Re: Mistakes of 100 years ago

[ROY HOWARTH <rhowarth@tig.com.au>]

>The answer to the above is obvious.
>If we dont have State Govts , then we dont need states, we could simply be the 
>country Australia with all residents living in Australia, much like New 
>Zealand or France of Germany or many other countries that we like to compare 
>ourselves against.
>After all, just what is the logic if any , of where the state boundaries are , 
>apart from some arbitrary lines drawn on a map by some buracrats many years 
>ago.
>For example why does WA get to be just over half the area of the rest of 
>Australia.
>
>
>cheers
>MD

Forget it - Aussies are just too damned parochial for that to get off the 
ground in the next century or so (if you're lucky). One has too consider 
that many people proudly regard themselves as (for example) Victorians or 
Queenslanders first and foremost - witness the State of Origin for a 
grand spectacle of parochialism at its finest (or worst, whatever your 
point of view). 

I personally can't see a problem with transport (amongst other things) 
adopting a truly national approach whilst preserving state boundaries 
(even for arbitary reasons). But certainly something needs to be done 
about the state of flux that exists with the various state govts pushing 
their own respective barrows far too far, all in the name of that old 
dinosaur "state's rights". But as well all know there are no simple 
answers that can readily be agreed upon by the majority....

Roy H