A Renewed Federalism
Ours will not be a modern society until we permit local government to widen its role; it will be unable to do so as long as the financial squeeze on local government persists."
Gough Whitlam: A New Federalism.
It's time to realise the other half of Whitlam's vision
In the closing line of his 1971 manifesto, Whitlam wrote that 'the new federalism would rest on a national framework for the establishment of investment priorities and a regional framework for participation in all those decisions that most directly determine the quality of our lives.'
Ben argues that we should honour his legacy - the ongoing financial assistance Whitlam's government established in the year he was born (1974) has enabled local governments to expand their role exponentially beyond the '3Rs' - while also recognising the work yet to be done to realise his vision.
Our big bureaucracy needs a healthy participatory democracy if it is to get grip on the real needs of our local communities and so distribute funding where it's needed most. Whitlam tackled the vertical fiscal imbalance in our federal system of government (federal-state-local) but for decades now the inequitable distribution between our 8 states and territories (WA's GST deal) and between our 537 local governments (more populous states get more than their fair share, as do metro councils over rural councils who need more help) has been highlighted but we've been unable to solve it.
We must tackle two problems: first, the technical problem (quantify expenditure need alongside revenue capacity) and second, the political problem (support our leaders to explain why it is fair to take money of areas where most votes are)
A new (old) federalism
Whitlam's great legacy, the idea he unveiled in his 1971 manifesto which he then implemented in 1974 (a year before his dismissal), was to establish ongoing financial assistance from the Commonwealth government through the states and territories to local governments... but his new federalism is now our old federalism. It's time to finish what he started, realise his vision
A renewed federalism (step 1)...
There's lots to be done... but we must learn to walk before we try to run. We must start simple: redistributing ≈ $2 billion p.a. in the local roads component of financial assistance + roads to recovery grants across our 650,000 kilometres of local roads on an equitable basis. The technical problem is to get a grip on expenditure need (WHAT we do + HOW we do it; service levels for assets + performance measures for activities to deliver those services) then the political problem is taking it off relatively self-sufficient metro councils to give it to relatively grant dependent rural councils. The same approach should be adopted for local water utilities
A renewed federalism (step 2)...
With a robust framework for funding distribution in place for roads and water supply - expanding on reporting to ABS on finances (ANZIC codes) to cover WHAT+HOW (functions+activities) - we can then tackle one of the most difficult funding challenges facing our federation: cutting costs by cutting services to the 750,000 people on the NDIS. Local governments have a legitimate role in assessing the needs of their communities
Our Mission
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