Diversity in Australian Local Government: The Case against the Imposition of Uniform National Standards

Over the past several years, numerous official and other bodies have called for the imposition of a uniform set of national standards for Australian local government. It has been argued inter alia that uniform national standards would facilitate benchmarking and other performance comparisons across local government jurisdictions. Whilst there is undoubted validity in principle to the contention that benefits would flow from a uniform national approach to local government, these arguments nevertheless ignore the tremendous diversity characteristic of Australian local government. This paper seeks to demonstrate that local government in Australia exhibits a large degree of diversity both within and between states and territories. Moreover, we attempt to show that inexorable demographic, employment and infrastructural trends are underway which will ensure that the diversity will not only continue, but also increase. Accordingly, although the imposition of uniform national standards may seem attractive at first sight, the actual implementation of these standards seems to be neither feasible nor desirable.