Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Roberta Ryan and Alex Lawrie
Key terms/names
amalgamation, local government, multi-level governance, outsourcing, own-source
revenue, performance management, place shaping, public–private partnership,
public value, service delivery, subsidiarity
As a place-based layer of government, local governments around the world are
diverse. They operate within and respond to unique regulatory contexts and
circumstances, and mould the socio-economic development of the places they
govern. Within Australia, the legislative foundations of local governments and their
characteristics, governance, funding and reform agendas differ across jurisdictions.
While this diversity makes it difficult to develop a shared understanding, a range of
common challenges shape local governance.
This chapter reviews some of the contemporary challenges facing Australian
local governments. It begins with a discussion of the legislative foundations and
selected characteristics of local governments across Australia, their governance and
funding, and recent reform agendas. Next, public service delivery is considered,
and the emergence of place shaping as a concept guiding local governments in
the delivery of public services is examined. The chapter then discusses a range
of challenges for local governments in meeting rising community expectations of
public services and an expanded service-delivery task. Frameworks and methods
for measuring local government service-delivery performance are then presented.
Ryan, Roberta, and Alex Lawrie (2019). Local government. In Peter J. Chen, Nicholas Barry, John R.
Butcher, David Clune, Ian Cook, Adele Garnier, Yvonne Haigh, Sara C. Motta and Marija Taflaga,
eds. Australian politics and policy: senior edition. Sydney: Sydney University Press. DOI: 10.30722/
sup.9781743326671
331