Prime Minister Tony Abbott says Australia’s Federation is ‘dysfunctional’ as budget fallout continues

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott says our Federation is ‘dysfunctional’. He says we need to fix it. But what exactly does he have in mind and should we be alarmed?

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has hinted he has an even bigger ambition beyond fixing the budget: fixing the Federation itself.

Defending the Federal Budget in press interviews today, Mr Abbott made repeated references to “fixing the Federation” as an order of business for his government.

Manifesto ... Tony Abbott’s book Battlelines, released in 2009.

In an interview with Brisbane radio station 4BC he described the Federation as “dysfunctional”.

At a press conference later in the morning, he said he “absolutely understood” why the state Premiers were “fighting their corner”.

“But the premiers understand as I do that we need to fix the federation as we need to fix the budget,” he said.

“My job is to fix the Commonwealth Budget in the short term as quickly as we can and then we have to fix the federation.”

So why the fixation on state/federal relations?

To be fair, it is not a sudden interest.

Mr Abbott flagged the issue in his 2009 book Battlelines, and then again in his last budget reply speech as Opposition Leader.

“Within two years of a change of government, working with the states, the Coalition will produce a white paper on COAG reform, and the responsibilities of different governments, to ensure that, as far as possible, the states are sovereign in their own sphere,” he said.

“The objective will be to reduce and end, as far as possible, the waste, duplication and second guessing between different levels of government that has resulted, for instance, in the Commonwealth employing 6000 health bureaucrats even though it doesn’t run a single hospital.”

No way to start a debate ... Labor MP Alannah MacTiernan.

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Labor’s MP for Perth, Alannah MacTiernan, accused Mr Abbott of using the Federal Budget to force a change in Federal/state relations.

“The Federation is constantly evolving, and there has always been ongoing discussion about how we do these things,” she told reporters this morning.

“But to unilaterally cut $80 billion our of the states’ budget with two hours’ notice is not what you do if you want to get a good outcome,” she said.

The Premiers and Chief Ministers announced their resistance to the Federal Budget after meeting in Sydney yesterday.

Cuts ‘completely unacceptable’ ... Queensland Premier Campbell Newman. Picture: Daniel Munoz

PREMIERS: COAG meeting needed urgently

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman described the cuts as “completely unacceptable” while Victoria’s Denis Napthine dismissed Mr Abbott’s suggestions that the cuts would have no impact until 2017, saying it was “simply not accurate”.

“There needs to be an urgent meeting of COAG before the 1st of July this year because we need to, on behalf of Australians, sort this out,” Mr Newman said.

If Mr Abbott is looking for a debate about the future shape of the Federation, it would appear that he has got one.

Originally published as Prime Minister Tony Abbott says Australia’s Federation is ‘dysfunctional’ as budget fallout continues