Friday, July 31, 2009

Abolish State Governments

There have been a number of attempts to get a debate underway about the relevance of our State Governments - follow the links here.

Most have floundered for a number of reasons - I won’t detail them - if you are interested then Google "abolish the states" to get a current list.

But when doing some research for a related story I came across this article from the "Daily Telegraph" reported just a week after Michael Costa resigned as NSW Treasurer in September 2008.

At the time - like many I took it as Costa’s sour grapes but looking back now I can see that the one time a powerful politician is likely to be telling the truth is after he has been forced from office.

Now Costa might be many things but I have no reason to doubt his sincerity. Read this article from "The Daily Telegraph - September 13, 2008" and weep.

------ Start of article ------

Michael Costa has called for state governments to be abolished, declaring the NSW political system is morally corrupt and no longer serves the public good.

A week after resigning as treasurer, in an exclusive essay written for The Daily Telegraph, Mr Costa said the Government was dominated by "spin merchants" and "machine politicians" unqualified to govern.

Mr Costa claims the Premier’s office had tried - unsuccessfully - to take credit for economic figures they had no control over.

Health, transport and education had become focussed on keeping doctors, rail unions and lobby groups happy instead of serving patients, commuters and the public.

In a swipe at past premiers, Mr Costa said only one of the last five had ever managed a key portfolio, which were "always under-resourced relative to public expectations".

"It is no secret if a premier wants to diminish the status of a potential rival they are given one of these portfolios" he said.

The system had become such that in these portfolios buying off interest groups was often the best strategy for survival.

"Leave a portfolio with an interest group happy and you are a success. The cost is for someone else to worry about. The strongest argument for abolishing state governments is that it would remove a layer of political interference in service delivery."

Mr Costa said that, without fundamental reform of the entire political system within 10 years, starting with the abolition of state governments, the public good would continue to be eroded.

"At the heart of modern politics, is a fundamental dishonesty that politicians and government can solve problems that are inherently unsolveable (health, happiness, wealth)," Mr Costa wrote.

"And politicians that promise solutions to these types of problems are dishonest and worse still they corrupt the political system by undermining what the system is good at providing - imperfect, transitory compromises that keep the place ticking over."

------ End of article ------

So here is the truth of it - delivered by an insider who clearly knows where the skeletons are buried and how the system works to the benefit of the political class.

Now if only we could get the Australian public to wake up to the problem then we might have a chance at introducing some change.

As if.

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