In the remainder of this first part of the book, we seek to further outline the scope and content of these issues by placing them in the context of existing political history, and current public attitudes. After this introduction, the next two chapters together frame some of the existing case for institutional reform to deliver more legitimate, effective and efficient forms of regional governance. In Chapter 2, ‘Federalism, regionalism and the reshaping of Australian governance’, A. J. Brown discusses the importance of current pressures for reform with reference to five key facts about the place of ‘regionalism’ in the culture and practice of Australian federalism, and five key lessons from constitutional and political history that form the context of current challenges. He also briefly reviews past reform ideas including attempts to create new states and some of the arguments underpinning calls for devolution reform.

Further evidence supporting the currency of reform demands is found in Chapter 3, Ian Gray and A. J. Brown’s paper, ‘The political viability of federal reform: interpreting public attitudes’. This chapter presents some empirical evidence of the extent to which the Australian community considers reform of Australia’s federal system of governance to be an issue, and why. These social surveys confirm the importance of the question of reforming the federal system, not simply due to the historical, theoretical and policy rationales set out in Chapter 2, but from the perspective of the average citizen. The level of public interest in a wider debate appears to be such that, depending on how the debate is conducted, institutional reform may well be more politically viable than often assumed by experts and policy-makers.