The Council of Australian Governments meeting (COAG) this week illustrates the farce of the Australian Federation.
There was a lot of hot air and little was achieved. With all the states being Labor and the Commonwealth being Liberal there is never going to be much effort invested in achieving positive outcomes, especially in a national election year.
It begs the question is the federation worth keeping? Is there a better model?
Certainly the nature of the federation has changed since six self-ruling colonies combined to create a new nation. This led to common policies for immigration and defence, and abolished the customs posts on borders.
The states have gradually ceded more powers to the Commonwealth over the past century, particularly since they forfeited income tax during the Second World War. The latest surrender is to give Canberra authority over water policy in the Murray Darling Basin.
In my view health should be a federal responsibility. There is already too much duplication of health bureaucracy and more money should be spent on service delivery.
If health was taken away from the states it leaves them with education and police. Arguments are mounting for a national schools curriculum, so you can see where this is all heading.
Living now in Western Australia, I have a greater appreciation of the need for government to be less centralised. There’s no doubt WA could prosper as an independent country and that idea shouldn’t be totally dismissed.
A better solution though to the federal malaise would be to abolish states and create regional governments.
Instead of eight states and territories, consider 30 or 40 provinces. Abolish the states and municipalities as we know them today and create new super regional councils.
Looking at Western Australia there might be five provinces based on the Goldfields, South West, North West, Perth and Mid West. In the south east of the country, provinces might cross existing state borders.
I envisage Canberra holding responsibility for most matters handled by the states today, but setting up a public service structure on the new provincial boundaries, with regional governments having input to local policies and administration.
I’m not going to detail here how it might or should work. I only want to float the concept and pose the question of whether states have a future.
I like many voters are concerned at W.A.’s future elections. Much discussion and interest lies with the National Party. I would like further info on this party and if they have a representative in the North West of the state. I live in Derby, known as the opening gateway of the Kimberleys before other townships surrounding it existed. Most of my friends in Perth and the South West feel that the National Party may be able to look at the bigger picture and at this time we are hoping that this is so. Thank you for your time.