Perspectives on Australian Local Government Reform

This new work published by the Federation Press is a compendium of essays that consider local government reform from economic and political perspectives. The authors of the essays include a former Minister in the New South Wales Government, academics with specialties in economics and public policy, and current and former public servants with extensive experience in local government administration. Those engaged in areas of practice that deal with local government, or even those just interest in public policy, will no doubt find this an interesting, informative read and a source of detail, not likely to be replicated elsewhere, that explains the politics behind and purposes of many policy steps taken by local governments around Australia. Although the essays traverse the aims of local government reform at a general level, the process of reform as it has been undertaken, and perspectives on the future of local government in Australia, of particular interest to those based in Queensland will be the lucid and well-researched history of the amalgamation and de-amalgamation of local councils in Queensland over the last ten years. – Queensland Law Reporter – 18 December 2015 – [2015] 49 QLR

Taken as a whole, Perspectives on Australian Local Government Reform provides a valuable update on continuing processes of reform across Australian local government systems. The overall narrative is still one told through the lens of structural reform, or responses to the possibility of structural reform. However, there is plenty of other detail in the book. Both academics and practitioners will find it of interest for precisely this reason and the editors have assembled an enviable group of people to make the contributions. Read full review… – Dr Bligh Grant, The Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government, November 2015