ID :
11470
Sat, 07/05/2008 - 09:27
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/11470
The shortlink copeid
Abolish states, defence minister says
(AAP) - Australia is the most over-governed nation on Earth and reforms should include abolishing the states, Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon says.
Presenting the inaugural Edmund Barton Lecture at Newcastle University, Mr
Fitzgibbon said the country was still paying heavily for the agreements by which the
states passed some powers to the new commonwealth to achieve federation in 1901.
Barton, a leading figure in the push for federation and Australia's first prime
minister, was the first member for Hunter, although he never lived in the electorate.
Mr Fitzgibbon, the current Hunter MP, said the agreements on federation may or may
not be described as a mistake - Barton and others were in no position to achieve otherwise.
But, he said: "It's a system that leaves us the most over-governed country in the world".
"Fourteen houses of parliament for 22 million people. In Tasmania, they have an MP for every 8,000 electors."
Mr Fitzgibbon said the duplication, inefficiencies, buck passing and blame shifting cost the economy billions.
He said the Business Council of Australia put the cost at $9 billion a year.
Wholesale constitutional reform was long overdue and the starting point should be
true independence, he said.
"It is past time for an Australian republic.
"Unlike most Australians, I've been to my fair share of state dinners. I shudder
every time I see a visiting head of state like the US president, respond to a toast
to him or her with a toast to the Queen of Australia.
"It's embarrassing."
Surely Australia was sufficiently grown up to be master of its own affairs, he said.
"Further, ideal reform would include the abolition of the states.
"Also welcome would be an electoral system which acts on the principle of
proportional representation, giving minor parties a voice in both houses of the
national parliament."
However, one thing which had remained constant since Barton's time was the
conservative nature of the electorate, he said.
That, combined with the high bar set by the mechanism for securing constitutional
change - another legacy of the founding fathers - made it about as easy as getting a
politician to give up his job, he said.
Mr Fitzgibbon said the best hope now lay with the Council of Australian Governments
(COAG), which met in Sydney on Thursday.
"The work of COAG has never been so important. That's why (Prime Minister) Kevin
Rudd has pushed it to the top of the Australian government's agenda," he said.
Presenting the inaugural Edmund Barton Lecture at Newcastle University, Mr
Fitzgibbon said the country was still paying heavily for the agreements by which the
states passed some powers to the new commonwealth to achieve federation in 1901.
Barton, a leading figure in the push for federation and Australia's first prime
minister, was the first member for Hunter, although he never lived in the electorate.
Mr Fitzgibbon, the current Hunter MP, said the agreements on federation may or may
not be described as a mistake - Barton and others were in no position to achieve otherwise.
But, he said: "It's a system that leaves us the most over-governed country in the world".
"Fourteen houses of parliament for 22 million people. In Tasmania, they have an MP for every 8,000 electors."
Mr Fitzgibbon said the duplication, inefficiencies, buck passing and blame shifting cost the economy billions.
He said the Business Council of Australia put the cost at $9 billion a year.
Wholesale constitutional reform was long overdue and the starting point should be
true independence, he said.
"It is past time for an Australian republic.
"Unlike most Australians, I've been to my fair share of state dinners. I shudder
every time I see a visiting head of state like the US president, respond to a toast
to him or her with a toast to the Queen of Australia.
"It's embarrassing."
Surely Australia was sufficiently grown up to be master of its own affairs, he said.
"Further, ideal reform would include the abolition of the states.
"Also welcome would be an electoral system which acts on the principle of
proportional representation, giving minor parties a voice in both houses of the
national parliament."
However, one thing which had remained constant since Barton's time was the
conservative nature of the electorate, he said.
That, combined with the high bar set by the mechanism for securing constitutional
change - another legacy of the founding fathers - made it about as easy as getting a
politician to give up his job, he said.
Mr Fitzgibbon said the best hope now lay with the Council of Australian Governments
(COAG), which met in Sydney on Thursday.
"The work of COAG has never been so important. That's why (Prime Minister) Kevin
Rudd has pushed it to the top of the Australian government's agenda," he said.
