The Rudd Labor Government has long hailed COAG as the vehicle for which reforms of national significance will be achieved in a “new era of co-operative federalism,” but it has been revealed that when it comes to COAG, Mr Rudd has no date, no venue, no agenda and no results.‪‪

The committee could not be advised as to when Mr Rudd plans to hold his next COAG meeting, what the Government’s key priorities for 2010 are, or how the reforms were progressing.

‪‪“Mr Rudd promised that under his watch COAG will sit more regularly and he set an ambitious reform agenda.”‪‪

“What has become clear is that while Australians foot the bill for these cosy intergovernmental chats, all we are getting under this Government is big announcements” said Senator Payne.‪‪

“The Prime Minister is clearly not focussed with regards to COAG. The reform agenda is enormous, but the Prime Minister doesn’t even bother to ensure that his own department is kept abreast of how the reforms are actually progressing on the ground.”‪‪

“When I sought to ask questions about specific programs, I was told to wait for the progress reports from the COAG Reform Council – or that I should take the issues up with specific Federal departments, because the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet is apparently not burdened with the detail of progress on Mr Rudd's 10 or 12 first, national priorities.”‪‪

“What stood out was that Mr Rudd uses COAG to make grandiose statements about his broad but shallow policy agenda, but he optimistically leaves the substantive detail of these agreements to be worked out later.”‪‪ 

“The Government has admitted that it has to renegotiate the National Partnership on Indigenous Housing, the Murray Darling Basin Agreement is clearly dysfunctional, and we all remember Mr Rudd’s ambitious pledge to fix the public hospital system!” Senator Payne said.

‪‪The communiqué from the recent 7 December 2009 COAG meeting also indicates that a number of COAG initiatives are facing delays – but the Government did not reveal what the particular initiatives were or what is causing the delays.

‪‪“It’s time for a proper, responsible approach to COAG.” said Senator Payne.

“Mr Rudd needs to set the date and agenda for the next meeting – and instead of adding new topics to the already extensive list – he needs to start delivering outcomes on the promises and commitments he has already made.”‪

‪“We want effective action, not more talk!”‪