Tom CravenAbolishment of States Is a Pipe Dream
April 25th 2008 00:31
Our country is made up of six states, the only thing that links a Western Australian and and a Tasmanian is the fact that they live in the same country. There is no other connection, they are Western Australian and Tasmanian first, and Australian second. We as a nation should never support attempts to increase the eastern states domination over the smaller states, we as a collective group are far too different and federalism works far too well to abandon. Regional governments or councils would divide Australia from anywhere between 50 and 20 regional councils. This would leave all important areas of governance to the Commonwealth. This would spell the end for Australia as we know it.
It a popular argument by the wannabe destroyers of federalism that the states are a needless tier of government. But did you know that States spend around 70% of the expenditure of the government while the Commonwealth spends around 20%, the states provide the majority of the services that we use. Outsourcing these to Canberra (who have no experience) with these areas would be devastating for all concerned.
The Federal Government have stuffed up I.R Laws, Immigration, communications with Telstra/Broadband, can barely keep a university afloat and have contributed to the decline of Defence. Their track record is not perfect and we should not trust them with health, education, transport, environment, legal and local court practices, and policing.
If we have one government tier like the Commonwealth across Australia, we would lose all accountability, and the check and balance that is the states will vanish. People like John Howard would go crazy with power and could control our entire lives, and NO one could stop them. There is this belief that federal politicians will act in the best of heart, we know this is not the case we cannot afford to lose the accountability and check and balance that the states provide. No one else will provide that.
Even with Commonwealth funding the case Australia wide would worsen, as the regional councils would have no bargaining power as they would control areas of little importance. How would a regional council which controls rubbish collection be able to stand up to the Commonwealth and demand money for their own areas like the states do, where is the possible incentive from the Commonwealth to give money? We would end up with Alfred Deakin’s nightmare; governments in Canberra would just give the money to the big states, the only thing at the moment that stops the Commonwealth giving all the money to the big states is WA and QLD's domination of the economy.What will happen when there is only the Commonwealth who controls the entire economy, there will be no incentive to equal out the money, would there?
With a regional government model we are outsourcing the problems, we are decreasing all local factors. Someone in Perth would be governed entirely by a place 3000 kilometers away as opposed to the state parliament system in Perth we have now. The states have always acted like separate nations, so there is a very strong sense of pride and individuality in one's state. Education, health, environment, legal system and policing all need to be local so they can react quicker and provide services that are more useful to local areas. These areas are costly, and would remain just as costly is we switched to regional governments as the money which the states have been using would just go to the Commonwealth so they can do the same job, the savings which would be minimal would never be enough to justify handing the country into the hands of a novices.
Federalism is the reason why this country came together,
Federalism is the reason why this country has survived.
Federalism is the reason why this country will survive.
If you believe in regional councils instead of Federalism Answer these questions:
Who will hold the COA accountable for its actions?
How will money be divided fairly with out the bargaining power of the states?
How will the COA who has no experience in health,education,transport,po licing and state legal systems run these areas better than states who have been doing it for over 150 years?
How will the areas of residual power be kept local seeming regional councils will have little legislative power?
How will you account for the lost identity of the 6 states?
Impossible, yes.
It a popular argument by the wannabe destroyers of federalism that the states are a needless tier of government. But did you know that States spend around 70% of the expenditure of the government while the Commonwealth spends around 20%, the states provide the majority of the services that we use. Outsourcing these to Canberra (who have no experience) with these areas would be devastating for all concerned.
The Federal Government have stuffed up I.R Laws, Immigration, communications with Telstra/Broadband, can barely keep a university afloat and have contributed to the decline of Defence. Their track record is not perfect and we should not trust them with health, education, transport, environment, legal and local court practices, and policing.
If we have one government tier like the Commonwealth across Australia, we would lose all accountability, and the check and balance that is the states will vanish. People like John Howard would go crazy with power and could control our entire lives, and NO one could stop them. There is this belief that federal politicians will act in the best of heart, we know this is not the case we cannot afford to lose the accountability and check and balance that the states provide. No one else will provide that.
Even with Commonwealth funding the case Australia wide would worsen, as the regional councils would have no bargaining power as they would control areas of little importance. How would a regional council which controls rubbish collection be able to stand up to the Commonwealth and demand money for their own areas like the states do, where is the possible incentive from the Commonwealth to give money? We would end up with Alfred Deakin’s nightmare; governments in Canberra would just give the money to the big states, the only thing at the moment that stops the Commonwealth giving all the money to the big states is WA and QLD's domination of the economy.What will happen when there is only the Commonwealth who controls the entire economy, there will be no incentive to equal out the money, would there?
With a regional government model we are outsourcing the problems, we are decreasing all local factors. Someone in Perth would be governed entirely by a place 3000 kilometers away as opposed to the state parliament system in Perth we have now. The states have always acted like separate nations, so there is a very strong sense of pride and individuality in one's state. Education, health, environment, legal system and policing all need to be local so they can react quicker and provide services that are more useful to local areas. These areas are costly, and would remain just as costly is we switched to regional governments as the money which the states have been using would just go to the Commonwealth so they can do the same job, the savings which would be minimal would never be enough to justify handing the country into the hands of a novices.
Federalism is the reason why this country came together,
Federalism is the reason why this country has survived.
Federalism is the reason why this country will survive.
If you believe in regional councils instead of Federalism Answer these questions:
Who will hold the COA accountable for its actions?
How will money be divided fairly with out the bargaining power of the states?
How will the COA who has no experience in health,education,transport,po licing and state legal systems run these areas better than states who have been doing it for over 150 years?
How will the areas of residual power be kept local seeming regional councils will have little legislative power?
How will you account for the lost identity of the 6 states?
Impossible, yes.
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