The Foundation for National Renewal

World Wide Web Resource List: 
Articles and viewpoints on States and Regions

This extremely useful list has been contributed by Mark Drummond of the Abolish the States Collective. The ASC has an active and interesting discussion group; for further information go to http://goliath.apana.org.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/asc-discuss

Lindsay Tanner MP, in his book 'Open Australia' recommends abolishing state governments at
http://conference.socialchange.net.au/openaustralia/highlights/
and his website describes a forum on the issue at
http://conference.socialchange.net.au/openaustralia/aboutforum.html
and shows that Glenn Petrusch supports getting rid of the states, at
http://conference.socialchange.net.au/openaustralia/discuss/msg00137.html
Also, a review of Open Australia' by Mark Lennon is at
http://workers.labor.net.au/2/d_review_tanner.html

Local Government Minister Senator Ian Macdonald envisages two-tier government in a report titled 'Two-tier government a future possibility ' by Fiona West in the local government magazine 'Government News' at http://www.vgovt.com.au/Article/Display/1,4242,571,00.html

In November 2000 the Local Government Association of Queensland and Brisbane’s lord mayor [propose] the abolition of state governments, as reported in an article titled 'Brisbane City Council: Australia's biggest council' by Fiona West in the local government magazine 'Government News' at http://www.vgovt.com.au/Feature/Display/1,4242,277,00.html

Daryl Melham MP and Senator Cheryl Kernot support getting rid of the states and establishing regional government, in addresses in Brisbane in March 1995, as recorded on page 7 of 19 at www.parliament.qld.gov.au/parlib/aspg/papers/950300.pdf

Ted Mack, in an address of 29 August 1997, states that "Australia probably needs up to 20 states or regions based on community of interest rather than the present arbitrary nineteenth century state boundaries but they don't need Westminster systems of government" at http://www.lisp.com.au/~ballots/mackt2.htm
This address is reproduced, with corrections, here at the FNR website.

In a paper titled 'Rational Delivery of Health Services in Rural and Remote Areas', presented at the 4th National Rural Health Conference, on 9th February 1997 at the Perth Concert Hall, Joe Morrissey (of the Department of Nursing Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville) states that "Giving the states responsibility is, effectively, to advocate seven different rural health policies. A more sensible solution is to abolish the states and have one national government with a coherent national policy." at (see especially page 5 of 12 but the whole paper provides extremely powerful rationales for change in order to address life and death gravity health care imperatives) http://www.ruralhealth.org.au/pdf/ratdel.pdf

The Official Committee Hansard of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education And Workplace Relations (Reference: Issues specific to older workers seeking employment, or establishing a business, following unemployment), Thursday 16 September 1999, Adelaide, records a Mr Sawford speaking favourably of the possibility of abolishing state governments, at (on page 87 of 138) http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/reps/commttee/r2514.pdf

At The Premier’s Forum: Working Together in strengthening rural communities
A Report Of The Forum, September 1998, one participating group recommends "get rid of State Government and focus on Regional Government" at
http://www.premiers.nsw.gov.au/pubs_dload_part3/spd/working%20together%20.html

Peter Beattie struggles to avoid supporting the abolition of the states on 2 September 1994 at (on page 21 of 56, being Hansard page 9147) http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/handocs/1994.pdf/940902ha.pdf

Willoughby Councillor Terry Fogarty supports the abolition of state governments and their replacement by regional governments at http://members.ozemail.com.au/~tfogarty/qa.htm

NSW Independent MP Clover Moore states that "State Government should reorganise itself into a number of regional Governments" at http://content.ninemsn.monster.com.au/arts/jobqanda/5752/

A record of the votes received by the Abolish State government party in the 1995 NSW legislative council at http://www.ioville.net.au/~adam/1995-nsw-council

A record of the votes received by the Abolish State Governments! party in the 1999 NSW legislative council election at http://www.seo.nsw.gov.au/results/elect99/lcresults.htm

The recommendation to abolish state governments was offered as a solution to cross-border at the Community Forum on "Cross Border Issues" , Tweed Heads, February 1999 (see Group 3 response to Question 3) at http://www.premiers.nsw.gov.au/rccc/rcccfcross.htm

The 9 November 2000 Box Hill Public Forum achieved support for the abolition of state government and the idea to "put funding into local and federal levels" at (on page 74 of 144) http://www.doi.vic.gov.au/doi/doielect.nsf/2a6bd98dee287482ca256915001cff0c/e454d4cd906dfff04a256a14001985b7/$FILE/Boxhill.pdf

FUTURE VISIONS

The report 'Tasmania Together 2020', dated 5 October 2000, refers to support for the abolition of state government, the elimination of a tier of government and a move to having Tasmania subject to just two tiers of government (see pages 17, 91 and 94 of the 119 pages) at http://www.tastogether.asn.au/graphics/benchmarks/tt_summaryofdata.pdf

Dr Klaas Woldring states advocates "abolition of the states and the introduction of strong local government units" and goes on to say that "The states should be replaced by 60 smaller regions indirectly elected by groups of local councils" in a paper titled ' Taking the Republican Debate seriously: Adopting a Maximalist Approach ', dated March 1995 as reproduced at http://users.bigpond.net.au/mrj/adr/adopt.html

Dr Lionel McKenzie supports the abolition of state governments and moves to a two tier system in discussions on Constitutional Reform and the Republic at http://www.acr.net.au/~mckenzie/reform.html
and on the future of federalism at http://www.acr.net.au/~mckenzie/federalism.html
and on the environment at http://www.acr.net.au/~mckenzie/enviro.html
and on Public Order and Civil liberties at http://www.acr.net.au/~mckenzie/asio.html

Dr Peter Ellyard of the G21C Community Republicans supports regional government at http://www.link.net.au/21aust/html/community_republicans.html

Reshaping Australia: Bob Gould's blueprint for regionalising Australia, is at http://www.southlandmedia.com.au/gould.html

The States: One More Obstacle - Do We Need Them?
Delivered by Marion Sullivan at the Women's Constitutional Convention, Parliament house Canberra, 30 January 1998, at http://www.womensconv.dynamite.com.au/sulliv.htm

The View from Regional Australia
Delivered by the late Dorothy Ross AM OBE, Country Women's Association
at the Women's Constitutional Convention, Parliament house Canberra, 29 January 1998, at http://www.womensconv.dynamite.com.au/ross.htm

Marieke Brugman implies support for the abolition of state governments in an address at the National Press Club on 7 March 2001 at
http://www.npc.org.au/RURAL/ADDRESSESMARCH7-2001.htm

Ray Brindle implies support for regional governments and/or regional cooperation of constituent local governments at http://www.arrb.org.au/papers/Rayb3.htm

Aboriginal Land Council Wants Deals Powers for Tribal Regions, by Erwin Chlanda, Alice Springs News report, 18 November 1998, at http://www.alicespringsnews.com.au/0542.html

Gavin Gamble in Melbourne recommends the abolition of the states and local government and their replacement by regional governments, in a great article at both
http://smh.com.au/news/webdiary/0107/07/A41293-2001May10.html and (duplicated at) http://www.smh.com.au/news/webdiary/0105/25/A41293-2001May10.html

Norm Ryan supports the dismantling of the states at
http://www.bordermail.com.au/newsflow/pageitem?page_id=11257

Colin Long supports state abolition at http://www.unimelb.edu.au/infoserv/urban/hma/hurban/1997q4/0240.html

A Mr Kalgariff supports regional governments in place of state governments, at
http://www.national-renewal.org.au/ConCon/proc/hansard_0902_4.shtml

Hugh Mackay briefly explores the possibility and implications of eliminating state governments at http://webdev.uow.edu.au/law/civics/expert/mackaytrial.html

The Easter 1992 Presidential Message of the Council of Australian Humanist Societies contains the statement that the abolition of the States is much more worthy of attention than the issue of a republic, at http://home.vicnet.net.au/~humanist/resources/cahs.html

In response to a question following his delivery of a paper titled 'The Senate, Policy-Making and Community Consultation', Ian March states:
There have been a lot of lectures—and I've stopped going to them now—where people talk about a referendum to abolish the states, and a referendum to change this and that. I just don't see that you'd get it through our system. If someone is willing to put in the time and energy and a charismatic figure who can galvanise the country into seeing that there is some desirability in shedding a state identity and moving to some different structure, full marks. at http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/pubs/pops/pop35/chapter3.htm

A Darth Vader (a pseudonym?), apparently a Defence systems engineer, who works at SAAB systems, supports abolition of the states, as at (in duplicate) http://www.saabsystems.com.au/fame/anca.htm and http://www.celsiustech.com.au/fame/anca.htm

Mr J Murray of Cheltenham supports state abolition at
http://www.moneymanagement.com.au/articles/bd/0c0049bd.asp

Australia’s Journal of Political Character Assassination, Vol 5, Number 6, right at the bottom, reminds us "that Australia needs to abolish state governments altogether" at http://members.optushome.com.au/thesquiz/v5n6.htm

Marcus Larsen from London supports the abolition of our states at
http://jinx.sistm.unsw.edu.au/~greenlft/1999/386/386p10.htm

Mark Drummond, in a letter to the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald dated 29 December 2000, supports the abolition of state governments at
http://www.smh.com.au/news/0101/01/text/letters.html

The report 'Youth Vision for the Year 2010' (a compilation of the Australia 2010 vision statements detailed by 76 student teams from a 1996 Australian business Council initiative, states the aim "to abolish state governments, establishing a two-tier system of regional and federal government by 2010", at http://www.dsf.org.au/papers/ol/yvr2010/yvr2010.html

"That we should abolish the states" was a topic of secondary school debates as set out on the Western Australian Debating League Inc. website at
http://www.wadl.org.au/6_1.htm

The issue of abolition state governments and establishing regional governments (including support for the idea from Sir Ninian Stephen in a 1988 Australia Day address) is addressed in a 1999 document published by the Australian council of State School Organisations (ACSSO) titled 'Discovering democracy', as recorded on pages 27, 35 and 36 of 97 (pages 19, 27 and 28 of the actual book) at http://www.acsso.org.au/pdf/civic_kit_final.pdf

In a report titled 'An Environmental Framework for Managing Growth - South East Queensland Case Study' (numbered 21), Ian Schmidt of the SEQ 2001 Regional Resource Unit, Brisbane, supports Brisbane Lord Mayor Jim Soorley's idea of regional government and abolition of state governments, and also mentions that a colleague Phil Heywood supports metropolitan government, at (on pages 19 and 20 of 68) http://chm.environment.gov.au/publications/biodivser_10/pubs/ch17_wkshps.pdf

Doug Cocks, of CSIRO Wildlife & Ecology, in a talk to the APS Futures Forum, Canberra, Dec 1999, titled ' Big Picture Scenarios For Australia, With A Comment On The Implications For Public Administration', supports a move to some 30 regional governments in place of state governments, as at (in triplicate) http://www.labshop.com.au/dougcocks/FUTUREFORUMTALK.htm
http://www.labshop.com.au/dougcocks/bourndapub.htm
http://www.labshop.com.au/dougcocks/evattfoundation.html

Regional governments are envisaged by Barney Foran of the CSIRO, in his ' Looking for Opportunity and Avoiding Obvious Potholes: Some Future Influences on Agriculture to 2050', at the 9th Australian Agronomy Conference, Wagga Wagga, 1998, as at http://www.regional.org.au/au/asa/1998/plenary/foran.htm and (in duplicate) http://life.csu.edu.au/argonomy/papers/invite/foran/foran.html

Regional governments are supported by participants at an Environmental futures workshop, as stated at http://www.dwe.csiro.au/futures/ecumene/fg1govba.htm

Phillip Toyne and Adam Spencer discuss their views that we should eliminate state governments and establishing regional governments based on bio-regions at
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/earth/stories/s10903.htm

Sir Maurice Byers, CBE, QC, former Commonwealth Solicitor-General, discusses abolition of the states favourably as recorded in November 1999 at
http://www.uow.edu.au/law/civics/updates/maurice_byers.html

Strong support for the abolition of the states and/or a two tier system is expressed at a Law Society sponsored People's Constitutional Convention (attended by Peter Woods, Phillip Neuss, Maurie Stack, Mark Drummond and others) on 27 May 1995, as at http://www.lawsocnsw.asn.au/resources/lsj/archive/jul1995/89_1.html

The Honourable Justice Michael Kirby AC CMG in a 17 February 1995 speech in Canberra titled 'Human Rights – the International Dimension', recognises the abolition of the states as a viable future reform initiative, as at http://lawfoundation.net.au/resources/kirby/papers/19950217_senate.html

Murray Gleeson AC, Chief Justice of NSW, in an interview recorded on 11 May 1995, responding to the question "What does the Australian Constitution do for the Australian people?" explored the possibility of eliminating the states in favour of regional government or administration, at http://www.uow.edu.au/law/civics/expert/10_gleeson.html

Emeritus Professor Lance A Endersbee AO FTSE supports a significant restructure of our system of government, citing the immense costs and other problems of our present system, in a paper ' National Development and the Constitution ' (originally published in ATSE Focus [The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering], No. 107, May/Jun 1999, as reproduced at the FNR site at http://national-renewal.org.au/papers/endersbee/nat-development.shtml

  The suggestion to abolish state governments was raised at a workshop of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI), at (in triplicate)
http://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/policyproject/wa_speakers.html
www.housing.wa.gov.au/policy/policy_2029notes.PDF
www.ahuri.edu.au/research/policyproject/pdf/wa_workshop.pdf

Managing Director of AVIS Australia Mr Luke Medley indicated that business wants to get rid of the States, as recorded on page 20 of 38 at www.wentworth.nsw.gov.au/minutes/minjun98.pdf

An article titled 'Corporations Law solution get rid of state government', Tony McLean in The Australian newspaper, Tue 25 July 2000, page 32 is at
http://ink.news.com.au/theaustralian/issues/legal%20system/corp1.htm

'Australian Federation Papers', dated 1903, in the NSW State Library collection, document groups attempting to abolish state governments shortly after Federation, as at http://www.naa.gov.au/Publications/Research_guides/fedguide/commonwealth/nsw/nsw9+.htm

A document titled 'Most Favor End of State Parliaments', referring to the Gallup Poll (apparently in 1942) in which a majority of Australians supported Abolition of State Governments, is at http://john.curtin.edu.au/letters/category/newspapers/clippings/N.012t.html

Reference to a T. W. McCristal of the Australian Republican Party and their proposal to abolish the states around the 1950s is at http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/ncas/teach/resources/austudies/trr.html

The 'National Republicans Fighting Platform' favours abolition of the states in favour of provinces at
http://www.alphalink.com.au/~eureka/platform.htm

Jack Lang taking 'abolition of the States' to an election in 1933 is referred to at
http://workers.labor.net.au/26/b_sportspage_year.html

There is a reference to a document titled 'Abolition of the states [manuscript] : Australia's great leap forward?' by Louise A Chappell, 1996. -- [1], 13 leaves ; 30 cm.
Typescript, Awarded the Wentworth Medal for Prose, 1996 (University of Sydney)
Bibliography: leaves 12-13, abn96366228, NU CONTRIBUTED CATALOGUING
Subjects: Federal government -- Australia. State governments -- Australia. Australia -- Economic conditions -- 1965- Australia -- Social conditions – 1965...
at http://wwwlib.qut.edu.au/resources/databases/ANB/1996/novalph.txt

On Australia Day 1988, "Geoffrey Robertson was the guest speaker at a function in Launceston where he advocated the abolition of all state governments in favour of a central government and municipal governments with more extensive powers than exist at present", as recorded at page 19 of 35 (of the record of a public meeting at Alyangula, dated 2 May 1989) at http://www.nt.gov.au/lant/parliament/committees/condev/transcripts/aly020589.pdf

The question "Should we get rid of State Governments?", at an MRPC (MR apparently standing for Michael Richardson) forum, invites responses at http://www.hillsonline.com.au/forum/f7forum.htm
and documents supportive responses from Bill, 4 x anonymous, Julie, Fred, Yana and Stuart, at http://www.mrpc.com.au/mrpcrules/forum/forum/f7forum.htm

Terry Burton from Alice springs recommends the abolition of state governments at
http://www.railpage.org.au/ausrail/98july/msg00785.html

Howard Lowndes (lannet@lannet.com.au)
supports getting rid of the states and replacing them with regional councils at
http://www.anu.edu.au/mail-archives/link/link0004/0019.html

Steve, Grant, spud and DV support abolition of state governments at Dr Karl's Self-Service Science Forum at http://www2.abc.net.au/science/k2/stn/august2000/
(scroll to bottom of left hand section, select "earlier posts" and then look for [suggest you use "edit" then "find" and type in Marx] "Marxist Workers Party" – see posts with ID numbers 110888, 111992, 112130, 112140 and 112182)

One or more Andrews believes state governments should be abolished and super councils established in their place, to save billions of dollars, at http://www2.abc.net.au/news/tax/forum/posts/topic436.shtm
http://www2b.abc.net.au/news/forum/forum16/posts/topic212.shtm (refer post id 212 and 252)
and http://www2b.abc.net.au/news/forum/forum18/posts/topic491.shtm (refer post id 491 and to support from Wally [post id 524] and Merric [post id 547])

A Simon states that we should "get rid of the states, and give half of their powers to the National government, and half to the local governments." at (refer post id: 1829)
http://www2.abc.net.au/referendum99/forum/posts/topic1794.shtm

Kerry Young asks the question "what do you think about getting rid of state government?" at http://www2b.abc.net.au/publicrecord/qldelection/posts/topic426.shtm

"Scotto", on 23 March 2001, expressed support for the abolition of state governments on an ABC discussion forum at (post id: 3617)
http://www2b.abc.net.au/news/forum/forum20/posts/topic3535.shtm

Bob S supports stronger local government and the abolition of state governments at Dr Karl's Self-Service Science Forum at (post id: 35369)
at http://www2.abc.net.au/science/k2/stn-archive1/posts/topic35266.shtm

Daryn Voss (and someone else whose identity is not clear) supports the abolition of state governments at Dr Karl's Self-Service Science Forum at (post id: 26492) at
http://www2.abc.net.au/science/k2/stn/january2000/posts/topic22539.shtm

Tom, Dragan, Mark Drummond, Dionisio Camacho, Alan De Vendra and David Bofinger respond positively to the public debate forum addressing the question of "States: Should they be abolished?" at the pages http://www.publicdebate.com.au/is/193/f1.html and http://www.publicdebate.com.au/is/193/f2.html

Geoff, Klaas Woldring and Erik the Red support abolition of state in the public debate forum in response to the question of "Government: Does our system need changing?" at the pages http://www.publicdebate.com.au/is/14/f1.html and http://www.publicdebate.com.au/is/14/f2.html

Last updated 14 July 2001