Date/Time 14 Mar 2014 5:25:50am
Aren't people forgetting a fundamental fact? The states are sovereign. The Commonwealth owes it's existence to the states not the other way round.

I think what people really want to see is government closer to it's constituents and more responsive to community needs. That implies smaller states rather than no states.

Use Tasmania as the base model. Any region as large in area and/or population has a potential claim to statehood. Any region larger in both area and population should be an automatic candidate.

On that basis, North Queensland, Central Queensland, Hunter/New England, The Illawarra/South Coast, The Riverina and other areas would all be new states.

We could reasonably end up with 20 or more states. That should be the goal, not abolition.