SHED A TIER MODEL

The system of governance and government described here is a simple straightforward system that will meet the needs of the citizens and communities of this nation for the next century. It will be controlled by the people, for the people and be close to the people. This system will be able to achieve local outcomes at a local and community level, and national outcomes at a national level, and will be fair, equitable, and democratic. This system will be better able to defend Australians and Australia and work with the rest of the world to make the world a better place. The citizens will have control over the whole process of government, in the way the government is elected, and during the governments term in office. The design of this system can be the bench mark for the rest of the world. This system is put together using some of the existing parts of the present system, and will streamline the whole structure of government.

Listed below are some of the major problems with the present system of government and many of these exist because of the six state governments, two territory governments and a federal government. There are seventeen houses of parliament and 831 politicians.

The whole system of government is geared to money.
People have no control over politicians after they are elected.
Very poor constitution.
The huge cost of having three levels of government
The huge cost of having more than one parliament.
Different laws and rules.
Different educations systems.
Disjointed health and aged care systems.
Different police forces.
Complicated system of government.
Buck passing between governments.
Communities have no control over local issues.
Far too many politicians.
Far too many bureaucrats.
Lack of in interest in politics by the people.
Inadequate voting system.
Too many elections.

Many of these problems have huge cost implications for the people and on the economy. This money can be redirected and better spent on the people of Australia, for the benefit of all Australians. The Shed A Tier model that is presented here will solve many of these problems, and being simple and understandable it is hoped that more people will take an interest in the national government and its workings, as well as take an active part in local government and local communities. One aim of this model is to achieve the greatest effect, with the least amount of change and disruption to our every day lives. By using the federal government and local governments from the present system an easy understanding of the changes and their effects can be seen.

The major change will be the abolition of the six state and two territory governments, with all their powers, responsibilities, assets, territory and rights going to a national government. Any of the assets of the abolished state and territory governments that can be used by local government and the community, will be shifted into community ownership. The new national government which was the old federal government will continue with the responsibilities it had plus be responsible for the powers, responsibilities, assets, territory and rights that have been granted by the people from the abolished state and territory governments. This will then become a true national government for the whole of Australia. The present states will still exist as areas.

The new national government will be elected by using the present federal electorates and will use the present federal parliament house in Canberra. Local government councillors will be elected as they are now and will continue with their present local government areas.

Every community, town, village, city, suburb, area, district, or region will have ownership and control of the infrastructure that it needs and has a practical use of. A hospital will be owned by the community in the area that it serves. The local hall will be owned by the community that uses it. Local roads will be owned by the local shire or council and the people who use them. Community committees and or council will control such assets and council will be the trusties. There will be no restriction on the private ownership of such infrastructure. The major infrastructure that is used by the majority of the people and beyond the capability of local government will be owned and funded by the national government. Such as major roads, major dams, power stations, airports.

The national government will be responsible for funding and for the setting of policy on all health issues and aged care. The implementation of this policy will be by area health boards, such as the 72 state health regions that are already in place. At a local community level this will be by committees who will come from the community and from local government.

There will be a National Health Board whose members will be nominated by the people who are involved in health and aged care and their role will be to assist the government and the minister for health, plan what resources are needed and where resources should be placed. Funding for health will be on a per capita basis to the regions then on a needs basis at the community level.

The national government will set up the "Australian Police Force" that will take all present police systems and form one police force. This Australian Police Force will have a permanent presents in as many communities as possible. The large cities will each be one district and have police stations spread across them, to give as many a 24 hour stations as possible. In regional and rural areas, police districts will be set up of a size to be able to achieve 24 hour police service. In rural towns the police, ambulance, fire services, etc. will be set up in one command centre so as there will be someone one duty at all times to man radios etc.

The national government will fund and set policy and overall curriculum for education. Funding will go to schools on a per pupil basis, with a system of allowances for remoteness or other disadvantages. At the school level the school and its funding will be controlled by a school board. These school boards will be selected by the community involved in the school.

The Murray Darling Basin will have a board consisting of the Members of the national parliament whose electrets are in this region, and the same number of local government councillors whose councils are in this area. The funding to achieve outcomes will come from the National government on a needs basis. The same system will apply to other regions eg, Great Barrier Reef.

Local government will have very little change to what it does now. The main changes will be in community care and social planing and its role in the committees that will be set up for the schools, health, police etc. The role of local government will be to have these committees formed and make sure the members understand their role. Local councillors will form these committees if there is no support or input from the community. These committees will work under national government guidelines. It will be the local government manager's responsibility to inform these committees of their legal responsibility and to report to the appropriate minister and National controlling body.

Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide will have a regional administration board, which will consist of the members of the national parliament whose electorates are within the region and the same number of co uncillors from the local government areas within the region. The role of these boards will be to oversee and coordinate major infrastructure within the city region. These boards will meet when needed.

For local government to make the transition to the Shed A Tier model all councils would continue as they exist with their present local government act. Over a two year time frame all councils would shift to the Victorian local government act. This would continually be updated so as to achieve the best outcomes for the people and the communities.

The Shed A Tier model described here is simple and an easy change as it only replaces who is in charge of some parts of the present system. This part of the Shed A Tier system can be put in place without constitutional change. Section 111 of the Constitution allows for this to happen. 'The Parliament of a state may surrender any part of a state to the commonwealth; and upon acceptance thereof by the commonwealth, such part of the State shall become subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Commonwealth'. The effect of this model will be huge but the changes to everyday life will be little.

A NEW NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

This part of the Shed A Tier model is a change to the parliament and government to give the people greater control over their elected members and the parliament.

One house of Parliament.
Five year term.
Every Member of Parliament must stand for an election of the parliament before and not exceeding five years and seven days.
The present Federal house of representatives electorates will be used.
The boundaries commission will reset these boundaries as needed.
One fifth of the electorates will vote every year.
Every electorate will vote every five years.
Voting will be on the Saturday before the 30th September.
Members of the parliament will be dismissed from the parliament for any criminal offence.
The parliament as a whole can only be dismissed for not upholding the constitution, by the high court.
A member of the parliament who does not served to the end of their full term will pay the cost of a by- election.
A member of the parliament elected at a by-election will serve to the end of the normal term of that electorate.
An electorate can bring on a by-election when a partition of more the 30% of the electors has been presented to the court.
The members of parliament will appoint a leader who will become the prime minister, and this position will be the highest position and be the leader of the Australian nation.
The members of parliament shall choose a member to become the speaker of the house and they will remain in that position until another is chosen.
A referendum will happen when one third of the members of parliament vote for it.
The referendum questions with be presented to each set of electorates as they go to the poll, so it may take five years to achieve a result.
A member of parliament must be an Australian citizen and can not have duel citizenship.
To become a member of parliament they must be twenty one or older, and must not reach the age of seventy five years during their term in parliament.
A member of parliament can only serve three terms consecutively, and then must have a five year break.
Only Australian citizens can vote.
Voting is not compulsory.
Must be eighteen years of age or more to vote.

With this system of electing a government it helps solves some of the problems with the present system.

It allows a politician fives years in which to make any changes and if the politician is not doing their job they can be removed at any time.
There will be a smaller turn over of politicians with each election and this will allow for a more continuous flow of ideas through the parliament.
The will and thoughts of the people will come through each year and give government a direction to follow.
There will always be people with four years experience in the parliament.
A result in a referendum will be easily achieved. If after one fifth of the people have voted on an question in a referendum and the result is strongly in favour then the government could implement policy at that time to bring about a change. With out the impediment of the present system the result of a referendum will be a true response of the people.
It will allow those who put some thought into government, elect one. In the present system with compulsory voting the majority of people have no idea who they are voting for and in many cases don't really care.
Will diminish the power of parties by having the people of an electorate chose a candidate who is there to look after the people of their electorate and can change them if they are not.
Will even out pork barrelling by having elections every year the distribution of money will be shared about evenly.
Will make politicians accountable to their electorates by having the electors able to change their member at any time.
Will make the parliament more accountable to the people as the people will be in control of the system.
Will be a very simple straightforward system.
Reduces the number of elections as voters will vote every five years in the national elections and every four years in local government elections. With this system in place the people will become the check and balance that controls the government. The present system has many so called check and balance systems in it and they have become a hindrance to good government and there is very little evidence of where they work. What they have done is make the system just more complicated.

Is there a need for a president or a position like it, with any sort of power, when a duly elected prime minister is the leader of Australia? There can be any number of ceremonial positions as the people see fit. In most cases the people will control who is prime minister each year.

There have been many ideas and attempts to bring about change to our system of government, such as new states, or regional government, but none of these ideas solve any of the problems as they create more politicians and bureaucrats and become more costly. Most of these ideas create more borders and boundaries at which there will be anomalies.

Australia is large land area with very diverse population density and huge geographical differences makes trying to have a system of government fit very hard. To divide Australia into thirty regions by area, Victoria would have to be made bigger, and to do it by population, seven of these regions would be in Sydney and five in Melbourne and three in Brisbane. Therefore half the region will be in three cities. No matter how many regions are used the same applies.