Page 3709 - Week 12 - Thursday, 13 October 1994
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addresses the fiscal imbalance between the Commonwealth and the States and the Territories we are going to have continuing economic inefficiencies flowing from that. If they are not going to be addressed, any benefits that might be gained from the implementation of the recommendations of the Hilmer report are going to be more than counterbalanced by the loss of economic efficiency that is going to continue to flow from the fiscal imbalance issues.
It is even suggested that this fiscal imbalance might get worse, because, in dealing with the question of fuel excise, for example, the Federal Government, or at least the Prime Minister, has indicated that he would prefer that the States surrender their own source revenue independence in this field to the Commonwealth as well. "Uniform taxation", he says, "is the glue that holds the federation together". It might be holding the federation together, but it is causing the States and Territories a hell of a lot of problems. If he is going to draw it more to the centre - the general proposition when the Special Premiers Conference was first convened was that it should be going the other way; that the States and Territories should be given greater opportunity to deal with their own money and expenditure rather than less - I can see that, instead of improving the situation, as it was four or five years ago, it is going to get worse.
All I can say, Chief Minister, is: When you go to the next meeting in February, can you ask him to get back on track and deal with the issues for which the organisation was put together in the first place? Do not be sidetracked by all this irrelevant stuff that seems to have found its way onto the agenda, none of which is ever resolved. It just gets carried on from agenda to agenda, six months, six months, and we are not achieving what the organisation was put together to achieve in the first place. I think it is a grave disappointment that, four years on, the major issue appears not even to have been addressed.
MS FOLLETT (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (6.43), in reply: I thank members for their responses to the ministerial statements and the communiques that I tabled in March and in August. Madam Speaker, while the Council of Australian Governments was initially formed with the aim of increasing cooperation amongst the Australian jurisdictions and enhancing national debate across a wide range of areas, I think it is inevitable that the process will have its own controversies. The council takes up those issues which, by their nature, require the highest level of attention. In this context there are times when negotiating resolutions is extremely challenging.
The council considers those matters on which there are likely to be strong views, which are likely to be controversial, and where there is a history of either inaction or limited progress within other ministerial councils. I take Mr Kaine's point about the question of fiscal imbalance. I can certainly assure Mr Kaine that there are other State leaders as well who have an interest in pursuing that matter, so I imagine that there will be progress; but, of course, until we can get a consistent line amongst the jurisdictions it is going to be difficult even to get to an appropriate negotiating position.
COAG has, however, yielded some notable successes. Some of those worth mentioning include the reduction of the ministerial councils from 45 to 21. That was in fact an ACT initiative, my own initiative, and one which, I think, makes for much greater efficiency among those councils. We have had significant progress on electricity reform.
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