History tells us that democracy emerged in Athens when the Gods decided to consult the people on who should rule them.

I think it is unfortunate that the Gods were not more explicit in how this should be done. At least they could have offered a few clear guidelines on the means of achieving good government.

The current debate on the structure of local government here on the Sunshine Coast raises some interesting questions. It is very easy to approach these questions, as we approach some issues in life, out of a sense of fear and even insecurity.

What will happen if things go wrong?

There is no doubt that there are good reasons and bad reasons for both sides of the debate.

I think it is also true that no line of action, whatever it might be, is going to be 100% right, good and effective all the time. There will be pluses and minuses in every single decision we make.

Rather than look at what is bad about the proposal, it might be better if we looked at the good parts of it.

The current drought is highlighting a lot of issues that we need to address, the main one being water supply. Here on the Sunshine Coast we are in a reasonably good position because our local councils formed a common water authority to deal with water supply on a combined basis, so achieving much more than any one council could do individually.

There are many other issues, I am sure, that could be more effectively dealt with collectively as we face the difficulties of developing essential infrastructure for one of the fastest-growing areas in our nation.

I think there is a much bigger opportunity here then simply arguing over local government boundaries. Politically, Australia is a federation of Crown governments, namely the states. The federal government, through two world wars, increased its powers and finances to fight those wars. Surprisingly, the powers were never handed back to the states.

The resultant situation now is that we are one of the most over-governed countries on earth, having more politicians per head of population than virtually any other nation.

Worse than that is the unnecessary duplication and overlapping that takes place between the three levels of government at a cost of many billions of dollars. Our current political structure was designed in a time when transport and communications were much less efficient than they are now.

Maybe it is time for us as a nation to discuss the type of political structure our nation needs to effectively take us into the next century.

The current structure, evolving as it has, has served us well in the last century. Strengthening local government and a good public debate on the definition of the roles of relevant government levels would certainly be a step in the right direction to look at the effective management of our future.

Some people like to defend the status quo by saying “If it isn't broke, then don't fix it!” There was nothing wrong with the horse and buggy and the model T Ford; they were simply surpassed by better forms of transport.

Maybe it is time for us to debate a better way of governing ourselves. The answer that comes from ourselves could well be much better than whatever the Gods proposed for Athens.