Federalism In Australia Essay

1.1 Introduction

There are increasing debates on the issues of Federalism and globalisation in Australia. The question whether Australia would be well governed as a Federation or not remains topical among other issues associated with globalisation. A number of reports indicate that our current federal system is a concern. There are issues in overlaps in policies, roles and responsibilities, vertical fiscal imbalance, an increased reliance on the commonwealth for grants being allocated where states cannot raise enough revenue. In this report I will argue that the Federation in Australia is working, however clarity of roles and responsibilities and more decentralisation would need to occur in certain areas for it to become more effective. This

1.4 What are the advantages of a federation?

Prior to 1901 Australia did not exist as a nation and the colonies existed as six separate countries where they could run with their own laws, defence forces and collected their own taxes, under this system problems started to occur when it came to trade, differing tariffs which increased the costs of goods and made it hard for businesses outside the colonies to compete. Defences in each colony were also not equipped to defend and fears of other countries being able to penetrate the colonies therefore the federation was formed to deal with these problems (Parlimentary Education Office, 2016).

The Federalism debate usually starts its journey on the advantages of federalism, advantages such as the checks on powers which can divide and limit the amount of power at each level, protecting the individual. It also allows each state to devise policies that are appropriate for its state (Galligan.B.,