Would Kevin Rudd deliver two-tier government?

There should be regions, in part based on the Voluntary Regional Organisations (or Regional Organisation of Councils) grafted on and created by LG, which could be described as mezzanine regions. In addition, Australia needs city governments, for the larger cities only, with jurisdiction for the whole of the urban areas in question.

Such governments should be elected at the same time as all local council elections are held nationally. Such reforms will not only strengthen both the national government and LG but would end the cumbersome, dysfunctional centralisation, which has been a growing problem of the states ever since federation.

The mezzanine concept defined

“Mezzanine floor level” basically means “in-between” two normal levels, usually between first and second floors and more often than not, of a two-story building. This is a useful analogy with levels of political units because of what actually happens on such floors and how the organisation and the public view them. Mezzanine floors usually house support units, not very visible to the public, customers or clients although they are usually quite important, indeed essential to the proper functions of the organisation.

The failure of regional development within the existing structures

In our existing political system structure and existing economic system decentralisation and regional development, from the 1940s onwards, has been mostly unsuccessful. The capacity by the states to deliver on adopted policies to achieve that end was never strong and so, understandably, some regions desired to become states themselves, like New England in the 1960s. The Constitution provides for this in theory.

If this option had worked effectively over the last 100 years a quite different situation may have emerged in Australia. However, the de-population of rural Australia continues. Effective deconcentration of population as well as regional development have not been assisted by the non-creation of new states. That constitutional provision has demonstrably failed.

Attempts by Labour and Coalition federal governments over the last 15 years to boost regional development within the existing political framework, the three-tier system, have also nearly all been failures. That much was candidly admitted in the Report by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Primary Industries and Regional Services (2000) Time running Out - Shaping Regional Australia’s Future.

The report covered many areas but acknowledged the reduction of services in nearly all-regional areas and recommended that this had to stop. Competition Policy got the blame for much of the decline in services, rightly so, and the report recommended “a new focus for investment in regional Australia. Failing that we face the danger of Australia being divided into ‘two nations’.” The 92 recommendations were quite far-reaching however most were quickly rejected by the federal government, which described them as too costly or unrealistic.

The Coalition also came up with the Solutions for Regional Australia Program (from October 2002) to encourage local and regional solutions and ideas. These schemes are run “by the community, for the community” providing grants from $1,000 to $500,000.

While some communities may do well out of this it would seem that such programs are born out of desperation and lack of real commitment to regional development. It smacks of piecemeal tinkering, opportunism and lack of strategic planning. This is not to say that individuals may not have good ideas for regional development, such as, for example, the “dream” of Richard Pratt to replace open irrigation channels with a (covered) piped system to avoid evaporation. But even Pratt’s millions may not be enough to pull this off.

Therefore, strengthening the LG level combined with regional development are desirable objectives and the two need to be linked. It is the clusters of LG councils, where commonality of regional interests has already been identified for some considerable time. These should and do form the core of regional activity.

Regions in this context are territorial areas grafted on to Local Government clusters, not lines on a map or essentially primarily bio-diverse regions, so designated for environmental commonalities. They are the result of the needs of people and are, in the main, voluntarily created by LG clusters, not by a higher authority. It allows for LG functions to be undertaken jointly and financed jointly. Economies of scale are thereby achieved.

The mezzanine concept views regions as adjuncts to LG, which itself should be the second tier in a new constitutional organisation for Australia. However, for the Regional Organisation of Councils to flourish LG not only needs to be recognised in a new constitutional arrangement but strengthened. The strengthening should be in the areas of finance, organisation, powers and qualifications of personnel. Decentralisation and deconcentration of capital city populations can only be encouraged by the abolition of states and the fostering of a new, strong LG culture in Australia.