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A critical appraisal of the Western Australian local government review panel’s recommendations

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  • Dollery, B.E.

Abstract

Compared with most other developed nations, Australian local government policymakers have traditionally relied heavily on structural reform based on compulsory council consolidation as their chief instrument of municipal reform. Western Australia (WA) launched its most recent attempt at local government reform in November 2017 with the appointment of a Local Government Review Panel to make recommendations on improving its Local Government Act 1995. The WA Government released the Final Report: Recommendations for a New Local Government Act for Western Australia prepared by the Panel in August 2020. The Final Report offers a host of recommendations for improving the Local Government Act 1995, the great majority of which represent uncontroversial improvements to the Act. However, Recommendation 8 calls for the establishment of a Local Government Commission empowered to make recommendations on municipal mergers and Recommendation 10 proposes the formation of community boards to facilitate municipal representation in large councils. This practice insight paper critically examines these two contentious recommendations in the light of extant empirical evidence. This serves to highlight the contrast between the weight of empirical evidence in the literature with the ‘evidence-free’ nature of Recommendations 8 and 10.

Suggested Citation

  • Dollery, B.E., 2021. "A critical appraisal of the Western Australian local government review panel’s recommendations," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 434-438.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecanpo:v:71:y:2021:i:c:p:434-438
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eap.2021.06.010
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Brian Bell & Brian Dollery & Joseph Drew, 2016. "Learning from Experience in NSW?," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 35(2), pages 99-111, June.
    2. Brian E. Dollery & Joseph Garcea & Edward C. LeSage Jr (ed.), 2008. "Local Government Reform," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12592.
    3. Faulk, Dagney Gail & Hicks, Michael J. & Cebula, Richard J., 2011. "Book Review: Local Government Consolidation in the United States," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 41(1), pages 1-1.
    4. Brian E. Dollery & Lorenzo Robotti (ed.), 2008. "The Theory and Practice of Local Government Reform," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12719.
    5. Brian Dollery & Harry Kitchen & Melville McMillan & Anwar Shah, 2020. "Local Public, Fiscal and Financial Governance," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-030-36725-1, November.
    6. Joseph Drew & Michael A. Kortt & Brian Dollery, 2016. "Did the Big Stick Work? An Empirical Assessment of Scale Economies and the Queensland Forced Amalgamation Program," Local Government Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(1), pages 1-14, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Community boards; Local government reform; Municipal mergers; Western Australia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H70 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - General
    • H76 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Other Expenditure Categories
    • L38 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Public Policy

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