AHC/WI: Australia as a Unitary State

Interesting AHC and WI in trying to make Australia a unitary state, either at the formation of the country, or becoming more unitary after it's founding, following the original British parliamentary system with no regional states power or devolution.
 
Given that each state was a self governing colony before federation, it would be almost impossible for Australia to be a unitary state at foundation, as the colonies would've been very reluctant to give up so much power, so federation probably wouldn't have occurred.

Post federation this may have been possible, perhaps the Commonwealth extends its powers during the Great Depression or WWII.

Every now and then there is discussion about the waste and duplication of the different levels of government, so while it is a long shot, it could still happen in the future.
 
Given that each state was a self governing colony before federation, it would be almost impossible for Australia to be a unitary state at foundation, as the colonies would've been very reluctant to give up so much power, so federation probably wouldn't have occurred.

Post federation this may have been possible, perhaps the Commonwealth extends its powers during the Great Depression or WWII.

Every now and then there is discussion about the waste and duplication of the different levels of government, so while it is a long shot, it could still happen in the future.

I agree and it's quite common in more recent centuries, after the USA showed it could work.
 
That idea would've killed any hope for a united Australian nation. One of the reasons some people were against federation was because they were worried that New South Wales and Victoria, the two most powerful colonies, would dominate the rest of them. If one of the prerequisites to becoming a nation was that they had to kowtow to a government which did not allow states to run their affairs independently from the government in certain areas, no one would've agreed to Australia becoming one country.
 
You'd probably have to have Australia be one colony right from the start to make this work.

At the very least, New South Wales could be administered as one colony, with Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania being created as counties, which are later split up. Western Australia would still be separate, though, and wouldn't be likely to want to join a unitary New South Wales.
 
You also need to find a strong reason to dis-incentivise the formation of new administrative districts. Suspect otl local settlers preferred idea of local control rather than far away
 
Given that each state was a self governing colony before federation, it would be almost impossible for Australia to be a unitary state at foundation, as the colonies would've been very reluctant to give up so much power, so federation probably wouldn't have occurred.

That's not necessarily an issue. South Africa was a unitary state when it was formed in 1910, and it was made up of four self-governing colonies.
 
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