PROPERTY AUSTRALIA

Australia: are We Over Governed

Australia do we have too much government? Since the election late last year of the Rudd Labor Government this is a question that is firmly back on the national agenda, not since the Whitlam government has there been serious talk about the need to reform our Federation.

In Australia we currently have two house of parliament at federal level and two houses of parliament at state level everywhere except for Queensland, Northern Territory and the ACT, then on top of all this we have many local governments covering the length and breathe of this country. This only leads to one conclusion that we are indeed over governed in this country, and the time has come for major reforms to our federation. There are just two obstacles to serious reform which are, that no government will every make serious changes the system that put it there and that neither state nor local government will ever agree on which level should be abolished.

The way to over-come obstacle of no government being willing to reform the system that put them there, is for the public to take up this issue and force the government to make significant reforms to our federation. There needs to be a public debate on our federation, there needs to be a constitutional convention similar to the one that was held in Australia prior to 1900. While debate on Australia becoming a republic should happen at this convention we must go further we need to debate the other issues.

There needs to be a discussion on whether Australia needs a Senate any more, is this house of parliament serving its original purpose as the state’s house and a house of review, or has it become and obstructive tool to which ever government is in office. Do we need to increase the size of the House of Representatives making electorates smaller, so that members of parliament get elected on there reputation and hard work rather than the party machine. This would then mean that government would have to work to get its legislation through parliament, and spin off would be that our parliament would become truly democratic.

The voting system also need to be discussed, do we stick with the preferential system for the House of Representatives and Proportional system for the Senate or do we change to a Proportional system for both or revert back to first past the post system for the House only. Finally discussion should take place as to whether our Prime Minister be directed elected by the people as opposed to the party of government, and whether the Australian government should include the best people for each position, not matter what political party they are from or even if they are a member of parliament.

In terms of the obstacle as to which level of government state or local is abolished, I strongly believe that both should be abolished and we should consider the concept of a half way house between both, basically revive a Whitlam government idea of regional government. These regional governments would be larger than local governments but smaller than state governments but would take over responsibility for all areas current looked after by state and local governments now other than Health and Education which must be administered national.

A proposal which has been suggested before and would know doubt work would see Western Australia split in two, along with the Northern Territory, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria. New South Wales and Queensland would be broken up into three regions each with the ACT being abolished and merged into one of the three new regional governments in New South Wales. These regions would elect a regional council, who would then elect an executive to run the region from day to day, and all regional councilors would be full-time.

There are two spin offs from this, one the double up of bureaucratic red-tape between federal, state and local government would be abolished, because there would be clear line of demarcation between both tiers of government. Two it would reduce the apparent problems with corruption in local government because all regional councilors would be full-time. Where currently in some states like Western Australia local councilors are honorary, and because voting is not compulsory in some cases they are not even elected by a majority of the people in that council.

The final reform which can’t be over-looked and must happen to our federation is the very reform that former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam has talked about on many occasions. This is that federal, state, local or regional parliament terms should be four year fixed terms for both houses, and they should all occur on the same day. Anyway its time to let the reform debate commence.

About the Author

I am from Wanneroo, Western Australia I am and have always taken a strong interest in politics both in and outside of Australia. I have and am currently studying to be a teacher

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