All levels of government need to get behind a better process for reforming Australia's federal system, based on the latest picture of Australians' attitudes towards federalism revealed in the second Australian Constitutional Values Survey.

Releasing the first results from the Survey, project leader Professor A J Brown, of Griffith Law School, said that overall support for reform had grown dramatically since the last survey, conducted in 2008.

Conducted nationally by Newspoll and funded by the Australian Research Council, 1,201 respondents were interviewed in May 2008 and 1,100 respondents in March 2010.

"When asked about what levels of government, and how many governments they thought Australia should have in 20 years, 66% of respondents in 2008 indicated a system different from today," Professor Brown said.

"In March 2010, that figure has increased to 75% of respondents."

The results show that while support for most different reform scenarios has increased, the most dramatic increases are in support for removing the state level of government (increased from 31% to 39%) and creation of a new level of regional government (increased from 32% to 42%).

Of the current levels of government, the federal level of government continues to be perceived as the most effective at its particular job (44% of respondents, down six percent from 2008), with 27% perceiving the local level as the most effective (up 7% from 2008), and 17% perceiving the state level as the most effective (down 1% from 2008).

However there are wide variations between the citizens of different states.

Fifty percent of Australians would still prefer a system of government with three or more levels (down 8% on 2008), with 45% preferring a system with only one or two levels of government (up 7% on 2008).

Professor Brown said many of the factors driving attitudes to the federal system, and to particular levels of government, require substantial further research and analysis.

"Attitudes to the government presently in power, and phases of the electoral cycle at any given time, clearly play a role in shifts in attitudes," he said.

"However the consistent picture from both surveys is that Australians do hold views about the current state and future development of their federal system, which support the need for a more structured program of research and debate for shaping that future."

"Current investment in new intergovernmental collaboration, through the Council of Australian Governments and Australian Council of Local Government, is vital and needs to be better supported and sustained," Professor Brown said.

“However these efforts are also similar to adding high octane fuel to an engine, to try to make it perform better, when citizen attitudes suggest that more is also going to be needed – in this case a rebuilt or at least reconditioned motor."

Professor Brown said that a strategic process for reviewing key roles, responsibilities and resources at all levels of governance – federal, state, regional and local – such as mapped out by the Australia 2020 Summit in 2008, remained imperative for developing long-term solutions to major policy challenges such as health and the environment.

Dr Brown will speak at the Intergovernmental Relations 2010 Conference at the National Convention Centre, Canberra, on Wednesday April 14 (see http://www.intergovrelations.com1).

For a full summary of the Australian Constitutional Values Survey results see www.griffith.edu.au/federalism2

Source: Griffith University News