WHY DOES CLARIFYING ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES MATTER?
Clear roles and responsibilities for commonwealth and state levels of government are a pre-condition for democratic accountability, for, to put it bluntly, knowing who to blame. Clear roles and responsibilities are a pre-condition for good policy—if you are clearly accountable then the onus is on you to sort out the problems. Clear roles and responsibilities are a pre-condition for efficient government. Perhaps we should add that the assignment of roles and responsibilities also needs to create the right incentives, unlike the situation currently prevailing in the health area. Clear roles and responsibilities are also a pre-condition for sensibly determining the allocation of revenue. There has been too much futile debate about fiscal federalism. Although important, it should be obvious that the first thing we need to know is what expenditure responsibilities governments have, before we can figure out how much money they should raise or get.
