Is it not high time that the people are given the power of initiative to amend that Constitution? Worthwhile amendments to the Constitution will not come from the major parties who have a vested interest in the status quo. The inefficiency of the federal system is at least in part related to these system deficiencies.
The historical development of federalism in Australia - and its decline - has been predicted correctly by eminent commentators as early as 1902 when Alfred Deakin, the second prime minister said, the “Commonwealth would increase in stature, in financial dominance, and in the determination of national priorities”.
Gordon Greenwood (1942) wrote “Despite its achievements, the evidence points decisively to the conclusion that the federal system has outlived its usefulness, that the conditions which made federation a necessary stage in the evolution of Australian nationhood have largely passed away, and that the retention of the system now operates only as an obstacle to effective government and to a further advance.”
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The real value of the report, hopefully, may be in opening up the long overdue debate on how Australia can now move to a two-tier system of Government.
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About the Authors
John August is the convenor of Abolish the States Collective, and of the group Sydney Shove.
Dr Klaas Woldring is a former Associate Professor of Southern Cross University.
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John August
Klaas Woldring
