Is Australia Still a Federation

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Is Australia Still a Federation?

• Wayne Errington

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(No Transcript)
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Contemporary Criticisms of Federalism

• Power has been centralised to the extent that
  Australia is no longer a federation in any
  meaningful sense
• Craven High Courts Work Choices decision a
  shipwreck of Titanic proportions.
• Federalism leads to inefficient duplication of
  bureaucracy and blurs the lines of responsible
  government
• the blame game, cost-shifting, frustrated
  electoral mandates

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Types of Federalism

• Coordinate each unit of government is sovereign
• Cooperative centre provides leadership but
  other units are significant
• Organic centralisation of policy control

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Federalism and Difference

• Switzerland language differences
• Belgium Protestant/Catholic divide
• Britain - Welsh and Scottish parliaments
• Malaysia exit Singapore
• Iraq? Fear of disintegration

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Australia as a Compound Republic

• Sharman federalism part of a liberal system of
  government that both protects citizens and
  guarantees responsive government
• Limited government written constitution
  federalism strong bicameralism judicial review
• Liberal or conservative?

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Federalism Versus Responsible Government

• Hackett either responsible government will kill
  federation, or federation in the form in which we
  shall, I hope, be prepared to accept it, will
  kill responsible government
• Federations in the EU (Germany, Belgium)
• Subsidiarity decisions should be taken where
  practicable by the level of government closest to
  the people

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Federalism is Losing

• Craven Australian federalism declining steadily
  towards its grave from the moment of its birth.
• Design Flaws Commonwealth appoints High Court
  Justices initiates referenda s.51 Commonwealth
  powers residual powers to the states (xxix)
  external affairs
• Party system eclipses state considerations in
  Senate

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Centralisation

• Govts take on more responsiblity
• Engineers Case 1920 constitution is to be read
  literally
• Uniform Tax Case 1942 Commonwealth gains power
  to tax income
• Tasmanian Dams Case 1983 external affairs power
• Problems are related centralisation of power
  causes duplication
• Attempts by Fraser, Hawke and Keating at New
  Federalism

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Vertical Fiscal Imbalance

• Commonwealth raises three quarters of revenue but
  only spends only two thirds of that money
• The gap is filled by grants to the states.
• Can be solved (if it is a problem) by giving
  states more revenue raising powers (unlikely) or
  by Commonwealth taking over more areas of state
  power
• Prevents unhealthy tax competition
• GST as a state tax?

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Cooperative Federalism

• Areas where constitutional powers overlap
  corporate law, terrorism
• Areas where power and revenue are mismatched
  education, health
• State expertise is often required in spite of
  federal input
• COAG meetings easier with more revenue
  1970s-1990s meetings mostly heated
• States and criminal law
• Parkin all levels of government have become more
  important in our daily lives
• Commonwealth interprets national priorities

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Fraser versus Howard

• A nation Australias size cannot be effectively
  governed from Canberra, and attempts to inflate
  Canberras power have been rejected again and
  again by the Australian people. Malcolm Fraser
• Our Federation should be about better lives for
  people, not quiet lives for governments. John
  Howard

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Fraser versus Howard

• Howard recognised that Australians arent
  sentimental about their states they have local
  and national attachments.
• Howard and the national interest gun control,
  school curriculum, technical colleges
• National efficiency nothing new about economic
  considerations
• Acceleration of trend higher volume of
  legislation
• Liberal Party and federalism 2005 federal
  conference rejects Work Choices

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Is Australia Still a Federation?

• Federal institutions still intact
• Australians suspicious of political class
• Centralisation of power to continue until tax and
  spending powers are reformed
• Beattie calls for constitutional convention
• More likely muddling through