that federalism represented a desire for‘union but not unity’, thought feder-
alism simply meant‘weak government, legalism and conservatism’. Dicey saw
these as deficiencies but there are others who see them as strengths in the
federal idea.
Others criticize federalism on the pragmatic basis that few federations
achieve the stated goals (locality; community; diversity; variety; experimen-
tation). Failure to realize aspirations is a general criticism which may be made
about many forms of government, so it begs the question of whether there is
anything special about the attributed failings of federalism.
The crucial point about federalism in Australia is the pervasiveness of doc-
trines of equality and equalization, combined with a preference for the use of
the word‘national’, often a cover for‘central’, and the decline of the word
‘federal’. Although rarely recognized, realization of‘equality’in practice takes
the form of standardization, homogenization, and even uniformity. It is the
antithesis of diversity, variety, and choice. The quest for equality is at the
expense of federalism.
6.5 Federation as a Bureaucracy:Reform of the
Federation Green Paper(2015)
In 2015, the Liberal-National government published a document entitled
Reform of the Federation Green Paper. It powerfully illustrates the struggle
which federalism in Australia has to escape from the overlay of bureaucracy
and the bureaucratic ethos.
It has been composed, appropriately enough, by an anonymous task force
based in the Commonwealth Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
It has an obligatory expert panel of advisers composed of former state premiers
and ministers, and academics and advocates of various kinds. The central
mission purportedly derives from the:
need to make sure our federal structure is working. Our Federation is not, as some
argue, a relic from the past, broken beyond repair and ill-suited to the
times....A major part of the problem is that over time, the Commonwealth has
become, for various reasons, increasingly involved in matters which have trad-
itionally been the responsibility of the States and Territories.
(Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet 2015, p. 106)As a consequence, the Abbott government is:
committed to a White Paper on the Reform of the Federation. The White Paper will
seek to clarify roles and responsibilities to ensure that, as far as possible, the States
and Territories are sovereign in their own sphere. (ibid., p. 106)Australia’s‘Talent for Bureaucracy’