• Anthony Sibillin

01 April 2010Rationalising federal–state relations could make governments less not more accountable, argues Anthony Sibillin in Inside Story

KEVIN RUDD and Tony Abbott have locked horns over healthcare reform. But for all the fuss over the detail, the prime minister and opposition leader pretty much agree on the point of the exercise: ending the “blame game” between federal and state governments.

Mr Rudd says that under his plan the federal government will “end the blame game, eliminate waste and shoulder the burden of funding to meet rapidly rising health costs.” Mr Abbott counters that the PM’s plan is “basically going to make a bad situation worse. It’s not going to end the blame game.”

The experts agree with the politicians. “Lack of clarity of accountability and definition of responsibilities creates the environment for a blame game, as each government is able to blame the other for shortcomings attributed to each other’s programs,” say the academics, doctors, economists and former ministers on the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission. And the public agrees with the experts. Eight out of ten voters want the federal government to “end the blame game,” according to one recent poll...

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