Why the COAG Reform Agenda Has Floundered: Recent Developments in Federalism and Reform in Australia

Although Australia's modern reform era began with the election of the Hawke Government in 1983, it was not till the National Competition Policy (NCP) which ran from 1995 to 2005, that a collaborative reform effort emerged between the central and state governments. The subsequent period, covers the National Reform Agenda (NRA) which was aborted after a couple of years and the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Reform Agenda which is currently under implementation. The interim assessment of the COAG Reform Agenda contained in this chapter identifies several problems. Its main conclusion is that that for cooperative federal reform efforts to work there has to be a basis for cooperation, namely buy-in to an agreed solution to the identified problem. Unfortunately, this seems to be missing from much of the COAG Reform Agenda. As long as that remains the case, progress is likely to be slow and tortuous.