Get rid of states

Keith Whitfield argues that the "states are needed as a check" (Peninsula News, October 13).

Federation made sense in 1900 but the federal system is now a big hindrance to good government.

It is also very expensive.

A spectacular number of federal-state crises have emerged in Australia in recent years in several major and minor public policy areas.

This is not going to be rectified by further attempts at "cooperative federalism".

With more coalition victories in the states the blame-game will soon be back in town.

The already huge fiscal imbalance is growing.

Australia should stop trying to put the clock back.

Yes, Carr, Costa, Iemma, Goss and Beattie, expressing candid views in "exit interviews", are right: the states should go.

Howard, Costello, Fisher and Abbott agree.

These are or were practising politicians deeply involved in federal-state relations.

As to the massive constitutional hurdles consider two steps: Introduce a new electoral system which ends the two-party adversarial system; and proportional representation.

The current single-member district system is the very cause of the two-party dominance. Most constitutional amendments fail because they do not have bi-partisan support. Secondly, introduce Citizen Initiated Referendums, giving the people the right, by petition, to propose constitutional amendments.

Australia's archaic, rigid Constitution is overdue for a big overhaul anyway.

Perhaps the most questionable conservative defence of federalism is that a unitary structure equals centralisation of power.

The reality is that centralisation is a much greater problem at the state level than in Canberra.

We need a superior plan for a decentralised, de-urbanised Australia.

Of course that can be achieved.

Many unitary states in the world have a better system of decentralisation than federal Australia.

For Australia, a two-tier structure of national and local government, plus a mezzanine level of Regional Organisation of Councils (and possibly similar adjuncts to local government) is the way to go.

State Governments can be transformed into city governments.

Such a restructure could greatly benefit the Central Coast which now functions as a spillway for Sydney's surplus population resulting in an undesirable and preventable further sprawl of the Sydney metropolis.

Klaas Woldring, Pearl Beach