During the last June Liberal’s party meeting, the Prime Minister, Tony Abbott has put forward an immense proposal on Australia federalism as he states “it is time to make each level of government sovereign in its own sphere” (ABC, 2014). In his speech, Abbott says that the federation has great strengths but they are combined with buck passing, duplication, waste and inefficiency. Hence, by giving each level of government sovereign in its own sphere, Abbott is planning to hand more power to the States and limiting Commonwealth’s roles as specified in the White Paper on reform of the federation (DPMC, 2014). In response to Tony Abbott’s proposal, this essay will support the idea to reform the federation. To provide a comprehensive argument, I …show more content…
In allocating roles and responsibility between different levels of government, the White Paper considers six principles to be applied as a ‘design principles’ for re-designing of the Federation (DPMC, 2014). The six principles are accountability for performance in delivering outcomes, subsidiarity, national interest considerations, equity, efficiency and lastly effectiveness of service delivery, durability and fiscal sustainability. For example, in terms of health sector, the Commonwealth could be the sole funder and policy setter, and the States and Territories could be solely responsible for the delivery of government services, either directly, or through purchasing services from community or private sector organisations (DPMC, 2014). This approach allows both levels of government to be active within a single sector, without overlap in the specific roles they …show more content…
As proposed in the White Paper, States will have more power to decide its own policy, financing and taxation. Borrowing the Realism’s lens to describe that every States is anarchy or sovereign, and each States and politicians ought to pursue power or their own interests (Mearsheimer 1994:10). In reality is that, this ‘sovereignty’ lead to an ‘intentional’ way of the States to develop its own self-interest which are not aligned with other States’ national agenda. This is because despite the Commonwealth’s reminder to pursue the same national agenda, the States can easily become ‘self-absorbed’ with its own land and soon return year before 1901 when there is no ‘country’s
Australia's federation came about through a process of deliberation, consultation and debate. Before 1901 Australia did not exist as a nation. It was six British colonies, which were self-governed, but under the power of the British Parliament. The colonies were almost like six separate countries. In the 1880s there was so much disorganisation within this system, which caused a belief that a national government was, needed to deal with issues such as trade, defence and immigration saw popular support for federation grow.
Therefore, it is clear that a monarchy in Australia should remain. Even though he led the Republican Movement for the 1999 referendum at the time, it has been stated explicitly by the Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull that a republican Australia will only occur if there is widespread public momentum for the change. Thus, there is today not enough interest in changing our system of government, so why bother with it if the people do not want it? Becoming a republic requires constitutional change, and thus means two-thirds of people in a majority of states must be supportive for a monarch to be replaced by a republic. Traditionally, senior citizens have not been in support of topics such as a republican movement; thus, those who emigrated from England and the United Kingdom would predominantly reject a republic. Hence, the younger generations in society are the citizens in which usually are more divisive or willing to all options. “Many young Australians just don’t see the point of conducting a referendum.” These young Australians also hold the belief that by becoming a republic, the financial detriment will prove to be far too much of a burden and are not in favour of the switch to an untried system from one in which functions effectively now. Moreover, since Australia has always been with the Commonwealth, and having been required
The main for a republic is that for Australia to be truly independent, it is essential to sever the ties with the British monarch. Currently the only person who can become the official head of state is the eldest male heir to the British throne. A republic would allow for equality in this respect, as any Australian would be eligible for the positi...
As well I will outline reasons why the Australian federal system of government is in its current state and what action can be taken to change it.
The first advantage towards Australia from federation that will be discussed in this essay is that federation helped Australia’s economy. Prior to federation the continent of Australia was broke up into six small economies, each a colony. Federation meant that Australia would become a bigger and better economy therefore other governments, particularly Brittan would be more willing to grant Australia loans and invest within it, opposed to doing so with smaller and separate colonies. Federation also had an effect on the tariffs. Prior to federation business people had to pay tariffs but under federation the tariffs would be abolished and free trade would make cheaper production costs and open up many more business opportunities. In this sense, Federation should have been a necessity for Australia due to all the finan...
If those in power do not obey the social contract, the commonwealth has the right to create a new social contract so the state of nature does not prevail. The sovereign is entrusted with unlimited power, but must always act in a way that protects the people. Laws from the sovereign allow the commonwealth to not constantly fear death. Like principalities, sovereignty is allowed ultimate rule. It is similar to a republic in which the ruler has to abide by the will of the people.
“They must have the right sort of intelligence and ability; and also they must look upon the commonwealth as their special concern – the sort of concern that is felt for something so closely bound up with oneself that its interests and fortunes, for good or ill, are held to be identical with one’s own” (The Republic of Plato ...
The central question of federalism is “Who should do what?” National government supporters believe only a strong central government is capable of ensuring the rights and liberties of its citizens. States’ rights advocates argue for limiting the implied powers of the national government. Federalism was a compromise for the conflict of states’ rights versus central authority. Federalism divides power between the national and the lower level governments with each having distinct powers that the other cannot override. (pg. 46)
The principle of the separation of powers is that, in order to prevent oppressive government, the three powers of government should be held by separate bodies—the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary—which can act as checks and balances on each other. (Locke, 1690) Australia’s system of separation of powers (SOP) is a hybrid of the UK Westminster system of government and the American federal and constitutional features of government. This system of government was chosen because they provide essential philosophical and theoretical bases for which separation is essential and although this system incorporates the best aspects of the UK and US systems, many crossovers have been incorporated as a result. Consequently this shows vulnerability in the Australian federal and state system exposing it to exploitation, and mistreatment.
When you think of the “land down under” you don’t really think of the kind of government they have. I chose to write about the Australian government because I really don’t hear much about Australia. It currently has a pretty interesting story to tell when it comes to their government. I became a bit interested in Australian politics when I saw a political animated cartoon on the internet that depicted Kevin Rudd, the last Prime Minister, on a news television show and it was quite humorous. I am going to give a quick history lesson on Australia then go into how the government formed and came to be. Then I will talk about the Australian constitution, the Australian arms of government, their federal system, political parties and Australia’s current Prime Minister.
A country’s health care system refers to all the institutions, programs, personnel, procedures, and the resources that are used to meet the health needs of its population. Health care systems vary from one country to another, depending on government policies and the health needs of the population. Besides, health care programs are flexible in the sense that they are tailored to meet health needs as they arise. Among the stakeholders in the formulation of a country’s health care system are governments, religious groups, non-governmental organizations, charity organizations, trade/labor unions, and interested individuals (Duckett, 2008). These entities formulate, implement, evaluate, and reform health services according to the needs of the sections of the population they target.
Key players and their roles… Decisions about FP are made by the executive and the bureaucracy making it incompatible with the democracy that Australia is. The government can dominate foreign policy in a way that it cannot dominate domestic policy.
The decision for Australia to adopt the Federal system was on the principle of which the State’s governments wanted to keep their power. For this reason there was the separation of powers between the newly formed Commonwealth government and the existing State governments. At a constitutional level, there are rulings in which the powers are separated, these rulings due to disputes have slightly changed since 1901. These changes all fell towards the one government, the Commonwealth (Federal) government. However this was not just a landslide event, the Constitution of Australia set up this imbalance of powers between the Commonwealth and State governments. We will explore this further in the points discussed later in this essay.
Maxwell A. Cameron (2004). Federalism and the Separation of Powers at the Subnational level. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.politics.ubc.ca/fileadmin/user_upload/poli_sci/Faculty/cameron/Federalism_and_the_Separation_of_Powers_Aug11-04b1.pdf. [Last Accessed November 10, 2013].
In conclusion Federalism is a big part of our country. Federalism does have its pros and cons but it’s safe to say that it has so far worked out fairly well. Still, we must keep in mind that federalism does affects our everyday lives and many times we take for granted that the individual in political parties will make the right decisions for the well-being of the public, though at times it is not always be the case. We must remember that for change to happen we must be involved and ready to learn and see and understand ways that we can make a difference, for at the end of the day it is our lives that are affected with every single decision that is made.