Is Australia Over Governed?

Hello Again Dearest Reader,

For some time the feeling that we are over governed in Australia has been a growing irritation for me. How can a country with a population of 21 million justify, require and and sustain so many Politicians, levels of Government and the vast armies of Bureaucrats that come with them?

I came across the website below which provided some information that, if correct, shows just how ridiculously over governed we are when compared to the United Kingdom who’s Westminster System our system of Government is allegedly modeled on…

Politics Comparison UK-Aus « Britzinoz

According to this website…

In the UK, for a long time there has been one Parliament with 2 Houses of parliament.

Australia, with a population only one third of the UK,  has 15 Houses of Parliament, that is two for each State, except Queensland who abolished the upper house in 1922. (source)

There are 809 Politicians in Australia. In the UK there are 646 Members of Parliament in the House of Commons.

The website then goes on to provide to provide a breakdown of wghere our Politicians reside….

That 809 elected State and Federal politicians in Australia is made up of:

226 in the two houses of the Australian Federal Parliament.

The House of Representatives with 150 elected representatives.
The Senate (the upper house) has 76 elected senators.

17 in the single house of the Australian Capital Territory  Parliament

The Assembly with 17 elected representatives.

135 in the two houses of the New South Wales State Parliament

The Assembly with 93 elected representatives.
The Legislative Council (the upper house) has 42 elected senators.

25 in the single house of the Northern Territory Parliament

The Assembly with 25 elected representatives.

85 in the single house of the Queensland State Parliament

The House of Representatives with 85 elected representatives.

58 in the two houses of the South Australian State Parliament

The House of Representatives with 47 elected representatives.
The Senate (the upper house) has 11 elected senators.

40 in the two houses of the Tasmanian State Parliament

The House of Assembly with 25 elected representatives.
The Legislative Council (the upper house) has 15 elected members.

128 in the two houses of the Victorian State Parliament

The House of Representatives with 88 elected representatives.
The Senate (the upper house) has 40 elected senators.

95 in the two houses of the West Australian State Parliament

The House of Representatives with 59 elected representatives.
The Senate (the upper house) has 36 elected senators.

There are also many more elected Councillors for each local council within Australia.

I’d be interested in hearing what others think about these figures.

• Do we have too much government?
• Is this why I often feel we live in a Nanny State?
• If you feel we have too many layers of Government, how can we put a better system in place?
• It’s surely not as simple as getting rid of State/Territory Governments…is it?
• My irritation has not been eased by finding these figures, has yours?

Over to you my dear Reader…