There are few functions which the state Parliaments now perform which would not be better performed by the Australian Parliament or by regional councils. The states are too large to deal with local matters and too small and weak to deal with national ones.

If we were starting Australia all over again, I wouldn't support having the existing state structure," he said. "I would actually support having a national government, and perhaps a series of regional governments having the power of, say, the Brisbane City Council (Australia's most powerful local government). But we're not starting Australia all over again, and the idea of abolishing state governments is unrealistic.

[This] has seen the Howard Government making decisions well outside the range of powers granted by the Constitution and much in excess of previous Commonwealth governments of all types.

There have been two main avenues by which the Government has attempted to achieve its ends.

On the one hand, the Howard Government has mirrored aspects of the Whitlam years by linking funding proposals to the imposition of particular policy aims. Queensland and Western Australia accepting three-year funding agreements for their Technical and Further Education (TAFE) systems with the proviso that TAFE staff would be offered Australian Workplace Agreements, is just such an example. ...

The second means has been a consequence of the size of the Commonwealth surplus during its period of office. This has enabled the Commonwealth to make financial grants that effectively bypass the state and territory governments. Payments made directly to local governments for programmes such as the Roads to Recovery are typical.

Examples referred to in the 2004 Commonwealth election included the provision of tool boxes for apprentices and the establishment of technical secondary colleges; rather more narrowly focused cases included the building of a bridge in the Queensland electorate of Petrie, or the dredging of Tumbi Creek in New South Wales.

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