Introduction: Special Edition on Local Government and Local Government Policy in Australia

Abstract

Welcome to this Special Edition of 'Journal of Economic and Social Policy' edited by Brian Dollery and Bligh Grant from the UNE Centre for Local Government at the University of New England. Since 1994, the UNE Centre for Local Government has provided an interdisciplinary platform for research into Australian local government, primarily in economics, finance, political science, organisational and leadership studies. The papers in this Special Edition reflect this cross-disciplinary approach. Before providing a synoptic review of the papers, a brief word by way of placing local government in the current Australian political context seems warranted. If we were to restrict our view of Australian politics to the federal arena, it might appear that local government has enjoyed an increased prominence since the election of the Rudd government in December 2007 and the subsequent minority Gillard government following the election of August 2010. Over this period, the Australian Council of Local Government (ACLG) was initiated in 2008 (ACLG, 2008) and has to date held three meetings attracting over 500 delegates from local governments across Australia on each occasion. These fora have accompanied increased Commonwealth infrastructure spending directed toward local governments (albeit within the ambit of the $42 Nation Building and Jobs Plan in response to the global economic downturn (Australian Government, 2011)). ACLG has also witnessed repeated pledges by the Australian government to pursue Constitutional recognition of local government, now a bipartisan Federal commitment, although at the time of writing a far from settled affair in terms of the final shape of the proposed reform (see, for example, Albanese, 2010; ALGA, 2010).