Federation needs a fix

In pursuing reform, the system cannot be changed all at once. Attempting to do so has led to failure in other like areas. Instead, we should view federal reform as a decade-long task involving deliberate, well-informed steps built upon community understanding and wide support for change.

With one exception, reform should initially focus on areas that do not need a referendum to change the constitution. These include recasting bodies such as the Commonwealth Grants Commission and the Council for Australian Governments. This could build momentum for greater successes.

The one constitutional change we should make now is to fix a problem that undermines Commonwealth-state co-operation. In a series of cases since 1999, the High Court has found that the constitution does not permit some of the most important national co-operative laws. Even where every government agrees, as on family law changes or a more efficient judicial system, outcomes in the national interest may be impossible.

This is a clear flaw in the constitution. All sides of politics and federal and state governments have recognised it needs to be fixed. No one has opposed this. Late last year, it was the unanimous recommendation of the House of Representatives Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee.

The area is of vital importance. The ability to bring about consistent rather than conflicting laws across Australia has a big impact on business and the efficient delivery of community services. We should muster political and popular support for a referendum to change the constitution so that co-operation is again possible. If successful, it would be the first constitutional amendment since 1977 and could open up further possibilities for reform.

Australia's federal system has passed its use-by date. It was created in 1901, the age of the horse and buggy, and has not been modernised since. This does not mean we should remove our federal system entirely. Instead, we just need a much better system than we now have.

Reform has been left for too long. Until this is recognised and people begin to act, Australians will pay through the hip pocket and our future prosperity will be undermined. This is the price of having a bloated and inefficient system of government based on a dysfunctional federal model.