Overview
- For the first time, the three tiers of government are on track to collect more than $1 trillion in taxes, charges and fees this financial year.
- Treasurer Jim Chalmers described the nation’s complex intergovernmental system as a handbrake on growth, with participants at his recent economic roundtable acknowledging the current setup is unsustainable.
- Businesses face costly duplication and inconsistency, including up to 36 versions of payroll tax and divergent safety and licensing rules such as bike helmet and e‑bike standards.
- Fiscal imbalance between Canberra and the states is straining frontline services like hospitals, sharpening pressure to clarify roles and funding.
- Past overhauls failed to stick — from Kevin Rudd’s partial health funding changes to Tony Abbott’s abandoned white paper and Malcolm Turnbull’s rejected income‑tax sharing — pushing momentum toward sector‑by‑sector fixes in planning, occupational licensing, standards and road‑user charging.