Australia

Australian local government is characterised by contradictions. There are some 537 elected municipalities, plus a small number of special-purpose entities, divided amongst seven separate systems created by the governments of six states and the Northern Territory. The Australia Capital Territory is a city-state with no separate local government. Municipalities are extremely diverse in terms of their physical size, geography, climate, populations, economies and financial capacity, but within each of the seven systems all operate as a single tier under essentially the same legislation. There are no ‘neighbourhood councils’ or regional municipalities. While they are subject to detailed regulation, close scrutiny and frequent interventions by the state or territory government, all municipalities have some sort of power of general competence. Local government is not recognised in Australia’s federal constitution, yet it enjoys extensive financial, policy and program links with the federal government and has a seat in several high-level inter-government forums. And so on. Overall, local government has limited functions and plays only a minor role in major state and national agendas, but an increasing number of large, well-resourced municipalities offer the potential to do much more. This chapter explores the factors underlying forces at work and considers future prospects.