Optimal approaches to structural reform in regional and rural local governance

The Australian experience

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6301774
AutoresBrian Dollery (0000-0003-2760-865X, a University of New England , Australia), Bligh Grant (0000-0002-8055-6046), Lin Crase (0000-0002-3615-7152, b La Trobe University , Australia)
Año2006
Volumen32
Número4
Páginas447-464
Fecha de publicación2006-08-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaLocal Government Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0300-3930 • E-ISSN: 1743-9388
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03003930600793029
OpenAlexW2094600948
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas9

Australian local government finds itself at the vortex of various mounting pressures, including acute funding shortages, complex intergovernmental relationships, and forced structural reform programmes, that have made the status quo unsustainable. State government policy makers have placed heavy emphasis on council amalgamations as their chief means of resolving the problems facing municipal governance. This paper argues that such reliance on the blunt instrument of municipal consolidation has been misplaced, not only because it is based on the mistaken premise that 'bigger is better' in local governance, but also because it ignores many other promising alternatives to amalgamation involving various combinations of structural change and process change better suited to the extremely diverse character of regional and rural local government in Australia

Consolidation (business · Corporate governance · Economic shortage · Economics · Government (linguistics · Local governance · Local government · Management · Political science · Premise · Status quo · Commonwealth, Australian Politics and Federalism · Community Development and Social Impact · Law · Public Administration · Rural development and sustainability · Finance