Australian minister calls for state abolition
Updated
Australia's defence minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, has described Australia as the most over-governed country in the world and has called for the abolition of the states.
But he says Australia needs to become a republic first.
"The immediate task is commonwealth/state relations and the prime minister is focussed on that task, but in the longer term we really do need to have a look at the broader construct, parliamentary reform and of course whether or not we need to be maintaining six states," he said.
"It's leading to lots of duplication and inefficiency, it's costing the economy billions and its a discussion we need to have."
