Federalism and Regionalism in Australia pdf

Federalism and Regionalism in Australia

New Approaches, New Institutions? Edited by A.J. Brown and J.A. Bellamy

FEDERALISM AND REGIONALISM IN AUSTRALIA

Chapter 1: Introduction – A. J. Brown and Jennifer Bellamy

The symposium

Australia’s federal system of governance is in a state of flux, and its relevance in a globalised world is being challenged.

After decades of debate about different possibilities for institutional reform – some of them predating Federation itself – dramatic shifts are occurring in the way in which power and responsibility are shared between federal, state and local governments, and in the emergence of an increasingly important ‘fourth sphere’ of governance at the regional level of Australian society.

 For those who fear a continuing growth in the power of the Commonwealth Government, the shifting state of federalism may seem unwelcome; but whether we see state governments as in decline or a new ascendancy, the fact remains that in the early 21st century, subnational regionalism is a live issue amid the practical realities of Australian public policy.

 Far from simple questions of local administration, the effectiveness, legitimacy and efficiency of new regional approaches are ‘big ticket’ issues on the contemporary political landscape.

 The management of our cities, of our sea-change regions, of natural resources through regions of every type, of hospitals and health services across the Australian community; these are all issues focussing the attention of decision-makers and communities from the top to the bottom of our system of government.

In May 2006, around 100 experts with diverse experiences in public policy, academic research and community arenas from across eastern Australia came together in Parliament House, Sydney, New South Wales,

 to discuss current shifts in the relationship between federalism and subnational regionalism, their implications for existing institutions of government, and the directions in which public institutions could and should evolve as a result of these new approaches.

 The symposium ‘Federalism and Regionalism in Australia: New Approaches, New Institutions?’,1  resulted in a broad consensus that traditional institutional frameworks are indeed changing, in response to the quest for more adaptive, effective, legitimate and efficient forms of governance.

The main question put to the symposium was whether it was also time to start addressing how new regional approaches fitted into overall trends in institutional restructuring and reform affecting the Australian public sector, rather than simply noting and tracking a plethora of developments that otherwise remain fundamentally ad hoc.

The consensus arising was, again, that the answer was ‘yes.

The policy ‘drivers’ behind new governance approaches were identified as not simply national, but also, at the same time, fundamentally local and regional in nature.