FEDERAL-STATE RELATIONS COMMITTEE
Report on
It gives me great pleasure to present the First Report of the Federal-State Relations Committee to the Victorian Parliament.
This Committee was established in May of last year. When the Premier presented it with its first Terms of Reference, the Committee recognised the challenge being presented to it and the timeliness of the issues raised. Questions of intergovernmental relations have become some of the most pressing facing government in Australia. There is increasing recognition of the need to restore balance and efficiency in the Australian federation; to redress what might be called Australia's "federal democratic deficit".
The Committee's Inquiry has a dual focus: overlap and duplication between the Commonwealth and States; and areas of responsibility in which an enhanced role for the States will benefit the federation. The first of these has meant consideration of the assignment of roles and responsibilities between the levels of government in Australia, and examination of how successful these arrangements are. It has also meant addressing the debate on financial relations between the States and the Commonwealth, including the issues of vertical fiscal imbalance, the Commonwealth grants system and reform of taxation. The recent decision of the High Court has made this last issue all the more urgent.
Investigating the possibility of an enhanced role for the States has required the Committee to confront directly the efficiency and effectiveness of federal decision-making institutions. This includes such intergovernmental processes as the Council of Australian Governments and the Leaders' Forum. And after hearing from a number of witnesses with considerable expertise, it has become clear to the Committee that it also includes international treaty making in Australia. While the work of this Committee continues, we have decided to present to the Parliament our first report, which contains our considered views and recommendations upon the subject matter of international treaty making and the States in Australia.
The twenty-first century will be the century of globalisation. Increased globalisation will require international responses to mutual concerns. In many cases these will take the form of treaties. And since 1983 and the High Court's decision on the Franklin Dam (Commonwealth v Tasmania (1983) 158 CLR 1) it has been clear that Australia's treaties can have enormous implications for the States. The States must not be left behind. As Victorian Parliamentarians, we must remain committed to our constituents' concerns. Only through an increasing engagement with Australia's international processes will we be able to address these.
The Committee is happy to make a number of concrete recommendations for achieving this. They do not aim at displacing the current framework of intergovernmental consultation on treaties, a framework which has already led to some Victorian involvement in the Commonwealth's international negotiations. Rather, the Committee's recommendations centre on amending the current bureaucratic system to include a formal State Parliamentary role. Inevitably, implementing some of these recommendations will require the co-operation and goodwill of the Commonwealth. But all are practical and achievable.
I wish to thank all those witnesses who have contributed to our Inquiry so far, for their open and frank advice. I am grateful also for the co-operation of Victorian Ministers and their departments, and for the advice and hospitality which this Committee has received in other States and Territories. And I wish especially to thank the Commonwealth Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, and its Chairman, Mr Bill Taylor, MP, for an extremely fruitful exchange early in our Inquiry.
I am grateful also to Donald Rothwell and Brian Opeskin, of the University of Sydney. As editors of the forthcoming collection International Law and Australian Federalism, to be published by Melbourne University Press, they permitted the Committee to have access to a copy prior to publication. The Committee has benefited greatly from an academic treatment of this timely matter.
I would like to thank the staff of the Committee - the Executive Officer, Lilian Topic, the Office Manager, Nicole Papal, and the Research Officers, Patrick Emerton and Sean Baker - for their excellent advice on the preparation of this report, as well as their ongoing contribution to the workings of the Committee.
Finally, I would like to thank my fellow Committee members for their enthusiasm and hard work on this complex reference, which has required us all to broaden our perspective, and to connect the good of Victoria with the good of the federation.
I therefore commend the Committee's report to the Parliament and
to the Premier, and urge the Premier to take up its recommendations.
Michael John
Chairman
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