International authority on governance and federalism, UQ Business School’s Professor Ken Wiltshire today called for urgent reform of the Australian Constitution.
Speaking at the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) economic and political overview in Brisbane, Professor Wiltshire said reform was necessary to address two major issues.
“The country is suffering from dysfunctional federalism and entrenched short-term thinking that is the result of the three-year electoral cycle,” he said.
“Today’s big issues – climate change, water management, infrastructure, workplace relations, education, and health – can’t be managed properly unless two significant reforms are enacted as a matter of priority.
“Australia must move to four-year parliamentary terms, preferably fixed term, and must revisit the roles and responsibilities of all levels of government.”
Professor Wiltshire said Australia was one of very few countries with a three year parliamentary term.
“As a result, policy making is often too short-term," he said.
“And because the nation is almost always in election mode, strategic decision making is more constrained."
Professor Wiltshire further argued that Federalism had become dysfunctional, with the systems put in place 107 years ago clearly out of step with 21st century governance.
“The sections dealing with the roles of Commonwealth, State, and local governments – principally Sections 51 and 52 – might have been fine in the 1900s but are clearly inadequate now,” he said.
“National governments of all parties have resorted to distortions through the use of conditional funding, use of the corporations power, the over-riding of powers, and the co-opting of external powers.
“What is needed is to redefine the role of each level whether it is for infrastructure, industrial relations, the Murray-Darling Basin, or the education and health systems.
“This is vital not only for effective governance but also to clarify accountability to the people and stop blame-shifting by politicians at all levels of government.
“I believe the business community would support these initiatives and I call on both John Howard and Kevin Rudd to promise Constitutional Reform as part of their platforms for the coming election.”
Professor Kenneth Wiltshire AO is the J.D. Story Professor of Public Administration at The University of Queensland Business School.
He is an international authority of governance and federalism, was a member of the Commonwealth Grants Commission for nine years, a founding Board Member of the Constitutional Centenary Foundation, and served as a consultant to design the New Federalism from 1989-1992.
Professor Wiltshire is the author of CEDA’s Annual Political Overview.
For more information contact Professor Ken Wiltshire on 0418 713 593 or (07) 3365 2733 or Cathy Stacey on 0434 074 372 or (07) 3365 6179.
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