National Cabinet stays
Virus impact prompts PM to ditch ‘bureaucratic’ meetings
AUSTRALIAN leaders have axed the tired “theatre” of formal meetings in favour of keeping the more nimble National Cabinet used during the coronavirus crisis permanently.
The COVID-19 pandemic has unexpectedly fuelled a major federation reform, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday announcing the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) had been dumped forever.
The National Cabinet will now be a permanent feature of Australia’s federation, and Mr Morrison said it would be “driven by a singular agenda … to create jobs”.
“Having the groups operate like a fair-dinkum cabinet has been really important,” he said.
The cabinet will meet once a fortnight during the crisis and then once a month, replacing COAG, which Mr Morrison acknowledged was where “good ideas went to die”.
“We want to streamline those endless meetings so we can bring it back to one focus: creating jobs out of the back of this crisis,” he said.
As part of the reforms, treasurers will be given responsibility over national partnership agreements, which cover billions of dollars in funding for services like schools and hospitals.
Many other ministerial councils that exist now will be re-examined, with many expected to be dropped in favour of groups focused on specific topics like energy and health.
“It’s important that ministers at state and federal level talk to each other but they don’t have to do it in such a bureaucratic form with a whole bunch of paperwork attached to it,” Mr Morrison said. “We want to streamline all of those endless meetings that go on.”
Asked whether it would reduce the transparency of government decisions by putting more discussions behind closed doors, Mr Morrison said policymaking should not be a “spectator sport”.
“When these groups get together, there’s a lot of theatre, a lot of people in the room,” he said. “And that can really, I think, restrict the genuine reform discussions that you have to have.”
The National Cabinet has also agreed to a new $131.4 billion five-year public hospital deal that will deliver an extra $9.3 billion to NSW hospital services alone.
As part of the new agreement, the Morrison Government has provided a funding guarantee to all states and territories to ensure no jurisdiction is left “worse off” as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.