Beyond Federation

Beyond Federation Advocates abolishing state governments in Australia in favour of a more efficient national government, stronger local governments and regional councils.

THE BEYOND FEDERATION CHARTER

Beyond Federation was established, on 8 January 2002, to encourage improvements to our Constitution and system of government that will benefit Australia and all Australians. Members of Beyond Federation recognise ...

The unsustainably high cost of the "three tier" system of government in Australia, and the need to free up government resources to advance better outco

mes for individuals, communities, groups, the environment, the economy, industry and businesses;

That state and federal politicians have forced structural reforms on to local government, industry, business, employment, organisations and individuals, but have not taken necessary action to reform their own sphere;

The need for the Australian Constitution to be the evolving document envisioned by its founders;

The diversity of our country, and the desire and ability of people and communities – in cities and in each viable local region – to deal with their own local issues without excessive interference from centralised government;

The desire of Australians to be rid of burdensome and inappropriate differences, between states and territories and sometimes between urban and rural areas, in laws, regulations and access to services, including such essentials as medical treatment, water, energy, communications and transport; and

The need for uniform national laws. Beyond Federation Supports ...

A system of government that is: democratic, understandable, accountable, just, equitable, affordable, efficient, stable yet flexible, and socially, environmentally and economically sustainable; functionally effective in areas such as the environment, health and education; and centralised and decentralised in an appropriate balance;

A Commonwealth government strengthened to be more responsive to the opportunities and needs of our country as a whole, and to our global circumstances;

In place of existing state governments: local/regional structures that are close to and responsive to the opportunities and needs of people and communities;

Congress meetings, and other collaborations, within and between communities, and within and between representative functional groups, to propose desirable reforms to our system of government;

Continuing academic research to propose desirable government system reforms to enhance Australian life;

Consensus-building, education, representation, organisation, legislation and constitutional changes to achieve needed reforms.

04/04/2021

The recent ALP National Conference has recommended the Federation has "to be modernised". In fact this has been tried several times in recent years at high level conferences - without anything to show for it! It has to be REPLACED with a decentralised unitary system.

The conference promised to present "new and bold policy" but apart from the welcome policy on EV vehicles, in terms of governance reforms there was nothing bold really. In particular
Conference has not resolved the ALP’s dilemma of appealing to both new energy voters and coal miners interests, admittedly essentially incompatible aims. The solution here is a new electoral system Proportional Representation - Party List. The ALP’s ambition, restated at the conference by Senator Keneally, is to have a fair electoral system. However, the existing system is neither fair nor democratic. Federally, the Greens only have had one seat, for some 20 years now. If it was fair the Greens should have around 10% of the seats (15), their proportional share in the 2019 election. Apart from that PR - PL would end pork barreling, branch stacking, gerrymandering and by-elections. 89 countries use PR!
A real problem is that a debate on improving democracy, including particularly the electoral system, is not encouraged by the media in Australia. The explanation for this, most likely, is that Australians were brought up with a Westminster-oriented
governance system, in long-term isolation. They were and still are isolated from many European systems which are used to Propotional Representation - Party List. The only exception here is New Zealand that introduced a Proportional system similar to that in Germany in 1996, with considerably success and lasting support by the voters. The other problem is that all Ministers, federally and in the six states, are selected from the MPs of one of the two major parties only, not from the wider society. This limits their competence of course. However, they actually dominate the legislatures. Australia has grown up with these problems and questioning them appears strange but there is nevertheless a growing unease about the political system.Especially the trust in politicians, even before the current widespread protests about the role of women in Australian Parliaments, has dropped significantly.

Early in May 2020 the PM offered a "menu" of three stages to the six federal states and the two territories, covering th...
09/05/2020

Early in May 2020 the PM offered a "menu" of three stages to the six federal states and the two territories, covering the next few months, to phase out restrictions. Much scope was left to the Premiers, as could be expected from the federalist PM. So much so that some states could decide to proceed quite fast with dismantling the extensive restrictions. The potential for failure seems considerable but the strategy is essentially compatible with the part-sovereignty of a state. What if a new break-out in one or two states would be faster than expected? A second wave is generally regarded as much more difficult to contain. There have been a couple of instances for instance Singapore. The fast spreading Corona virus would completely disregard federal state boundaries and spread throughout Australia unless state boundaries were to be upgraded quickly to nation-states boundaries. That scenario is deeply concerning. It has nothing to recommend continued federalism.

How good is federalism – Australian style? Until the coronavirus crisis struck, the verdict would have been: pretty ordinary, at best. But at the moment it is flourishing. Can this outbreak of good health last? Federalism had been going rapidly … Continue reading →

08/05/2020

Despite the Prime Minister’s daily press conferences in which he fatuously tries (as is his wont) to reassure “all Australians” that they are “on the bridge to the other side” of the coronavirus pandemic, confusion and fear continue to stalk … Continue reading →

This crisis reinforces the urgent need to replace federation with a decentralised unitary system with much greater empha...
30/03/2020

This crisis reinforces the urgent need to replace federation with a decentralised unitary system with much greater emphasis on local government that could be called a mezzanine level of regional organisation of local councils. The ROCs system could be a forerunner of that. One can read about that in the book by a group of enthusiasts
published by BookPod, Melbourne at the end of 2014: Beyond Federation. The current crisis could well be the tipping point of a much more widespread awareness of the need for change as well the need for a new Australia Constitution altogether.

Despite the Prime Minister’s daily press conferences in which he fatuously tries (as is his wont) to reassure “all Australians” that they are “on the bridge to the other side” of the coronavirus pandemic, confusion and fear continue to stalk … Continue reading →

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