Balance of powers between States and Commonwealth

There is a silver lining to the Coalition's recent victory. It seems that we may get a more reasonable separation of powers between the Federal and State Governments, if a proposal by NSW Premier, Bob Carr, is given some legs by other State leaders and Howard.

Reports today stated that Carr has offered to trade powers with Canberra in order to "tidy up" overlapping policy areas such as health and education.

It has long been my belief that the Federal Government is best placed to handle a wide range of public services, including health and education. In this regard, whilst I applaud Carr's initiative, I don't think it goes far enough.

Health and Education are two policy areas that should be uniform across Australia. As such they are best managed by the Federal Government. The benefits are enormous.

In the area of health it would mean full integration with the Medicare system and uniform standards of health care across the nation. Medical staff would be on equitable employment terms as their counterparts in other states, thus reducing the drain of resources from states like WA.

As for education, it could provide a seamless transition for students from early childcare through to tertiary and post-graduate education. It would make it much easier for itinerant families and those migrating between the states. Uniform standards of education would eliminate the confusion between grading systems and allow teaching staff wider opportunities for promotion and self-development.

In both cases the it is the clients (patients and students) especially that would reap the benefits of a standard system. However, the resulting centralisation of 9 or more separate bureaucracies for health and at least a further 20 or so in regards to education is ultimately a big win for reducing the size of government and the related budget.

Additionally if this were to be extended to other areas of controversial powers it could only enhance the working relationship between the States and the Commonwealth. An example of this are Federal laws that have been implemented under s51xxix, External Affairs, of the Constitution to specifically over-ride State laws.

Finally, the ultimate benefit to the general public and the States (but a possible negative for the Commonwealth) is that the buck can no longer be passed between Canberra and the States. There's only one government to blame if things don't improve. I like that idea the best.

Of course, the devil is in the detail and I'm sure there are many factors that need to be considered, fought out and won or lost before we get anywhere near enjoying the fruition of this dream.