From Co-Operative to Coercive Federalism and Back?

Abstract

<jats:p> In this article Ross Cranston discusses the changing nature of Federalism, tracing its development and examining possible characterizations of its basis. After reviewing the elements of “co-operative” and “coercive” Federalism, the author turns to “New Federalism” and what that means in terms of the Fraser government. He concludes that disputes over financial and other intergovernmental agreements are best left to the political sphere with the High Court acting in a supplementary role because of the inherent untidiness of a Federal system of government. </jats:p>

The Multiple Domains of Harmonisation: Politics, Policy, Process and Program

“…Harmonisation often involves decision making by Ministerial Councils or similar bodies with opaque processes and majority decision making. By shifting consideration of an issue to such a body, a government can attempt to avoid political accountability by claiming to have been outvoted, or obtain better political cover by spreading any political backlash for an unpopular decision across the several governments represented on that body (Cranston :124–5). An example of this was the referral by the New South Wales Labor government of two reports advocating changes to its OHS employer duty of care provisions (which changes were strongly opposed by unions) to the National Review Panel advising the Workplace Relations Ministerial Council (WRMC) on the creation of harmonised OHS laws, and it being outvoted when the WRMC agreed those changes (Salusinszky , ).…”