Policy - A New Federalism for a New Federation

Warning: This policy is only funny if you are me...

At some time in the last few decades some politician made use of the term ‘New Federalism’ but is was just some lame buzz-word. Me First! however presents a policy that will truly offer us a New Federalism.

Australia was always supposed to be a federation of states but over time power has been concentrated into the hands of the Federal Government. In some ways we are now more of a unitary state particularly with the way Cabinet behaves. We need to restore the integrity of our Federal nation-state and to do that Me First! will draw inspiration from a confederal model in order to overcome the long-standing trend towards unitary government. The model we will look to is that of the European Union (EU). The Membership has been on holiday in Europe and enjoyed the experience. Surely such enjoyment arose in part from an effective array of inter-related governmental forms.

To convert the current institutions of Australian Federal Government into EU-like institutions the following steps will be taken:

The Commission: Establish an Australian Commission consisting of a group of eminent persons drawn from the public service, academia, industry, the community sector and reality television. They will be drawn from the states in the following numbers but will be sworn to serve the best interests of Australia as a whole.

New South Wales: 3
Victoria: 3
Queensland: 2
Western Australia: 2
South Australia: 2
Tasmania: 2
Australian Capital Territory: 1*
Northern Territory: 1
Total: 16

* Note that the ACT will later be abolished under the ‘A New Capital for a New Federation’ Policy.

The purpose of the Commission will be to draft legislation for consideration by both the Parliament and the Council of Ministers and also to manage the bureaucracy that will then implement legislation made into law. Commissioners will sit four-year terms.

The Parliament: Abolish the Senate – its role of representing the states will be transferred to the Council of Ministers. Abolish the practice of having ministers drawn from Parliament thereby abolishing Prime Minister and Cabinet. Have its quasi-executive powers transferred to both the Commission and the Council of Ministers. All parliamentarians will then be free to solely represent constituents. Re-name the House of Representatives the Australian Parliament (a new unicameral parliament). Keep the current number of parliamentarians (Members of the Australian Parliament – MAPs) but alter the way they are elected to Proportional Representation (PR) on the basis of the following two kinds of multi-member electorates:

- 5-member electorates of approximately 400,000+ voters needing a quota of approximately 16.67% to elect each MAP.

- 2-member electorates of approximately 160,000+ voters needing a quota of approximately 33.34% to elect each MAP.

MAPs will be drawn from the states in the same numbers as at present and electorates will be distributed as follows:

NSW - 5-MAP Electorates: 10 - 2-MAP Electorates: 0 - Total MAPs: 50
Vic - 5-MAP Electorates: 7 - 2-MAP Electorates: 1 - Total MAPs: 37
Qld - 5-MAP Electorates: 5 - 2-MAP Electorates: 1 - Total MAPs: 27
WA - 5-MAP Electorates: 3 - 2-MAP Electorates: 0 - Total MAPs: 15
SA - 5-MAP Electorates: 2 - 2-MAP Electorates: 1 - Total MAPs: 12
Tas - 5-MAP Electorates: 1 - 2-MAP Electorates: 0 - Total MAPs: 5
ACT* - 5-MAP Electorates: 0 - 2-MAP Electorates: 1 - Total MAPs: 2
NT - 5-MAP Electorates: 0 - 2-MAP Electorates: 1 - Total MAPs: 2
Aus - 5-MAP Electorates: 28 - 2-MAP Electorates: 5 - Total MAPs: 150

* Once the ACT is abolished these numbers will be adjusted according to distribution of former ACT voters.

The 2-Member Electorates will be located as much as is practical in inner-metropolitan areas so as to limit the ability of some of the more kooky elements that congregate in such areas to get electoral representation. The likely distribution of 5-Member and 2-Member electorates in Victoria will serve to illustrate how electorates will be arranged.

- Inner Metropolitan Melbourne: 2-Member Electorate
- Western Metropolitan Area: 5-Member Electorate
- Northern Metropolitan Area: 5-Member Electorate
- Eastern Metropolitan Area: 5-Member Electorate
- South-Eastern Metropolitan Area: 5-Member Electorate
- Eastern Rural Area: 5-Member Electorate *
- Northern Rural Area: 5-Member Electorate *
- Western Rural Area: 5-Member Electorate *

* These electorates will include regional centres and even some outer-metropolitan fringes – the fact of the matter is that there is simply a lot more of us city-slickers!

As the MAPs are elected by PR they will represent the diversity of sane political opinion in Australia and as electorates are distributed according to population the Australian Parliament will represent the interests of the Australian population - it will truly be the ‘popular house’. MAPs will sit in party political groupings rather than state delegations. They will be elected to four-year terms.

The job of the Australian Parliament will be to assess and amend draft legislation presented to it by the Commission. Draft legislation will then be passed onto the Council of Ministers for final acceptance or rejection.

The Council of Ministers: The Council of Ministers will be a meeting of whichever state government ministers are needed to consider a particular policy area. If for instance the draft legislation to be assessed is an employment policy then all the state and territory employment ministers will meet to accept or reject Federal laws. There will be exactly one vote per state and state governments will thus get the final say in laws passed for the Federation of which they are an integral part. The most important form of the Council of Ministers will be the Council of Premiers that will replace the present useless Premiers Conference. One of the roles of the Premiers in Council will be to select the Commissioners. Every state and territory will get its chance to facilitate Council meetings by a rotating chairpersonship of six months per state or territory.

With the institutions thus described the need of expert involvement in policy development will be met by the Commission while the Parliament will represent the Australian Public as a whole and the Council will truly represent the States. Only one more institution needs changing…

The President: Me First! is a republican party and proposes replacing the Queen of Australia with a President of Australia. Me First! will circumvent the tiresome debate over whether the President is selected by the voters or by politicians by having the President selected from the Electoral Role by random number generator. Any voter in Australia could win ‘Republican Lotto’ then become President and be expected to cut ribbons and hob nob with international statespersons. Think of this like Jury Duty. The Presidential term will be four years (Note: This is a Me First! innovation rather than anything inspired by the EU).

State Governments: The states are older than Federation and in recognition of this Me First! will preserve at a state level a form of parliamentary government in which government ministers are derived from Parliament. There will however be unicameral state parliaments elected in a similar manner to the Australian Parliament. Furthermore the state governors will be replaced by Aboriginal Elders in a bold move that will provide reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians once and for all.

The analogy Me First! have in mind is that of rental accommodation. Just owning something is a very different thing from controlling it. Tenants have rights. The residents of a rental property can furnish it and live in anyway they wish. All the owner can do is make sure they take care of the property and derive some income from the relationship. This is what Me First! proposes for Indigenous relations. The aboriginal community will develop its own mechanisms for selecting a State Elder in each state. Elders will take on the roles currently held by governors. In this way the traditional owners of Australia will be recognized in its very state apparatus and the rest of us can be freed of that stigma attached to squatters because we will in fact be "paying the rent".

Elders will have the right to sell titles and honorifics. Any organization that wishes to have the word 'royal' in its name will have to pay Elders for that right. All proceeds from such sales must be directed into projects for the benefit of indigenous Australians (replacing a range of existing services).

And just as landlords must respect tenants so too Elders will have to respect the secular multicultural migrant democracy that resides here. They will be expected by convention and tradition to always rubber stamp the decisions of state parliaments. It is also hoped that they will improve the standard of pomp and ceremony at government houses and official proceedings (less Elgar and more Yothu Yindi).

Local Government: Me First! has a policy of 'Voluntary Local Government' (VLG) in which only those who want to use local government services will choose to pay rates. It is anticipated that this policy over time will totally undermine the viability of local governments just as VSU is likely to undermine non-academic student services at university. Once that happens Me First! state governments will step in and turn local government into an arm of state government. Everyone says we have too many politicians anyway so getting rid of all those municipal councilors will be a very popular move!

The totally unique Me First! Party Structure and Mechanisms

The Me First! Party consists of these overlapping functional units:

The Me First! Executive – Me

The Me First! Membership – Me

Me First! State Divisions – As stated in ‘Why is Me First! different from all other political parties’ the Me First! Party is totally free from divisions of any kind whatsoever – even those based on interstate rivalry. Most interstate rivalry in Australia is fostered by an interest in sports like Australian Rules and the Membership has never had any interest in these sports so cannot see any need for state divisions in Me First!.

Me First! Branches – At any one time there is always one Me First! branch in existence depending on the current location of the membership. So for instance if the Membership is on the 9:00 am Glen Waverley train from Flinders Street Station then there is a Melbourne Branch at 9:00 am, a Glen Iris Branch at 9:15 am, and a Glen Waverley Branch at 9:35 am. Depending on personal circumstances these branches can be very effective campaigning units for the Me First! Party. On the other hand they can spend too much time just whinging.

The Me Generation (Youth Wing of the Me First! Party) – The Membership is now in its 30s but as they say “the 30s are the new 20s”. As such Me First! has its own youth wing - The Me Generation – which exists to keep the party young and fresh. The Me Generation can sometimes be seen at inner-suburban live music venues, outer-suburban housewarmings, and even rural camp-sites getting some R ‘n’ R.

Me Sexy (The Gender and Sexuality Issue Group of the Me First! Party) – To be perfectly honest this particular body within the Me First! Party has been dormant for some time now. However participation is open to both the membership and supporters of the Me First! Party so that may change at any time.

Me Too (The Me First! Party Supporters Network) – Me Too is for anyone who wants to further the political objectives of the Me First! Party but who cannot become a member because they are not me. Despite its total lack of political power it is this Supporters Network that plays a key role in the growing success of the Me First! Party.

Me Thinks (The Me First! ‘Think Tank’) – Every political party needs an associated public policy development organization or ‘think tank’ to recommend policy to it and promote public acceptance of that policy. Me Thinks gets grants from the government and spends it on the coffee needed to run policy-drafting sessions. It is important that Me Thinks works in isolation from the wider community to ensure that policy is free from such pesky considerations as practicality or popularity.

Feet First! (The NEW Me First! Pedestrian Representative Body) - In seeking a constituency Me First! have identified pedestrians as an under-represented demographic that we can hopefully take advantage of help. Just say "We were here first so put our Feet First!"

Me First! Funding Strategy – Me First! and Me Too will be funded by any and all methods deemed useful. The most innovative of these funding methods shall be that of a ‘Tontine’: Every Me Too participant can contribute to a fund which will be utilized to fund Me First! campaigns. However every political party also has to prepare for the possibility of its demise and the disposal of its funds. Whatever is left of the fund at the cessation of party operations will be won in its entirety by the last surviving registered participant. This tontine will provide participants with incentive to stay with Me First! till the bitter end in the hope that they will be the last living participant and can win a bloody fortune from the cold ashes of an extinct party.

International Links: The Protista – It is normal for political parties to foster links with like-minded sibling parties worldwide. We made overtures to libertarians but even they found us too annoying. So Me First! has combed the world to find truly like-minded organizations and so far has succeeded in finding one other: The Protista. The Protista is a one-member liberation front in Latin America dedicated to freeing itself from the confines of its own limited political assumptions. Together Me First! and The Protista are in the process of establishing the Egotist International but are experiencing differences over implementation issues.

Why is Me First! different from other political parties?

The problem with all political parties both in Australia and internationally is that they lack of philosophical and organization coherence. Every party presents a confusing and contradictory set of statements derived from bastardised ideology and the need to appease conflicting interests within the party. Me First! overcomes these problems by having just one party member – me.

As the only member of Me First! I set the political character and policy platform and as a result it all makes perfect sense to me. Me First! is the only truly democratic party because everything the membership wants the membership instantly gets from the party organization. From moment to moment the Party Executive (me) knows exactly what the membership (me) is thinking. This makes Me First! incredibly responsive to changing political circumstances.

Of course the membership cannot work towards Me First! objectives all by itself which is why Me First! also has the Me Too supporter network for everyone who cannot be a member of Me First! but desperately wants to contribute to its political success.