many Australians would find acceptable a system of government a Final Stir', Herald characterised by a single, central government, combined with a local government system with By Milton 26 Jan 1989 greater powers than at present. He believed that this could be marketed to Australians on the basis Cockburn of "fewer politicians and more grass-roots democracy". After carefully avoiding controversy during his six-and-a-half-year term as Governor-General, Sir Ninian Stephen said yesterday he could envisage the demise of the States and the emergence of a single, central government in Australia. ... In one of his last official appearances, an address to the National Press Club, Sir Ninian, an eminent constitutional lawyer and former High Court judge, said Australians were united about what sort of government they wanted. He said it was a democratic one, however much people Australian 'Sir Nin's complained about too-frequent elections and too many politicians. But he added: "Incidentally, I Financial Parting Shot at don't sense the same national certainty about federalism as I do about unity and democracy, despite Review States', by our regional loyalties. "I could conceive of a single, central government, combined with a local 26 Jan 1989 Ross Dunn government system, having greater powers than at present, as something acceptable to many, though, of course, not all Australians, especially if marketed on a 'fewer politicians and more grassroots democracy' basis." Answering questions later, Sir Ninian said the complexities of society in the years ahead might make it difficult for Australians to continue to support the Federation - "the dilution of power of the centre that our present system gives rise to". ... Despite his belief that Australians would one day find it acceptable to abolish the States, Sir Ninian said he could not imagine when they would agree to become a republic. 3E-3 Table 3E-1 (Continued) Heading and Publication Reporter(s) and Date of Extracts from Report or Author(s) Report if Known "IT is not fanciful to suggest that the condition of our cities reflects the condition of our nation - its economic resilience and spiritual strength,"Gough Whitlam warned more than a decade ago. What, then, does the foul brown tide of sewage polluting Sydney's famous beaches, threatening public health and tourist dollars, say about Australia's condition today? Could it be, as Governor- General Sir Ninian Stephen suggested last week, that it's time to think about changes to our federalist system and abolish State governments? Raising eyebrows around the country, Sir Ninian envisaged the creation of a single central government, combined with a local government system with greater powers. Such a system could be acceptable to many Australians, he said, "especially if marketed on a 'fewer politicians and more grassroots democracy' basis." Mr Whitlam - a republican whose Government's dismissal in 1975 has engendered within him a certain wariness of Governors-General - must have allowed himself a smile. His nemesis, Sir John Kerr, sacked only one government; Sir Ninian is talking about getting rid of six. More to the point, Sir Ninian was doing no more than touch on reforms -aimed at involving the community directly in decision-making and planning -which the Whitlam Government had started to implement. Before its defeat, it was well advanced in identifying new regional centres in which it 'Sir Ninian was proposed the Federal Government would locate regional administrative headquarters. Each Revives Sun Herald local government in each region was asked to elect a representative to a regional organisation, Gough Ideas', 29 Jan 1989 which was to be the deliberative body for the purpose of making submissions to the Grants by Bruce Commission. It was also the Whitlam Government which established Australia's first Department Jones of Urban and Regional Development, under Tom Uren, to develop a national strategy for cities and regions. Among other things, the Department established and supervised land commissions to buy building blocks at reasonable prices and to sell them at cost; and it was responsible for a National Sewage Program. However, the scheme was axed by the Fraser Government, and under the Hawke Government responsibility for local government has been lumped in with Immigration and Ethnic Affairs. In a 1976 oration to the Town and Country Planning Association of Victoria, Mr Whitlam said the chief victims of federalism had been Australia's cities. "Efficient functioning and fair financing of urban facilities and services can be achieved only by national government accepting an increasing share of administrative responsibility and allowing local government an increasing share of financial resources," he said.
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