Foundation for National Renewal     The "Model Constitution" Activity

Federal Election October 2004: Which Candidates Trust the People?

1. As a result of your responses to the tasks so far, we now have a general idea of the sort of government you would like to see. Our task now is to fill in some of the detail. Some might regard it as logical to start at the top and tackle the role, powers and responsibilities of the Head of State. However, we think it is better to start at the bottom and work up - to work out what is needed by the People and to design a system of government that will meet that need.

2. In Task Eight, we will tackle the problem of the delivery of government services. In this task we will also cover questions such as the intimacy of representation, access to services and response to dissatisfaction.

Delivery of Services

3. In a community of any size, it soon becomes obvious that some activities are better conducted by the society rather than by the individual. In Task Eight we will try and determine the level at which group activities should be undertaken.

4. On pages 3 and 4 we have listed a good cross section of the sort of activities we think should be undertaken by the society rather than by individuals. Your task is to determine the level of government you consider would best undertake each activity.

5. To illustrate this approach, we have selected three aspects of government services and have listed what we think might be the appropriate level at which these services should be delivered. The three services are defence, street naming and environmental planning. 

6. Defence
It is obvious that defence establishments will be located in many regions and local areas throughout the country. However, it is obvious also that the activities of defence establishments should be centrally controlled. And although there is a need for close liaison with local authorities, it is obvious that a local authority should have no control or responsibility for the activities of a defence establishment even though that establishment might be located in the local area. Defence, therefore, should be the responsibility of the central government.

7. Street Naming
It is equally obvious that the naming of streets in a local area is best administered at a local level.

8. Environmental planning
The level at which environmental planning should be undertaken is not quite so straightforward. It is obvious that an environmental plan in one local area would be of little use unless the environmental plans of adjacent local areas were complementary. On the other hand, environmental planning at the national level in a country the size of Australia, could well be deficient in paying inadequate attention to regional-specific problems. Therefore, it seems that environmental planning should be the responsibility of appropriately delineated regions operating under general policy guidelines established at a national level.


Representation

9. To be appropriately represented, a community should be in a position to meet and listen to those who would aspire to represent them. Currently, an electorate consists of approximately 80,000 voters. As we saw in the last task, this size electorate provides little opportunity for candidates of all persuasions to present themselves to the electorate. Similarly, with an electorate of 80,000 it is often not possible for a representative to adequately represent the many diverse points of view in an electorate of that size.

10. A system must be found to decrease the size of electorates without increasing the number of politicians. We know the parameters. Electorates of 80,000 produce 148 Members of the House of Representatives. Electorates of 10,000 voters would produce 1250 MPs and 625 Senators under our current system.

Response to Dissatisfaction

10. When governments fail to act or act inappropriately, constituents require easy access to their representative to get their point across. In addition to this, there should be a mechanism for sanctions if, in the minds of constituents, their representative consistently acts inappropriately or fails to act.

A Proposition

11. General. From your responses to previous tasks and from our studies, it would appear that a two-tiered system of government might provide a solution to the problems outlined above. We propose a system of government and invite you to assess its appropriateness according to your view. We believe the system outlined below would work and that it would be a vast improvement on the current state of affairs. It is up to you to agree or disagree, to propose amendments and/or to propose an alternative system. The system proposed is expressed in general terms. Obviously, as the system is further refined, changes could well be necessary. For example, an FNR Member in Tasmania has already pointed out that, with 330,000 voters, Tasmania would be one and a half Regions unless the system proposed was modified in some way.

12. The Electorate. It is proposed that an electorate of 5000 voters would overcome the problems outlined above. Such an electorate would allow all candidates an opportunity to present themselves to the voters and would allow the voters to choose a person best suited to represent their views in the parliament. Approximately 50 such electorates would be grouped to form an appropriate region. Elected representatives from each electorate would constitute a Regional Parliament. Across the nation there would be approximately 50 such regional parliaments responsible for approx 250,000 voters each. (By way of comparison, the Brisbane City Council currently administers approximately 519,000 voters.) Regions would be based around areas such as Albury / Wodonga, Tweed Heads / Coolangatta, Townsville and Alice Springs.

13. The Federal Parliament. It is proposed that the 50 Regional Parliaments each elect two of their members to represent the region in the Federal House of Representatives and one member to represent the region in the Senate. This would produce a House of Representatives of 100 and a Senate of 50.

14. It is proposed that the Federal Parliament be the only law-making Parliament in the nation and that this Parliament would be responsible for activities such as revenue raising, national policy, the national budget and those government activities and services best provided by the central government. We envisage that, say, five or ten per cent of the national budget would be allocated to the Federal Government. The remainder of national revenue would be distributed equally to the 50 regions. Regional Parliaments would be responsible for their own budgets. That is, Regional Parliaments would receive an equal slice of the revenue and would decide how that would be allocated.

Task Eight

Responsibilities for Policy and the Delivery of Government Services

15. Based on the above you are asked to indicate on the following table your allocation of responsibility for policy and the delivery/implementation of government services.

Please add any more topics you consider might be contentious.

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Last updated: 7 September 2007