We need to talk about COAG
“The reform process has also been hampered by a general breakdown in trust between the Commonwealth and the states. The main causes of this were the Rudd government’s unilateral approach to its health and hospital reforms (which would have seen the states surrender one-third of their GST revenue to the Commonwealth) and its failure to consult the states over the proposed resource super-profits tax. These developments sapped much of the goodwill that is essential to the COAG process.
Against this background, it is not surprising that we have reached a point where states are choosing to bypass COAG processes and publicly spar with the Commonwealth. It would be an overstatement to say that cooperative federalism has reached its nadir. But there is no doubt that the spirit of cooperation that existed four years ago has been eroded, and could deteriorate further still. What can be done to halt this trend and build a more harmonious federation?”
From: Australian Policy Online Weekly briefing Monday 23rd January by Paul Kildea-Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales, and Federalism Project Director at the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law.
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