The Debate that Had to Happen But Never Did: The Changing Role of Australian Local Government

Dollery, Brian; Wallis, Joe; Allan, Percy

doi:10.1080/10361140600959775

Cited by 73 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…They deliver an increasingly broad range of services from critical infrastructure such as roads and sewage to community services such as sports and leisure facilities, libraries and child-care (Dollery et al 2006). Local councils were first established in the mid-nineteenth century to help colonial administrations manage a rapidly growing population and increasingly dispersed settlements (Power et al 1981;Sansom 2009, p. 10).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mind the gap: Australian local government reform and councillors’ understandings of their roles

Tan¹,

Morris²,

Grant³

2017

CJLG

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Over the last two decades a feature of local government reforms globally has been the introduction of New Public Management (NPM). Under this broad approach to public administration there is an expectation that councillors play a greater strategic role and move away from involvement in day-to-day management. This research, carried out in the state of Victoria, Australia, examines councillors’ understandings of their roles. Based on 17 in-depth interviews and two focus groups, we found that despite the evolving legislative requirements framing councillors as policymakers not managers, most councillors continued to seek involvement in the day-to-day management of councils. We argue that this gap may be linked to the diversity of views concerning the role of the councillor and the idea of representation and how both play out at the local level. It may also signal a lack of awareness as to how the legislatively inscribed role for councillors has changed over time.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mind the gap: Australian local government reform and councillors’ understandings of their roles

Tan¹,

Morris²,

Grant³

2017

CJLG

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“…Despite expanding their role over the past two decades, compared with other local government systems in comparable advanced industrial democracies, Australian local councils still typically provide only a limited range of local public goods and services (Dollery, Wallis & Allan, 2006). Although the 'services to people' component of service provision has increased over time, the emphasis remains overwhelming on 'services to property' involving local amenities, local economic development, local infrastructure, local planning and local property services.…”

Section: Unconventional Role Of Rapad Councilsmentioning

confidence: 98%

One Size Does Not Fit All: The Special Case of Remote Small Local Councils in Outback Queensland

Dollery

Wallis

Акимов

2010

Local Government Studies

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The analysis of Australian local government reform almost invariably focuses on systemic changes that can be wrought by the application of various policy instruments, like the structural reform of the scale of local councils or changes to the enabling legislation governing local government. Scholars typically use this approach and differentiate the efficacy of reform measures according to classifications of council by generic type. While this approach has been exceedingly fruitful in the past, this paper argues that small, remote and isolated Australian local authorities are sui generis in the sense that they are not amenable to standard reform policies because their unique circumstances and special characteristics. The paper considers the case of local shires in the Central West outback region of Queensland that comprise the Remote Areas Planning and Development Board (RAPAD) group of councils and attempts to draw some general lessons for local government policymakers. Despite the recent limited forced consolidation experienced by some RAPAD councils, we find that the 'tyranny of distance' afflicting RAPAD members means that it is not amenable to 'top-down' reform measures, like council amalgamation, and policy makers should instead focus on 'local solutions to local problems' and encourage feasible forms of resource sharing.

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“…Corporate reports and plans of the highly committed municipalities are peppered with these messages. Therefore, it is not surprising that the disposition of this group is maximalist, with a services-to-people focus (Dollery et al, 2006), whereby non-statutory services are pursued by the municipal organisation even if they overlap with state and non-government services. WSUD is one of these non-statutory services observed by Wild River (2006) in progressive Australian municipalities.…”

Section: Groups Of Wsud Commitment Typementioning

confidence: 99%

“…roads and drainage) or people (e.g. community health services) (see Dollery et al, 2006). These data were captured in the interviews and document analyses.…”

Section: Groups Of Wsud Commitment Typementioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the nature of publics and local policy commitment to Water Sensitive Urban Design

Morison

Brown

2011

Landscape and Urban Planning

106

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The Debate that Had to Happen But Never Did: The Changing Role of Australian Local Government

Cited by 73 publications

References 13 publications

Mind the gap: Australian local government reform and councillors’ understandings of their roles

Mind the gap: Australian local government reform and councillors’ understandings of their roles

One Size Does Not Fit All: The Special Case of Remote Small Local Councils in Outback Queensland

Understanding the nature of publics and local policy commitment to Water Sensitive Urban Design

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