A decade of turmoil and reform effort has done little to advance Local Government in our system of governance. *
by Dr Chris Aulich
The celebration of Federation offers a wonderful opportunity to examine the role played by Local Government in our system of governance. Far from being an integral part of the new federation in 1901, Local Government was, like Sleeping Beauty, laid to rest for nearly a century. It was not a formal partner in the new Federal Constitution, surviving only through State Legislation which tightly defined what Local Governments were able to do. Activities not specified under the Local Government Acts were considered ultra vires or beyond Council’s authority.
In 1986 UK academic, John Gyford, observed that Australia’s Local Government had ‘the weakest range of Local Government functions of any western country’. Several years later, Paul Finn (later Justice Finn of the Federal Court) remarked that Local Government was the ‘Cinderella’ of our public administration as it ‘simply has not won for itself that place in our polity which a long history has given it in Britain’.
One of our State Premiers apparently described Local Government as the ‘biggest sheltered workshop in Australia’.
The 1990s ushered in a decade of reform. In all States and the Northern Territory, new Local Government Acts were passed, all extending the scope of Local Government activities.
The ultra vires base was replaced with more flexible powers (called ‘positive’ powers in NSW) but the legislation fell short of the general competence provisions adopted in many comparable countries.
Local Government powers were not significantly extended in any State and reserved provisions were introduced to contain Local Government activity. For example, in New South Wales the Minister for Local Government has the power to veto any order that a Council may issue and in Queensland, the State government is empowered to refuse approval to bylaws, overturn existing gazetted bylaws and overturn Council resolutions.
The enterprise powers granted to Tasmanian Councils require Ministerial approval beyond a particular ceiling.
Reform has undoubtedly changed management practices, via improved strategic planning, cost consciousness and innovative service delivery arrangements. Improved transparency and efficient Council governance have become the hallmark of modern Local Government management in Australia.
It must be remembered, however, that Local Government was established with two primary goals – not only the efficient delivery of services, but also the building and articulation of a community identity. The former is about efficiency and responsiveness, the latter about basic democratic principles such as representativeness, access, citizenship and dispersal of power.
The decade of reform needs to be judged on the basis of whether both goals have been met.
Almost any scorecard would rate highly Local Government’s performance in relation to management efficiency, but few would give a passing grade to improvements in local democracy.
The power imbalance between Local and State Government remains largely unaltered despite the reforms; Constitutional Recognition is not on the current Federal Government’s agenda; many have expressed concern about the ‘democratic deficit’ left in the wake of radical reforms, particularly in Victoria; and there has been little public debate about the place of Local Government in our federal system.
While the European Community has adopted the principle of ‘subsidiarity’, where every attempt is to be made to cascade decisions down to the lowest level of government, Local Government in this country has not been elevated to a first order public issue.
For the reform process to stop at this point is to accept that Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose (the more things change, the more they stay the same) — a most unfortunate epitaph for a decade of turmoil and effort!
It is an appropriate time to re ignite discussions about the role of Local Government in the context of reviewing our Federal system after its first 100 years.
* Dr Chris Aulich is the Director of the Australian Centre for Regional and Local Government Studies at the University of Canberra
