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!