Council of Australian Governments - Literature review Example

Business Name Institution Course Lecturer Date As O’Loughlin (2011) argues, COAG stands for the Council of Australian Governments and is an organization that was established in 1992. It consists of the federal government, the governments of the 6 states and the 2 mainland territories and Australian Government Association. As Griffith (2009) observes, there are a number of roles that led to the formation of COAG. First, there are government activities that need to be debated and coordinated between the federal government on one hand and state and territorial governments on the other, between the state and territories themselves and other issues that affect the local government. The federal government retains the control of 20 departments that are also functional in all States and territories. The ministers therefore meet with the prime minister to address the issue that are affecting them and plan on how the federal government should co-ordinate such issues. Griffith (2009) further argues that, there are challenges that Australian governments have continuously faced and such complexities could only be addressed when all governments work together. COAG collectively and continually debated on raising productivity, standards of living, expanding aging services, water supplies and other issue such as the need for low carbon future. These issues are addressed in both short-term and long-term basis so as to positively impact on population in the future. One of the recent issues that were recently addressed involved the Immigration and Border Protection Department due to the current influx of boat people as refugees and asylum seekers in the country. The federal government and States debated on who should fund the refugees sent to each State when their visa was being processed. Kildea & Lynch (2011) COAG main role is to make the federalism work by providing checks and balances following the division of roles and responsibilities between the federal and States and Territories. The different levels of government ensure that those involved are accountable for delivery of services. COAG has facilitated policy formation and service delivery. It fosters shared commitments and an emphasis on cooperative working relationships instead of blaming one another. COAG reform agenda work towards economic, environmental and social priorities of the nation by setting out governments’ roles and responsibilities in addressing them. COAG facilitates federal financial relations to deliver results. It has enhanced a collaborative federalism by reducing complexities of financial relations between Commonwealth and States or Territories. The enhanced financial relations promote greater flexibility in the delivery of services. It also enhances public accountability in the process of achieving the outcomes. COAG is involved in performance reporting and offering regular reports to the public on Commonwealth, States and Territories. The reports contain the achieved agreed outcomes and benchmarked performance that are spelt out in National and Partnership Agreements. Governments are therefore held accountable based on the commitments they make through COAG. The public is notified of the real and improved services that results from COAG’s investments. COAG have been dedicated to various strategic issues that intersect and ensure jurisdictional responsibilities. These includes; economic and social participation, sustainable and livable Australia, health and health system, driving national economy by competitive advantages and to close the gap on indigenous disadvantages (Kildea & Lynch, 2011). Importance of AUSFTA, APEC, and ASEAN in future development of Australia’s trade AUSFTA is important in future development of Australia’s trade. United States is known for its multinational companies and the agreement will provide an opportunity for various investment chapters (Pomfret, Kaufmann & Findlay, 2010). A potential increase of foreign investors and continuous entry of US companies in Australia is expected. United States has remained to be a single largest supplier of FDI and one of the largest trading partners with many nations. So, the agreement will promote significant policy liberalization due to investment negotiations. Pomfret, Kaufmann & Findlay (2010) further observes that, there are a number of sensitive sectors in which US will greatly influence due to the agreement. Key among them includes the media, telecommunication, general transport, military manufactured goods and extraction of mineral resources. On the other hand, US trend in consuming offshore produced goods have recently been established. The agreement opens up greater opportunities for Australian based companies to exports their goods and widens the geographical markets. Another area that will benefit Australia is development of its workforce due to joint human development forums that will be facilitated by the relationship. This is an important aspect of social, economic and cultural development which trickles down to trade development. According to Crawford & Fiorentino (2009), APEC has continued to provide duty free access to different economies for Australia. It account for the largest percentage of Australia’s total trade. Since the members of APEC produced over 50% of world GNP, Australia will continue to expand its market access to different goods and services as the members of APEC progressively implement the liberalization plans. The trend seen in the past will see Australia remain as the largest trading partner due to reduced barriers for its exports and lowered uncertainties about the access to future markets. New exports opportunities are expected to result and particularly in the services sectors. The agreement will continually reduce the transactions costs that have remained as costly bottleneck for Australia. Reduced formalities and transparent rules and regulations are expected to promote Australia in saving over US$50 billion per year (Kawai & Wignaraja, 2010). Australia expects to enlarge its market access in food products, telecommunications, automotive products and electrical appliances through enactment of APEC agreement. Kawai & Wignaraja (2010) further argues that, ASEAN has continued to show its cooperation efforts and as different goals are being implemented, the overall economic and political security in the region will promote trade. Australia has strongly spearheaded and maintained its efforts towards inter-state stability in the region. Some of the benefits that Australia will get in future are an opportunity to develop human resource in the region and exports of education products and trainers will impact on employment opportunities. Australia also expects to benefit through tourism, agricultural cooperation, trade and investment. There are therefore perceived positive effect of these trade agreements which will impact on employment, foreign investment, environmental issues, and technical standards, liberalization of trade and investment, trade facilitation, economic as well as technical co-operation. References Crawford, J. A., & Fiorentino, R. V. (2009). The changing landscape of regional trade agreements. World Trade Organization (WTO). Griffith, G. (2009). Managerial Federalism: COAG and the states. NSW Parliamentary Library Research Service. Kawai, M., & Wignaraja, G. (2010). Free Trade Agreements in East Asia: A Way Toward Trade Liberalization?. ADB Briefs, 1. Kildea, P., & Lynch, A. (2011). Entrenching “Cooperative Federalism”: Is it Time to Formalise COAG’s place in the Australian Federation?. O’Loughlin, M. A. (2011). 8. Collaborative reform: lessons from the COAG Reform Council, 2008–2010. Delivering Policy Reform: Anchoring Significant Reforms in Turbulent Times, 91. Pomfret, R., Kaufmann, U., & Findlay, C. (2010). Use of FTAs in Australia. RIETI Discussion Paper Series. Read More