Optimal approaches to structural reform in regional and rural local governance

The Australian experience

Dados 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)
Ano2006
Volume32
Fascículo4
Páginas447-464
Data de publicação2006-08-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoLocal Government Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0300-3930 • E-ISSN: 1743-9388
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03003930600793029
OpenAlexW2094600948
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas2
Referências 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