THE COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENTS AND INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS- A CASE OF COOPERATIVE FEDERALISM

A series of Special Premiers' Conferences begun in 1990, and the estab lishment of the Council of Australian Governments in 1992, signaled a phase of ''cooperative federalism'' in Australia. Joint schemes of pol icy and legislation and new national intergovernmental bodies were mad e by a series of formal agreements. The conditions and circumstances a re appraised in a discussion of the nature of intergovernmental coordi nation and cooperation, and from the critical perspective of a model o f competitive federalism. It is concluded that the initiatives, largel y, did not represent a centralizing process, nor did they override str ongly articulated claims for diversity. This is made clear following a n analysis of the processes occurring in the newly established federal institutions and from a series of brief case studies. They expressed the continuing interdependency and underlying autonomy of state and Co mmonwealth governments through schemes that promised to bring agreed, joint benefits through federal solutions.