The loss of democracy and freedom in Australia

Alan Barron

FamilyVoice Victorian State Director

When the Australian people present themselves to vote at federal elections that are held every three years, few commentators or political leader address a key question of police, which is how to restore democracy and freedom for the people by correcting the gross imbalance between the States and the forces of centralism in Canberra.

The leaders of both political parties have long been oblivious to the rapid decline in democracy and freedom which has developed as the federal balance has tipped increasingly in favour of centralism. We’ve seen this especially in relation to managing (or perhaps mismanaging) the Covid pandemic and the unbridled ambition to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions targets.

Whatever your views about the merits of net zero goals, or how we should have managed the Covid crisis, the imposition of harsh policy without public consultation and the loss of autonomy of the six states in the federation is most concerning.

Net zero ambitions and covid restrictions should have raised massive questions about personal and civil rights and how suddenly nationwide policies are imposed, which rightly belong to individual state governments, elected by the people, and not to Canberra or the collaboration of what is now called the National Cabinet (the federal, and States and Territory leaders).

In March of 2020 the National Cabinet was formed and it scrambled to make a Covid response featuring lock-downs, mask mandates, quarantine requirements and vaccinations.

In September 2022, the National Cabinet established the Energy and Climate Change Ministerial Council to coordinate energy and climate policies across federal and state governments. It functions to give a streamlined approach to state-federal coordination regarding energy and climate change challenges. In other words it represents a centrist and federally-driven opportunity to advance agendas without public consultation.

What may be regarded by some to be responsible cooperation between the various political entities is truly characterised as unrepresentative, non-consultative statism.

Regrettably, as both major parties largely agreed with the imposition of centralist power in relation to greenhouse emissions and the Covid pandemic, the long-suffering voters faced a heavy penalty. They massively lost freedom and increasingly find themselves paying more and more for electricity (driving up the cost of living in general).

The people are increasingly disillusioned by the political system, yet no real political choice is available if both major parties are as bad as each other. It’s a real attack on the principle of federalism when power increasingly seems to have shifted from the states to Canberra.

Unfortunately, the Australian Constitution is not much help in this situation. That is because no structure can work if the political class, with the tacit consent of the people, defy the spirit of the federal compact.

The Constitution clearly preserves State Parliaments and State constitutions, such that most of our lives should be lived under State law, not Federal law. But through the signing of international agreements and a dubious use of the foreign affairs power of the Constitution, with no resistance to the centrist ambition of governments, the entire nation increasingly marches in lock step to the Canberra drum.

The Constitution was designed to define certain limited responsibilities which the States ceded to the Commonwealth in 1901, and if there arises any conflict between the federal government and any State or States, then the former would prevail – but only on those limited issues specified in the federal compact (such as defence, banking, currency and coinage, lighthouses etc). Areas including health, the environment, education, etc are not to be managed centrally by Canberra, but belong to the States.

The move to centralise income tax payments, which occurred as a temporary measure during the Second World War, was conveniently kept in place after the cessation of hostilities and that gave the federal jurisdiction the financial backing necessary the centralist philosophy.

In the decades after the conflict, we saw the persistent application of the foreign affairs power of the constitution (jokingly referred to by some commentators as the internal affairs power) to impose the agenda of all manner of international organisations to which Australia is party.

Since the Covid pandemic and the Paris Agreement, the States have ceded further moral authority and are disinclined to defend their freedoms and rights.

In short the Constitution has been thrown under the bus. State governments have the power to resist the unitary agenda, but the trend in recent decades is increasingly to make Australian jurisdictions conform to so-called model approaches which satisfy those a the apex of our political structures, with bipartisan support and no consultation with the people.

During the Covid pandemic each state fell into line, to enact emergency powers. The Chief Health Officer, Premier and Police Commissioner gained authority to apply sweeping restrictions that brought damage and misery that is yet to be fully assessed.

During the height of the pandemic, state borders were closed, and severe travel restrictions were imposed on everyone. The people of Melbourne were not allowed to travel more than five kms from their homes and could only leave their house for four basic reasons including buying food, seeking medical treatment, work and exercise.

As regards Australia’s energy policy this is no longer determined by our needs but by bureaucrats in the UN enforcing the Paris Agreement.

Whether the individual voter agrees or disagrees with such policies, those matters are no longer open for discussion and any dissent is met with howls of outrage. As former Deputy PM John Anderson noted in his July 2020 YouTube interview with Geoffrey Blainey, “At the moment we are consumed with the issue of climate change … my worry is we have forgotten how to have a sensible, reasoned, respectful discourse and that we will end up implementing ad hoc and unwise policies …”.

It has become apparent that an urgent review of the relationship between federal and state powers is long overdue. While the purpose of the Constitution was to limit power – and not to give unelected bureaucrats local and those living outside our borders unfettered authority – the powers in Canberra have twisted its meaning, assisted by the masses who do not understand their Constitutional rights.

As a result of the machinations of Canberra, the Constitution no longer guarantees the freedom of the States and therefore the freedom of the people. The present Constitution, as applied by power-hungry politicians, no longer adequately protects the rights and privileges of all citizens and the basic democratic freedoms for which our forefathers fought so hard to establish and protect.

Unfortunately, when the voters submit to harsh treatment, there is no electoral advantage to any political party promising to restore the proper federal balance, and to uphold the rights and autonomy of States and individuals. For that reason, the astute political commentator will look in vain for any policy to restore the federal balance either during or after the forthcoming election campaign. Reform of course will take many years and won’t be achieved easily. But thinking Australians must surely fan this issue into flame, gradually then rapidly.