Celebrate diversity, if it's all the same to you

Most alarmingly, Abbott, one of the Government's more thoughtful and intelligent frontbenchers, took leave of his senses when he suggested the Commonwealth assume control of state hospitals. Bob Carr was almost unseemly in his eagerness to accept this lunatic offer to relieve him of the greatest poisoned chalice in Australian politics.

Abbott explained "conservatives believe in small government rather than many governments, especially when those governments seem hooked on state socialism". To attack federalism on the grounds that state governments are socialist is like advocating dictatorship on the grounds that you dislike the democratic government of the day.

The real problem, as revealed by Costello's frustration over the transparency of state budgets, is vertical fiscal imbalance: the Commonwealth does the taxing while the states spend without accountability for revenue-raising. With constitutional reform, this could be resolved by allowing individual states and territories to levy their desired rate of GST. A premier wanting more cash would wear the political heat for raising it.

Alternatively, the Liberal Party could run some credible state election campaigns with genuinely conservative platforms, rather than blaming our excellent constitution for state government policies that bear striking resemblance to those of most state Liberal oppositions.