So many Australians...

Kristo I think you've been confused and successfully propaganded at by special interests. What you discribe is above all impractical- many people cannot afford to move, and think of the resultant chaos if people really felt such a need- your society is not set up around political fault lines, it'd mess things up.

Also I'd say that you underestimate just how much power the states really do wield, and undervalue have a united approach- if nothing less than it creates a more cohesive union.

Economically, think about companies playing state governmenst off against each other as Foolosophy mentions(it happens now aswell) and who actually benefits in such situations- it'd be worse under your system.

And what on earth are you refering to as the socialist downturn? Bush has let the market run rampant, and as crushing as a n over-regulated market can be, we have long since reached the other extreme of a market doing whats best for capital, not people. Its teh failures of the market thats seena downturn, not the socialist initiatives that...haven't happened.

Oh and nviromentalists and hunters can have some common ground- you both want teh species to survive right? Thats sustainability right there. You don't want to hunt things to extinction right? Course not.