A paid advertisement for the United Australia Party (UAP) appeared on the front page of Melbourne’s Herald Sun on the 20th of September 2021 calling for the abolition of Australian states saying that there should only be national and regional governments. This advertisement encapsulates the concerns which Social Action Australia (SAA) has expressed over the years that there is an agenda to abolish Australian states and replace them with a new regional tier of government. It is also possible that Clive Palmer’s UAP will later try to pressure the Morrison federal government into holding a constitutional referendum in which local government is recognised in the Australian Constitution.
Legislation authorising this referendum proposal was passed in the last days of the Gillard federal government in 2013. Should such a referendum pass then Australian states would not be immediately abolished. However, a paradigm will be established by which funding for the states, as well as the functions which they currently fulfil, will eventually be usurped by a new Canberra dominated regional tier of government. Consequently, Australian states will ‘wither on the vine’ so that their viability will ultimately be fatally undermined.
The Threat to Australian Democracy
The above scenario is a disastrous one for Australia because funding and/or resources for new regional council/authorities will inevitably go to the more populated areas. Furthermore, new regional councils will probably be respectively dominated by big business interests and hard left-wing amalgamated trade unions so that Australian democracy will be fundamentally undermined along with the overall quality of good governance.
The Morrison federal government will hopefully resist holding the constitutional recognition referendum. Unfortunately, the prospects of this referendum not proceeding are not high. This is because the political dynamics which precipitated Scott Morrison’s rise to power as prime minister in 2018 have probably included anti-state elements within the federal coalition ensuing that the local government recognition referendum will proceed.
It is therefore probable that such a referendum will be held in conjunction with the next federal election and that the announcement of this referendum will coincide with the calling of that federal election. This strategic timing for the calling of this referendum proposal will be intended to deny genuine pro-states forces the capacity to organise an effective ‘No’ case.
The irony of the situation is that the best hope for organising a genuine ‘No’ case now rests with federal coalition Members of Parliament (MPs), many of whom previously gave pro-state maiden parliamentary speeches in 2010. It is also ironic that it is within the ranks of the Victorian branch of the Liberal Party and the Liberal National Party (LNP) in Queensland that there is now an anti-states sentiment and agenda.
This paradox is derived from the frustration which exists within these two state party branches at not being able to win state government. It is also a plausible scenario that the Western Australian branch of the Liberal Party is also now inclined toward supporting a constitutional local government recognition referendum given that this state branch was reduced to a mere two seats in the March 2021 state election!
There are many state-based coalition politicians who envisage that there will be a ‘benefit’ in controlling new regional bailiwicks in lieu of states. The fundamental problem for the Liberal Party will be that if regionalisation occurs then the continued viability of this political party will be threatened. This is because the Liberal Party is conceptualized as one of the two major political parties by the public.
This mindset is reinforced by there being state-based Westminster parliamentary systems. However, parties on the right (such as the UAP) stand to win representation, if not power, in a new regional tier of government so that the long-term viability of the Liberal Party will eventually be challenged.
Australian Political Parties and Regionalisation
The National Party is another political party which cannot (to say the least) be relied upon to protect the states. The recent June 2021 leadership change from Michael Mc Cormack to the recycling of Barnaby Joyce by the federal Nationals is possibly testament to this party adopting an anti-states position. Barnaby Joyce has publicly advocated the introduction of a regional tier of government so that his 2021 return to the Nationals federal parliamentary leadership can be seen as an indication that the Nationals will support recognition of local government in the Constitution.
Again, as with the Liberals, the Nationals will ultimately electorally suffer should federal constitutional recognition be given to local government. This is because other right-wing parties such as the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party as well as the One Nation Party will be given access to patronage should regionalisation be introduced so that the Nationals’ viability will also be threatened.
There is also the question of the Australian Labor Party’s (ALP) stance on local government constitutional recognition. Perhaps this question is a rhetorical one because the hard left of the ALP has long sought the abolition of Australian states. This stance was previously reflected by the 1987 release of the Australian Council of Trade Unions’ (ACTU) report Australia Reconstructed (the Report). This Report was not entitled Unions Reconstructed because the hard-left agenda of the majority of the Report’s authors was for Australian trade unions to eventually politically and industrially dominate Australia.
It was for this reason that the Report advocated the ultimately de-unionising process of union amalgamation which commenced in the early 1990s. The hard left of the Australian union movement envisaged that there would be a concentration of power via union amalgamation. This is now on the cusp of being achieved because hard left wing amalgamated trade unions anticipate controlling super regional councils should federal constitutional recognition be given to local government.
The hard left of the ALP will be better positioned to adapt to regionalisation than the coalition parties. This will be because left-wing amalgamated trade unions will cohesively co-ordinate concerning future representation arrangements for a new regional tier of government. The other party on the left which also stands to benefit from the introduction of regionalisation is the Greens political party which could well in a regional local government context link up with the hard left of the ALP at the expense of the moderate elements within the Labor Party and the union movement.
This possible transition by Australia’s political parties with regard to them supporting an anti-states’ regime could not come at a worse time for this nation. Australia needs to give its priority to socially and economically recovering from the Covid 19 pandemic crisis as well as withstanding the security threat from mainland communist China.
The Morrison government from an economic perspective has adroitly handled the Covid 19 Crisis by the previous provision of the Job Keeper and the Job Seeker payment schemes. However, the tasks of socially, economically and politically recovering from this pandemic crisis remains. Should federal local government recognition be granted then Australia will have to subsequently endure different political forces scrambling to gain control of resources as this nation balkanizes.
The Threat to Australia’s Viability
From a strategic perspective, Australia will also have to devote its resources to remaining united in the context of the bellicose stance which mainland communist China has adopted in relation to our nation. The September 2021 formation of the AUKUS trilateral security pact is testament to the Morrison government being strategically adept concerning defence and foreign affairs. However, as the great American president, Abraham Lincoln observed, a divided house cannot stand. Australia cannot therefore afford to endure the Balkanization process which will be facilitated by regionalisation in the midst of the external threat which is posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
It is alas, a forlorn hope that the Morrison government will not hold a referendum on local government recognition given that there are such potent socio-political forces out to destroy Australian states. SAA is too small a political operation to single-handedly conduct a ‘No’ vote campaign should there be a referendum proposal to recognise local government in the Constitution. The best that SAA can do is what is being undertaken in this article - to whistle blow regarding the grave dangers which exist concerning the continued viability of Australia states.
It will therefore be up to genuine pro-state forces within the major political parties to start preparing now to conduct an effective ‘No’ vote campaign so that the Australian people will really know what is at stake should recognition be given to local government in the Commonwealth Constitution.