Ch 3: Federalism Flashcards
Define federalism
A system of government in which the powers and responsibilities of govt. are divided between a national govt. and 2 or not regional govts. Federations require written constitutions to allow for the settlement (usually by a constitutional court) of disputes over this division of power i.e. US, Aus
What is dual/coordinate federalism?
federal arrangement where the central and regional levels of govt. act independently in their respective spheres, cental govt has relatively narrow range of enumerated national responsibilities leaving states in possession of unstated residual powers that covered most of the functions of govt i.e. the US
What is cooperative federalism?
cooperative federalism - voluntary arrangements between the commonwealth govt. and state govts. to take common administrative or legislative action. This approach is claimed to be most typical of commonwealth-state relations from WWI to the 1950s but there are recent examples including traffic rules, microeconomic reform and gun reform
What is coercive federalism
an imbalance of power in a federal system, where the central authority effectively dominates the regional level of govt. i.e. in Australia since WWII the Commonwealth has become financially dominant over the state and Canada
Influences on the Australian system of government
- US model of dual federalism
- British model of responsible parliamentary government
- Canada - Washminster system
- Switzerland - popular referendums for amendments
- Germany - inclusion of social welfare as a concurrent power (s51 xxiii)
What were forces against federalism prior to 1901?
- Colonies developed quite separate identities as all except WA had been granted self-govt.
- large physical distance between the colonies meant economic development and communications where centred on each capital city, with links between the colonies developing more slowly
- rivalries developed between colonies esp. NSW and VIC
What were forces for federation prior to 1901?
- developing sense of a national identity
- defence - perceived threat from Germany, Russia and Japan as well as European colonies in the pacific, leaders realised reliance on British military power was no longer enough, also would allow Aus to support the mother county in wars
- economic development - artificial barriers i.e. rail systems had different gauges creating difficulties in interstate travel and trade, customs barriers greatly increased costs and led to inter-colonial tension
- immigration - colonies wanted a united Aus that would set an immigration policy that would end Chinese and nonwhite immigration
What are arguments for federalism?
- state governments are closer to the people and are more responsibe to community needs, needs also vary between states
- Australians have strong state loyalties
- competition between states stimulates improvements (citizens can vote with their feet)
- political freedoms are enhanced as it divides and checks the power of govt and therefore protects citizens against the power of central govt
What are the arguments against federalism?
- it leads to over govt and confusion as it involves too many competing politicians, duplication of services and bureaucracies, divided regulations and laws and unclear lines of political responsibility that weaken accountability
- exaggerates conflict in political life and creates excessive legalism (giving an exaggerated political role to the unelected High Court)
- dividing powers reduces our ability to meet national challenges in new areas of policy i.e. the environment
- claimed differentces between regions in Aus are exaggerated and are a smokecreen for the self interest of conservative regional elites
How can the Commonwealth functions and powers be expanded?
- referendums
- referral of powers and unchallenged legislation
- cooperative arrangments
- financial power
- High Court judgements
How do referendums expand Commonwealth power?
referendums have a limited impact as only 8/44 have been passed and only a few extend Commonwealth power
- 1928 - Loan’s Council set up and CW effectively gained control of the raising of voerseas loans by all levels of govt
- 1946 - further social services added to it concurrent powers
- 1967 - power to legislate in relation to Aborigines
How do referral of powers expand Commonwealth power?
referrals of power have been a more important source of federal change, this can occur by the referral of concurrent/residual power to the CW
- 1975 - CW creation of Family Court
- 1990s - Vic transferred industrial relations
- 2003 - referral of powers concerning terroism
- 2008 - referral of Murray Darling Basin water policy
How do unchallenged legislation and cooperative arrangements expand Commonwealth power?
this requires consensus between the CW and the states. States may agree to CW legislation in an area not anticipated in the constitution or to the creation of uniform law through mirror legislation passed by all parliaments. Some see as evidence of a move in Aus towards cooperative federalism
- intrusion into state authority areas by creation of CSIRO and Snowy Mountains Scheme, also to gain national control of air navigation
- creation of Council of Australian Governments (COAG) increases this i.e. 1997 gun reform, microeconomic liberalisation
How does Commonwealth financial power expand Commonwealth power?
since 1901 the CW has been the stronger financial partner, it was given exclusive control over customs and excise duties
- controls overseas borrowing, expanded to power to set national economic policy
- sole collector of income taxes - increased states dependency
- tied grants (s96) - weakens states position as gives means for CW to influence states
- GST - made states give up some areas of their revenue sources
vertical fiscal imbalance has increased - this exists where the allocation of revenue between the federal and state levels of govt does not match their expenditure resposnibilities, the CW collects 82% total govt revenue while accounting for 50% total govt expenditure, States - less than 17% of revenue yet 35% expenditure
What are the issues of the financial imbalance?
- governments will be wasteful and over-provide servi es because they are spending someone else’s money
- blame shifting occurs when CW and the states blame each other for any problems that occur in govt programs
however the problem of VFI can be exaggerated
- AUstralia doesn’t also have horizontal fiscal imbalance where the quality of govt services cary from region to region
- VFI allows for consistency of important tax rates throughout Australia
- increases the effectivness of macroeconomic policies that depend on adjustments of tax rates and govt expenditure i.e. 2008 GFC response
