The Australian Constitution

[Hugh Jarse]

The radio has reported this morning that former Victorian State Premier Jeff Kennett has proposed that there would be value in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania amalgamating.

What say you to going the full monty and getting rid of all state governments and their associated fat bureaucracies?

The Australian Constitution was a fine document for its time, but is it time to review some of the fundamental structures underpining the Commonwealth of Australia? FFS there are only 24 millions of us in the Lucky Country and around the world there are some megacities with greater populations.

It seems that there is a high price paid by residents for their supposed state governments which are little more than Lord Mayors and City Councillors of the respective State Capital Cities because they seem to have little interest in what happens outside the boundaries of the State Capitol metropolitan area.

How much money and resources would be freed up for infrastructure development, education, health and rugby if we did away with the State Governments and all their associated agencies which in many instances are duplicates of Federal agencies?

 

[I like to watch]

The only problem I have with that, is Local councils would take on more responsibilities.
Ever dealt with a local council?
Inept is a generous description.
There is also that old chestnut about self interest with the councillors.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Reorganise and reorient the local councils as well. They do not escape reform.

Brisbane manages to do it all with one council. Why do we need so many in Olde Sydney Towne?

Despite the rhetoric, there actually are quite a few competant and dedicated public servants. Come the Jarse Revolution, these people would be well suited to undertaking fair dinkum roles in the reorganised local councils.

 

[Scarfman]

NSW-men always want to abolish state government. QLDers and WAians never do. Makes sense, I suppose, and why the Federation was set up that way, so NSW-men wouldn't make all the decisions.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

A report from The Mercury http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2012/03/01/305151_tasmania-news.html
*******
OUTSPOKEN former premier of Victoria Jeff Kennett thinks the future of Tasmania is to be a part of a mega-state merger with its neighbours.
"There's no doubt that if firstly Tasmania and Victoria became one administrative unit, the benefits for particularly Tasmania would be immense," Mr Kennett said yesterday.
"You would cut down on your administration costs and make huge savings for the community and deliver those savings in better quality services or improved infrastructure.
"I understand [however] the so-called political leaders in Tasmania would not be interested in that deal."
He argued that ideally South Australia would also be part of the merger.
Mr Kennett said that self-interest and passion from Victoria's neighbours had in the past excluded the possibility of discussing the idea.
He won some support from Mercury columnist Greg Barns, who is a strong supporter of Tasmania using Victoria's greater ability to provide services to make the state more sustainable.
"Victoria's not nirvana by any means but it has the population and funding to support services across the board," Mr Barns said.
"The reality is, Tasmania is like living in regional Victoria if you've got a really sick kid you go to Melbourne."
However, Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings argued the state's strong sense of identity made a significant contribution to the nation.
"There has never been any compelling evidence that merging Tasmania and Victoria would lead to better social or economic outcomes," Ms Giddings said.
"In fact, in practical terms, the challenges of such a move would be immense."
Mr Kennett also suggested Tasmania and Victoria work together in the international tourism market to complement each state's assets Victoria's reputation for big events and Tasmania's wilderness and attractions such as MONA.
Tourism Council of Tasmania chief executive Luke Martin said the idea was flawed.
"From a domestic tourism point of view, which makes up 85 per cent of the Tasmania industry, the idea falls down a bit," Mr Martin said.
Mr Kennett first suggested a merger in 1996 which was dismissed by commentators at that time as brushing aside Tasmania's heritage and unique qualities.

 

[Bowside]

I'm a QLDer and I want to get rid of state governments as soon as possible. Unnecessary waste of money.

 

[boyo]

Surely the State Premiers and their governments have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.

They would be against anything that removes or reduces their power.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Absolutely. There are a lot of snouts in this particular feeding trough.

They all know that they have a lot to lose, and regardless of their public rhetorical committment to socialism and egalitarianism, they will do their unmost to ensure that thier particular species of little pigs remains more equal than the rest of us pigs.

 

[Budgie]

What name would you call the mega state merger of South Australia, Tasmania, and Victoria?

Any suggestions?

 

[Schadenfreude]

The Qld senate voted itself into oblivion, so there is precedent.

You'd have better luck with NT though.

 

[kambah mick]

I would go for a hybrid , get rid of the states and current local government bodies and bring in an intermediate tier of bodies, call them what you will provinces, counties, departments whatever. I would envisage about a dozen of them, perhaps as many as twenty five at most. I would also ensure that the boundaries of the new bodies were easily changed as circumstances required, possibly by an independent body similar to the Electoral Commission. I would legislate for specific tasks for the two levels of government which could not be duplicated.
Unfortunately I cant see it happening.

 

[wilful]

What name would you call the mega state merger of South Australia, Tasmania, and Victoria?

Any suggestions?

Victoria, of course.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Can't we have an Aussie name instead of a reference to a British Queen?

Time to shake off the colonial shackles methinks.

 

[Sully]

Yeah how about Ackernania.

Sent using Tapatalk

 

[Scotty]

Mehi Strayla

 

[Roundawhile]

South Tastoria

 

[Scarfman]

I would go for a hybrid , get rid of the states and current local government bodies and bring in an intermediate tier of bodies, call them what you will provinces, counties, departments whatever. I would envisage about a dozen of them, perhaps as many as twenty five at most. I would also ensure that the boundaries of the new bodies were easily changed as circumstances required, possibly by an independent body similar to the Electoral Commission. I would legislate for specific tasks for the two levels of government which could not be duplicated.
Unfortunately I cant see it happening.

The State of Origin is the only meaningful event in rugby league. It would be cruel to take that away from them. Pub of Origin maybe?

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

We are severely over-governed in Australia as a result of our colonial past. I largely agree with an attempt to streamline the process with either eliminating or amalgamating levels of government. However, the issue is how best to do it? To amend the constitution you would have to gain not only the majority of voters but the majority of states and regardless who is in power at the federal level I cannot see either party at the state level backing such a move.

How I would go about it would be to first forcibly amalgamate local government structures by raising the requirements to form councils to 1,000,000 person in metropolitan areas, 500,000 for the more populous regional area's and 100,000 in greater country areas. This would drastically cut council numbers nationwide by as much as half.

On the state and federal level I would move the required 40,000 needed to form a state seat to 80,000 and 80,000 (I actually think it's higher now) to 160,000 for federal seats. Basically double everything to halve the current size of each model. This is probably the only way I could see if feasibly happening.

 

[wilful]

lets face it guys, there will not be any change of this magnitude, not in our lifetime.

 

[BPC]

Victoria, of course.

Mexico