FOUR in 10 voters favour abolishing state governments, seeing them as the least-effective level of government and increasingly looking to the federal government to fix health and other problems.
The findings of a Newspoll survey conducted last month for Griffith University's federalism project and reported exclusively in The Weekend Australian today point to what constitutional lawyer George Williams calls "a crisis of confidence in state governments".
Federalism project director A. J. Brown, a professor of public law, says that unless the structure of government is addressed seriously, the inevitable result of current trends is that the states will continue withering away as effective partners in the federation.
Support for abolishing state governments has jumped from 31 per cent to 39 per cent in two years, based on the system of government that people would like to see in 20 years.
Disenchantment with the states runs so deep that only 17 per cent of voters regard them as the most effective level of government. In NSW, the figure is down to 9 per cent and in Tasmania 11 per cent. Despite their traditional hostility towards Canberra, Queenslanders have the next lowest opinion about how well state governments do their job, with only 16 per cent saying they are the most effective.
The findings are a measure of voter unhappiness with state Labor governments in NSW, Queensland and Tasmania.
Confidence in the effectiveness of state governments was highest, at 37 per cent, in Western Australia, the only state to have had a change in government in recent years.
Professor Brown said the results also suggested long-term structural problems with the federation.
"NSW and Queensland are the states that really struggle with administration because of their size, both in terms of geography and population and being forced to use big, cumbersome bureaucracies," he said.
Figures for South Australia support the conclusion that more than short-term factors are in play. Despite the disillusionment with the Rann government that produced a swing against it in last month's election, 26 per cent of South Australians still see the states as the most effective level of government, the second-highest after Western Australia.
The survey findings support the two-track strategy Kevin Rudd has adopted on health: to seek the co-operation of the states for his plan to become the dominant funder of hospitals and run them through local hospital networks but, if the states do not agree, to ask for voter approval through a referendum for a federal takeover.
Ninety-two per cent of voters like the idea of governments collaborating to solve problems but only 39 per cent think they do it well - a fall of three percentage points in two years.
Moreover, centralising government is increasing in appeal, with an increase of eight points to 49 per cent in those agreeing that it is better for as many decisions as possible to be made at higher levels of government. Support for this is strongest in NSW, at 59 per cent, and Tasmania, 57 per cent.
Although Australians are much more confident about the abilities of the federal government than the states, the 44 per cent who rate Canberra best at doing its job is down from 50 per cent two years ago.
As well as showing the Rudd government's honeymoon is over, the results suggest a growing disenchantment with government generally. Although the current three-tier system of government still enjoys majority support, 35 per cent say it does not work well, up from 30 per cent in 2008.
Local government is the only level that has risen in voters' estimation in the past two years, with those seeing it as the most effective rising from 20 per cent to 27 per cent. But 38 per cent would abolish it under a future restructure of government.
Overall, 75 per cent favour reform of the present system - nine points up on 2008. Although there is no consensus on what should change, 42 per cent are attracted to the idea of regional governments, which would be bigger than local councils but smaller than state governments.
Professor Williams said the survey results showed that, despite the "quite remarkable" increase in support for radical reform, such as abolition of the states, this could not be achieved in the short term.
"There also is an underlying recognition that the commonwealth cannot do everything," he said. "People want to be included in the conversation about the federal system: it must not be seen as a process driven by politicians to aggregate their own power. I think at some point we do need to embrace the idea of a community consultation process or even a convention on federalism."
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/politics/support-on-the-rise-to-abolish-state-governments/story-e6frgczf-1225852050474
Enoch Powell Was Right
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