Are we over-governed?

Are we over-governed? It’’s a question that has been asked many times before and I doubt if we shall ever get an answer, because that would have to come from the very people who would be most affected.

There’’s no doubt about it, all our politicians, at all levels of Government from town councillors to federal MP’s, love the positions they find themselves in. Who would want to sign away such perks as free air travel, massive pensions, way out of touch with the sort of money ordinary people can expect, and allowances to employ their own personal staff, for the rest of their lives? (Most of these perks are only available to ‘big’ government, not mere councillors, who are only allowed personal expenses and no salary).

But the fact remains; we are over governed with too many levels “looking after” us, most of them not doing it too well. The trouble is, too many of the vital necessities of life are, because of the system, too fragmented, with different rules often applying in each State in Australia. Why, these States can’t even arrive at one day in the year for Labor Day, and it was only comparatively recently that they managed to arrive at a common gauge for the railways! Then there are school curriculums, hospital costs, university fees, main roads/freeways and many other items operated separately and highly inefficiently throughout the country, all crying out, it seems to me, to be run from one single source.

But the next question is, who should go?

Well, we obviously can’t do without the Federal Government, the people who look after our National requirements, like defence, taxation, (bless them!), the protection of our borders, to name but a few. But wouldn’t it make more sense if the Feds were in charge of the law, (making it common throughout the country, instead of the present, where each State tends to have their own methods and punishments), hospitals and schools, applying the same systems to them all, wherever they are, and the general little things like the dates of special days, road rules/signs, daylight saving, and importantly main roads and freeways, among many other rules, at present split between Federal and State.

The third level of government is, of course the Town/City/Shire Council, the most intimate level of all, the one where people can regularly come into contact with their local representative. These are the people who look after your sewage systems, your minor roads, (they actually originally came into existence to take care of this problem), attracting large businesses to their area, parks, townscapes and local bye-laws governing the way we all live our daily lives; all important stuff to the people it affects, but most of it too small to be looked after by the higher levels of government. The States pay for a lot of the services we enjoy, though most of the money comes the rates and taxes collected by the Councils and most of the actual work is done by them too!

So, after due consideration, I’ve come to the view that we could very well do away with the State Governments and the idea that the States operate as separate entities as they do at present. A lot of State Government work is merely a duplication of Federal responsibilities any way and the rest could easily be split and lowered to council level. Councils would need to be boosted in importance of course, to take up the slack, and perhaps because of the resulting responsibilities Councillors would be paid, and be expected to do full time work. The present State Government buildings could easily be converted to museums, art galleries, or even rather nice hotels, with a little imagination – it would be a win-win situation for everyone except the poor State MP’s, (but then, how often, in the past, have they had to “break a few eggs to make an omelette? This time they would be the omelette!

Do you agree with our over-governance?  I’d love to hear your views, for and against…