The Federation is the cornerstone of the Australian nation and at the very heart of our constitutional democracy, both historically and culturally. However, it is increasingly not working well and needs updating and modernising. The balance of power within the Federation has shifted increasingly to the centre, with an accompanying degree of resentment and distrust...

This paper sets out to address these multiple, overlapping and interacting problems by proposing a complete restructuring of the Australian Federation to a new governance model, based on two tiers of government rather than three, and with clearly designated roles and responsibilities between these tiers. The Federal Government would concentrate on designing, negotiating and legislating...