Centralism by stealth

Small businesses and individuals have little if any capacity to influence outcomes whilst state parliaments, controlled as they are by executive members – the people who are ministers and thus part of the COAG club - have effectively dealt themselves out of the legislative scrutiny game.

The pace of Kevin 24/7 is such that many laws will shortly be changed using a system that virtually by-passes critical parliamentary examination.

The ability for anyone other than the largest most sophisticated players to vary or oppose legislation will be lost.

By default, Australia will develop a European Union style of technocratic government.

Tanner appears to support a 2020 summit recommendation for a Federation Commission to (which according to Tanner could be part of the Productivity Commission) to carry out a clean sheet of paper review of the roles and responsibilities of federal, state and local governments in areas of major economic activity.

If that is the Government's policy, they should establish the commission sooner rather than later, so that the structure of the Australian federation, and the responsibilities of each component of it, is clear.

Similarly, the Opposition should now signal whether they still stand by their platform, or rather that they now think it more appropriate for states and territories to be service providers, leaving standards setting to the Australian Parliament.

Both parties owe this to Australian democracy.