I actually learned this when visiting Parliament House last year (though it was part of an off-the-tour side discussion +). Having lived in both countries I think the independence of the US states is radically and fundamentally stronger than that of the Australian states, especially since (and because) income tax was federalised 75 years ago.
The only place I know that even comes close to the US independence of the states is Germany.
+ I was visiting a friend who works there; later went out to dinner with him and a colleague who is a constitutional lawyer and who was quite familiar with the American system as well.
I know nothing about US system so I can't really compare the two. The only reason I know anything about our own constitution is I had to do a school project on Sir Henry Parkes way back in high school.
Personally I kind of have opposite view about the states I do think there needs to be a trade off between federal and state power our current system is flawed but probably strikes a good balance. I'm sympathetic to fact that someone living in say Regional QLD has different needs to Melbourne or Sydney and I don't want a system where power is consolidated in the big population centers and no one else's vote really matters but at the same time I'd like voting power to be more proportional as it stands someones vote in Tasmania holds a lot more weight federally then voters from many of the other states due to equal (rather than proportional representation) of the states.
> The only place I know that even comes close to the US independence of the states is Germany.
Canada has pretty strong provinces as well. The Swiss cantons are also more powerful than the central government. I imagine Bosnia and Belgium are also similar, but that's more "the country is made up of two statelets who hate each other's guts" than a true federalist perspective.
> I actually learned this when visiting Parliament House last year (though it was part of an off-the-tour side discussion). Having lived in both countries I think the independence of the US states is radically and fundamentally stronger than that of the Australian states, especially since (and because) income tax was federalised 75 years ago.
It's a mixture of factors, but vertical fiscal imbalance enabled by the First Uniform Tax Case is certainly part of it. As I'm sure you're aware Australians generally have fewer objections to centralised government.
Culturally Australia has historically been significantly more homogeneous across the different states than the US, even our accents are more similar between different states.
> The only place I know that even comes close to the US independence of the states is Germany.
The only place I know that even comes close to the US independence of the states is Germany.
+ I was visiting a friend who works there; later went out to dinner with him and a colleague who is a constitutional lawyer and who was quite familiar with the American system as well.