A Rush Of Bonhomie All Labor But Unlaboured

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday December 21, 2007

Mark Metherell

IT WAS under the chandeliers in the opulence of a grand drawing room that Labor's leaders gathered to reflect on Kevin Rudd's vision of new federalism.

If Rudd was trying to distinguish himself as the ultra-modern successor to a dated John Howard, one might have expected him to plump for the sterile surrounds of Parliament House in Canberra.

This drawing room after all, provided the sort of ambience that his predecessor might have chosen as a meeting place.

But it was at Rudd's suggestion that the premiers and territory leaders gathered for their first conference in the stately grand drawing room of the Italianate pile that is Victoria's Government House.

The grand piano had been pushed to one side. Around the walls of the 1870s mansion hung the vast oil paintings of a pre-Federation age. It was the first time the conference had been held outside Canberra, and in Melbourne, the first seat of the federal government.

The leaders had got together the night before for dinner, also at Government House. Maybe the gracious surroundings added to the sense of bonhomie that pervaded the meeting. Beaming politicians came away from their four-hour talkfest yesterday acclaiming the fresh energy after the less amiable encounters with Mr Howard.

"It was a way different tone," Morris Iemma said. This was "a genuine chance", the Premier added, for premiers to exchange views about improving Australia with a Prime Minister who was prepared to listen. As more than one leader said, it was an "historic" opportunity to set out a strategy for the way the Federal Government interacts with the states and territories.

The imposing surrounds did inject verve into what was an otherwise modest event in terms of real results. The leaders agreed to overhaul the way the Federal Government deals with reforms with the states. This will mean more direct political intervention than the previous bureaucrat-dominated process, with federal ministers chairing seven working parties on target issues including health, indigenous affairs, productivity and climate.

But the scheme to cut surgical waiting times has to wait until next month at least. And the extra $50 million shelled out to boost surgery is not completely new money but planned spending being brought forward.

Nonetheless, Mr Iemma insisted the gathering was a clear break with the past, when, he said, premiers had to battle to get issues like climate on the agenda.

Asked why the leaders had talked for so long, Mr Iemma denied there had been any argy-bargy. Rather, he said, the time had passed as the Prime Minister and the premiers engaged in productive debate.

© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald

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