1 Governance Stream 2020 Summit Submissions of Relevance to Beyond Federation Draft in progress as at June 2009 [Compiled by Mark Drummond in August and September 2008 based on submissions presented at http://www.australia2020.gov.au/submissions/home.cfm, and then spell-checked and corrected as best as possible in June 2009] The tables on the following pages refer to the 790 Governance Stream submissions on display at the 2020 Summit website at http://www.australia2020.gov.au/submissions/home.cfm as at 11 September 2008, though please note that these 790 submissions include four submissions that are repeated on this 2020 Summit website and a further five submissions in which no Governance Stream submission was actually provided. These tables include Submission ID codes, Publication Names (i.e. names of submitters), extracts considered relevant to Beyond Federation objectives, and brief codes under the heading of "Relevant?" that describe the nature of relevance to Beyond Federation objectives. The relevance codes used are as follows: N = not relevant, though this in no way implies that the submission lacks merit, but, rather, that it doesn't cover ground relating to BF objectives (submissions dealing purely with the Republic issue or media issues, for example) YA = submissions which explicitly support the abolition of State governments and a move to a system comprising national governments and regional and/or local governments at the sub-national level. YC = submissions that nearly offer explicit support for the abolition of State governments, but don't quite make this support fully clear. Ynat = submissions that call for national laws (including a national Bill of Rights) and national systems (generally under national government control) in health, education, the environment etc. Yloc = submissions that call for constitutional recognition of local government and/or strengthening of local government (or local community government) Ynat, Yloc = submissions that qualify for both the Ynat and Yloc relevance codes as above. Yrev = submissions that call for a review of Australia's current system of government in ways that suggest that they are supportive of or at least open to reforms that BF supports – specifically, the reforms captured by the YA, YC, Ynat and Yloc codes as above. Y = submissions calling for some form of reform that is known to be of interest to at least some BF members but such that none of the above relevance codes seem apt. All submissions considered relevant to BF objectives are assigned a code beginning with the letter "Y", and all of these relevant submissions have been allocated just the one relevance code at this stage except for the Ynat and Yloc codes, where "Ynat, Yloc" refers to submissions that have been assigned both the Ynat and Yloc relevance codes. The assignment of relevance codes is not an exact process, and may be improved upon for a later version of this compilation, but for the vast majority of submissions the selection of codes has seemed a fairly clear-cut and simple process, such that it's considered likely that most people will agree with at least the vast majority of code allocations made here. A coding hierarchy among the Ynat, Yloc and Yrev codes has been established such that Ynat and Yloc are assigned 2 a higher priority than Yrev, but Ynat and Yloc are assigned equal priority. In practice this means that if a submission is considered relevant to BF objectives but the YA and YC codes are not deemed suitable, the submission will be assigned (1) the Ynat code (alone), the Yloc code (alone), or the combined "Ynat, Yloc" code, if it calls for a national approach in one or more areas of government responsibility and/or constitutional recognition of local government and/or strengthening of local government in some other way, and (2) the Yrev code if it doesn't qualify for Ynat and/or Yloc as just described but does call for a review of Australia's system of government – especially in terms of the distribution of powers between levels of government and the boundaries that define sub-national units of government. The full compilation of submissions follows the brief summary tables shown on the next two pages. The first of these summary tables is based on the full set of 790 submissions provided at http://www.australia2020.gov.au/submissions/home.cfm as at 11 September 2008, and the second summary table is based on the 781 submissions provided at http://www.australia2020.gov.au/submissions/home.cfm as at 11 September 2008 less four repeated submissions and five submissions in which there was no Governance Stream submission as noted above. 3 Summary of 2020 Summit Governance Stream Submissions in Terms of Beyond Federation Relevance – all 790 Governance Stream Submissions as Listed on the 2020 Website Percentage of All 790 Number of Relevance Code Governance Stream Comments Submissions Submissions includes five in which no Governance Stream N 447 56.6 submission was actually provided: submissions 419, 2490, 3553, 3984 and 4722 includes one repeated submission (counted twice here) : YA 91 11.5 submission 1000480 is same as 1000542 YC 43 5.4 includes three repeated submissions (each counted Ynat (i.e. Ynat only) 81 10.3 twice here): 869-900, 7747-1000376 and 8473-100377 Yloc (i.e. Yloc only) 27 3.4 Ynat, Yloc (i.e. both Ynat and Yloc) 7 0.9 Yrev 47 5.9 Y 47 5.9 Total 790 100 YA + YC 134 17.0 Ynat-all = Ynat only + (Ynat, Yloc) 88 11.1 Yloc-all = Yloc only + (Ynat, Yloc) 34 4.3 Ynat-tot = YA + YC + Ynat-all 222 28.1 all these submissions support national approaches all these submissions call for a bigger role for Yloc-tot = YA + YC + Yloc-all 168 21.3 local/regional governments Yrev = YA + YC + Ynat + Yloc + (Ynat, Yloc) + Yrev 296 37.5 Yall-tot = YA + YC + Ynat + Yloc + (Ynat, Yloc) + Yrev + Y 343 43.4 4 Summary of 2020 Summit Governance Stream Submissions in Terms of Beyond Federation Relevance – the 781 Submissions Listed on the 2020 Website Excluding Four Repeated Submissions and Five Submissions in which no Governance Stream Submission was Actually Provided Percentage of All 781 Number of Relevance Code Governance Stream Comments Submissions Submissions N 442 56.6 YA 90 11.5 YC 43 5.5 Ynat (i.e. Ynat only) 78 10.0 Yloc (i.e. Yloc only) 27 3.5 Ynat, Yloc (i.e. both Ynat and Yloc) 7 0.9 Yrev 47 6.0 Y 47 6.0 Total 781 100 YA + YC 133 17.0 Ynat-all = Ynat only + (Ynat, Yloc) 85 10.9 Yloc-all = Yloc only + (Ynat, Yloc) 34 4.4 Ynat-tot = YA + YC + Ynat-all 218 27.9 all these submissions support national approaches all these submissions call for a bigger role for Yloc-tot = YA + YC + Yloc-all 167 21.4 local/regional governments Yrev = YA + YC + Ynat + Yloc + (Ynat, Yloc) + Yrev 292 37.4 Yall-tot = YA + YC + Ynat + Yloc + (Ynat, Yloc) + Yrev + Y 339 43.4 5 Submission Summit or Further Publication Name Extracts of Relevance to Beyond Federation Relevant? ID Ongoing? Comments? 179 Climate Positive Summit checked N 276 Geoff Peters Summit I would also like to see a committee set up to investigate the need in this day and age for state YA governments. I understand why we used to have state governments but in this day and age with instant communications and with technology the way it is, state governments seem redundant. Investigate a change to a national system with one health system, one police force, one set of traffic rules, one education system, one rail system etc. I would like to know how much savings there would be if states were merged. 290 Don Nicol Summit checked N 337 Ian M Johnstone Summit checked N 359 NATIONAL PERFORMING Summit checked N ARTS CENTRE, Canberra 411 Neville Mears Summit checked N 419 Thomas Peter Smit Summit checked N no submission for Governance! 428 David Jacob Stosser Summit checked N 431 Martin Spencer Summit The removal of state governments, along with a consolidation of local governments into perhaps 100 YA provinces would give individuals a much greater say in the community the live in. This would help shape the characters of regional towns. The responsibilities currently held by the state governments would be passed to the new local governments and federal governments. Some responsibilities of the current federal government could also be passed to the new local governments. 515 The Office of Human Summit The people will be coordinated to achieve local self Governance to allow the Government focus to Y Evolvement Logical Progress achieve better resource management and economic productivity for the Nation. (HELP) "...The Only Civilian Health & Intelligence Agency"! 534 Ron Taylor Summit checked N 553 Steven Guth Summit The Swiss model is good. Give referendums to people for more things. This survey is an example of Y good involvement. 6 Submission Summit or Further Publication Name Extracts of Relevance to Beyond Federation Relevant? ID Ongoing? Comments? 631 David Goodall Summit Learning from experience, one would hope that the new constitution will not be too difficult to change. Yrev Any substantial amendment should, wherever appropriate, again have multiple choices. And, if the new constitution continues to divide the country into a small (even) number of States, it is an excessive demand that amendment should require a majority of voters in a majority of states. In a country of the size and diversity of Australia, it seems inevitable that the constitution should envisage a second level of government - States, Territories, or Provinces. To change existing boundaries would probably cause unnecessary conflicts.