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Never as a journalist have I come across so many people angry and upset at an issue that, outwardly, looks as interesting as soggy cardboard.

Across hundreds of interviews with politicians, policymakers, experts, many resorted to swearing to describe the day-to-day problems caused by the federation. One said it was “cathartic” to talk freely about the issue as if it were some sort of addiction.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers was more circumspect but labelled this nation’s Byzantine network of laws and inter-government arrangements as a handbrake to the economy.

At almost every step in our daily lives, there’s something in the way of taxpayers and businesses trying to go about their lives, even as we pump a record $1 trillion in taxes and levies into our federated system.

The problems stretch from the financial imbalance between Canberra and the states that is playing out across the nation’s hospitals to how a small group of angry ratepayers can block new housing by insisting their suburb remains impervious to the 21st century.

Competition academic Flavio Menezes likens the entire federation to a bewildering network of plumbing that’s blocked up.

There have been efforts to clear up all the detritus gumming up the........

© The Age