They need to re-read Battlelines, or at least the chapter on what is wrong with federation.
It was the creation of vertical fiscal imbalance during World War II that did more to break the working federation than anything before or since that time.
States do most of the delivery of services, yet the commonwealth collects most of the revenue. Goods and Services Tax reform would go a long way to repairing this situation, but will federal politicians show enough leadership to embrace the obvious? Abbott has shown no sign of doing so, and on Thursday opposition Treasury spokesman Chris Bowen outright rejected the need to even look into it.
