Liverpool Plains mayor Doug Hawkins floats idea of removing state government

"The system was based on the fact that the federal government raised taxes in order to equally distribute that money back into the population," Cr Hawkins said.

"And no one will convince me otherwise that that money has been equally distributed.

"The bulk of that money has been invested in the cities, not in the regions where the money is."

Nationals' MP Kevin Anderson was contacted for comment but did not provide a response.

Instead, a spokesperson for Minister for Local Government Ron Hoenig's office said Australia has had a three-tier system of government since Federation in 1901.

"Sovereign states are entrenched in the Constitution. The Minister supports the continuation of this system," the spokesperson said.

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University of New England (UNE) Emeritus Professor Graham Maddox, an expert in political science, said he fully supported the idea of getting rid of the state government, but that the move was not so clear cut.

"I would have advocated that myself a while ago exactly for similar reasons," Prof. Maddox said.

"But the prospect of getting rid of them is zero because the whole Constitution is built on the fact that the states were the constituent bodies when the federation was formed."

He said removing the state government would require a referendum with a majority of people in the majority of the states voting to oust the state government.

"And the likelihood of the states sacrificing themselves on their own alter is zero unless through some catastrophe or calamity the Constitution had to be written."

Regardless of the impossibility of the state government practically vanishing overnight, Prof. Maddox said having a two-tier system would mean less friction between the states.

"I agree with Mr Hawkins' premise that the federal government would be able to deal with people across the country more equally," Prof. Maddox said.

"Because there's always disparities where rules can be different from one state to another, and that's a problem that creates a certain level of inequality."

Unfortunately, getting rid of the middlemen would mean more bureaucracies in the regions, Prof. Maddox said, as Canberra would need to employ more people to dish out and monitor the allocation of money.

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