Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Australian Politics and Policy
in order to redraw boundaries and drastically reduce the number of local councils.
Voter discontent with the swiftness of these reforms became a major state election
issue,andthegovernmentwaspromptlyvotedoutofoffice. 30 Similarly, in 2008,
the Queensland government halved the number of local governments; several of
the amalgamated councils have since demerged. In 2015, the NSW government
sought to reduce the number of local governments, but the reform process was
incomplete, halted due to voter discontent, a change of state political leadership and
court challenges by local governments facing mergers.
The driving force behind these moves to structural reform has been largely
ideological, the notion being that smaller local governments are inefficient. There
is no Australian evidence to support this claim. 31 The most recent reforms in NSW
and the pressure for reform in Tasmania have primarily been driven by the property
sector, which has argued that different planning rules in different local government
areas create additional red tape and inefficiency in the development processes. 32
Larger local governments can promote strengthened strategic leadership capacity, 33
but this is difficult to measure or realise at times.
With the exception of introducing rate capping in some jurisdictions, state
governments have generally shied away from reforms that deliver a fairer share of
revenue to local governments. A national review of the federation that considered
the distribution of revenue and expenses between levels of government also failed
to include any proposals that would rebalance tax revenues to match the increased
service-delivery responsibilities of local governments. 34 The continual focus of state
governments on structural reform while ignoring the financial basis of local
government is a source of ongoing conflict in the Australian federation. 35
Service delivery
One of the major advantages of local government is that ‘it allows public services
to be adjusted to suit local needs and preferences’. 36 Ideally, local governments are
established so that ratepayers who pay for local services can decide on what services
they receive.
30 Burdess and O’Toole 2004.
31 Drew, Kortt and Dollery 2012.
32 Property Council of Australia n.d.
33 Independent Local Government Review Panel 2012.
34 Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet 2014.
35 Dollery, Goode and Grant 2010.
36 Watt 2006, 8.
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