Secession is a Mirage; the Problems are Real

Australian health reform, Western Australia loses out on GST... is secession the answer? No way! says Agamedes.

Do you need new -- lateral -- thinking for your own problems? email nick leth at gmail dot com. Need solutions? No worries. Now.

Way back in 1933, Western Australia decided to secede from the Commonwealth of Australia. We would have, too -- except that the other states did not allow it. The call to secede is raised again and again -- usually, according to The West (Welcome... to the Republic of Western Australia, 24 Apr 10) -- usually when times are really tough, or when times are really bad.

To put it another way: WA wants to go it alone when (a) things are crook and we reckon we could do better by ourselves, or (b) money's rolling in and we want to keep it all for ourselves. This week's call for secession has been prompted by a bit of both.

The health systems are crook in some other states. The federal health system "reform" will (we expect) take money from WA to prop up health in other states. WA not only survived the global financial crisis, we are still booming, due largely to exports of iron ore. To make matters worse, we collect GST, give it to the federal government -- and get back less than we collected.

Trouble is, we're looking to solve the wrong problem.

Is it the money?

The article in The West looks at the money. Once we factor in all the costs of becoming "an independent nation", we'll probably be very poor. Add in the cost of a republic, we will probably be broke. Apart from the occasional visit, we pay very little for a royal family. A president will cost us in salaries, facilities, staff, elections and more.

Then there's the greed of our demand to spend all of the GST that we earn. The greed that says, those states did not earn this GST so they should not get to spend it... Take that a step further: those people did not earn this GST so they should not gain benefits from it. Take that greed to its logical conclusion: I bought this item, I paid the GST, I want that GST back...

We live in a form of democracy with a social conscience. Most of us accept that we should give some support to people who are not able to support themselves. Does it make a difference that those people live in a different suburb? a different town? a different state? We pay our taxes in the full understanding that the money will be spent -- largely at the government's discretion -- on a whole range of things. And most of those things will be of no direct benefit to the people who paid the taxes.

So what, if -- at the moment -- some of "our" GST is spent outside WA? This time we "lose". Other times -- we "win". That's the way that a caring & sharing society should work.

Is it the power of independence?

Western Australia is a part of a country with a population of 22.3 million. As an independent nation, WA would have a population of 2.1 million. One tenth of the population... Will that -- somehow -- gain us extra prestige? extra power on the world stage? No way! The country of WA would be an insignificant speck with no power whatsoever.

Except, perhaps, as a tempting takeover target for the countries which would otherwise have to pay for our iron ore...

Is it the excitement of self-rule?

Now that's possible... People who enjoy the power of.. power... would like it even more, if it were power within an independent country. Just think: our president could declare war on the rest of Australia!

Which leads to another issue: Would the rest of Australia be happy with whatever the nation of WA decides to do? If not, what could happen? Let's consider some examples:

Northern Ireland is British, the rest of Ireland is Irish. Would WA need to battle the Australian equivalent of the IRA, to maintain its independence? The Basques attack the rest of Spain. Would WA need to form a WA Separatist Movement -- and bomb other Australian cities -- in order to enforce our independence? Tamil Tigers used violence to support their demands for home rule (or whatever they called it). Would WA do the same?

The way I see it, demands for separation lead to violence. Mind you, so do demands for consolidation. Perhaps it's just any demands for change that cause violence...

Then I look at the European Union: a negotiated joining of quite a few countries. It has quite a few benefits and probably quite a few disadvantages. Because it was negotiated, it works. There are disagreements but no wars. There are benefits of scale without a total loss of national identity.

I'm rather proud of the commonwealth of Australia. I like to live in a country which is large, diverse, peaceful and prosperous. Where states work together to support all Australians.

I see more benefits in the commonwealth than we could possibly gain from separation. It would even be nice if we could include New Zealand in the commonwealth... perhaps as part of a "Pacific Union" rather than within a single nation.

Which brings me back to the original issue: We are attempting to solve the wrong problem.

So what is the problem?

The problem is, that the federal government attempts to take power from the states.

The current health "reforms" are an example. Give us your money, says the federal government, and we will give it back to you.

Eh?!

What they mean is, give us your money and we will give it back to you -- if you do exactly as we say.

We have yet to see any actual "reforms". There are suggestions of a different governance structure, management by district rather than by state. (WA is so centralised that we may well end up as a single district anyway...) How will this change benefit the actual provision of health services? We are not told.

There are hints... References to particular funding models which seem to work in some states. Though we are also informed that these funding models do not work very well with smaller numbers of patients, so the districts will need to be large enough to make it work. (One district for all of WA, perhaps?)

Why does this funding model require federal control? No answer... If it's really so good -- why can we (WA) not simply adopt that funding model?

Are there any other benefits to the federal government "reforms" of the health system? None that we have been told.

Give us your money and we will tell you what to do. That's the gist of the "reforms". It's a grab for power by the federal government. Either full power to the federal government is a good idea -- or, that is the real problem.

Now solve the real problem

The real problem with the proposed health "reform" is that it is -- purely and simply -- a grab for power by the federal government. Okay, not everyone sees that as a problem. But... if we want to continue as a commonwealth of states -- then increasing federal power is a real problem.

There are two key steps in solving this problem:

1. The Barnett government has taken the first step: resist the "reforms". Refuse to hand over power. Don't accept a short-term bribe, don't bow to threats, just insist on the right of the state to manage itself.
   
2. Then, effectively manage the state! The health system has issues: deal with them. Don't just say, for example, Get everyone through Emergency in four hours! Actually get in there and look for solutions. Then implement the solutions.
   

Sure, it costs money to implement solutions. Far less money than would be required to set up an independent nation. (And the independent nation would still have all of the problems within its health system.) Here's a plan:

Spend some real money and get our health system working. Look for good health service now leading to money saving later. Encourage prevention rather than cure, for example. Show every other state just how well our system is working. They will want to follow our example. Health systems will improve, Australia-wide. Our prevention strategy will gradually reduce costs.

Okay, that's simplistic! There must be plenty of ways to improve services and/or reduce costs -- if we are willing to listen. Work with the people in the system. Stop shouting orders and making absurd demands. Be willing to solve problems even if you -- the person in power -- did not think of the solution all by yourself!

Stop shouting orders which cannot be followed; start working with people. Forget about secession, it is not a solution to any of our problems.

Secession is a distraction. Solve the right problem. Forget about power-plays and hobby-horses.

Work together to fix our problems.

Independent thinking & independent analysis of your problems by Agamedes Consulting. Support for your thought: email nick leth at gmail dot com