Councils are now expected to be about much more than just "roads, rates and rubbish" according to a research paper into community governance in Australia.

 

The paper, Evolution in community governance: building on what works, has the objective of providing an overview of community governance in Australia, and in particular at the practice of community planning within local government and through the community banking network of the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank.

 

This literature review represents the first phase of the research which is a collaborative venture between ACELG, the Local Government Centre at the Auckland University of Technology and McKinlay Douglas Ltd (whose Executive Director Peter McKinlay is also director of the Local Government Centre), with the support of the Municipal Association of Victoria, Local Government Managers Australia (LGMA) and the Community Banking Network of the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd.

 

One of the principal triggers for the project is the way in which expectations of local government are changing. Councils are now expected to be about much more than just "roads, rates and rubbish". Instead, there's a much greater emphasis on local government as advocates for its communities across a wide range of social, economic and other outcomes. Australian governments have also just witnessed a major change in local government in England with a new localism Bill designed to shift responsibility for managing a wide range of services from central government to local government and beyond to local government's communities.

 

The project recognises the growing distinction between the formal role of local government, and the practice of governance which typically involves a wide range of networks linking various government bodies, civil society organisations, and the private sector. In addition to this literature review, the research will document the emerging practice of community governance in a series of case studies, and in order to test conclusions about the future evolution of community governance, will draw on interviews with key opinion makers.

 

To learn more about the project, and to provide feedback and comment on this literature review, you can contact the report authors by phone or by email:

 

Stefanie Pillora, Program Manager Research, ACELG, 02 9514 4897, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Peter McKinlay, Executive Director, MDL | 64 7 5794217, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

The paper is available for download here.