Australian federalism and the policy process: Politics with extra vitamins

Federalism divides government power territorially and functionally, creating one type of mul‐tiorganisational arrangement, characterised by countervailing power, overlapping jurisdictions and multiple accountability. Arguments about federalism's costs and benefits touch on policy consequences; what are, in fact, some of the policy consequences of federalism in Australia? Some propositions and some lines of inquiry are suggested, such as the ‘self‐exciting’ character of a dual polity in facilitating the emergence of issues as part of an official agenda; the potential for official‐centred policy communities to emerge in intergovernmental policy formulation, countered by the tendency for whole government unilateralism, and hence cyclical rather than incremental policy development; and the particular character of intergovernmental bargaining relationships where finance is the main tool of implementation, and where the politics of implementation afford enhanced opportunities for group access. Research is needed on the historical process of growing federal intervention in specific policy sectors to identify ‘federal effects’ in Australian public policy making.