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Local Councils as ‘Place-shapers’: The Implications of the Lyons Report for Australian Local Government

2008; Routledge; Volume: 43; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/10361140802267266

1363-030X

Brian Dollery, Bligh Grant, Sue O’Keefe,

Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism

Abstract The recent past has seen an intense focus on 'financial sustainability' in Australian local government to the exclusion of other important dimensions of local governance. This restrictive emphasis on finance has been unfortunate as it has ignored important developments in the international literature, which is best exemplified in the landmark 2007 Lyons Report in the United Kingdom. In this official inquiry, Sir Michael Lyons reiterates the critical significance of local voice and local choice in contemporary local government and develops the concept of 'place-shaping' as epitomising the modern role of local councils. However, British local government enjoys far broader service provision responsibilities than its Australian counterpart. Accordingly, this paper thus seeks to outline the nature of 'place-shaping', as conceived in the Lyons Report, and consider its applicability in the much narrower Australian local government milieu. Acknowledgement Brian Dollery expresses his gratitude to the Australian Research Council for the financial assistance offered by Discovery Grant DP0770520. Notes 1In the 'Preface' to the Final Report, Lyons is prosaic in framing what he considers to be the breadth of his final terms of reference, observing that the reforms advocated in his Final Report take place in the context of what he, following Stewart (Citation2003), refers to as the 'wicked issues, including the need to build a cohesive society in which everyone feels they have a stake; to improve our own competitiveness and meet the growing challenge of the emerging economies; to respond to climate change; and to strike a balance between immediate improvements to public services and the longer-term investments in infrastructure, skills and research that will underpin our future prosperity.' He also notes that 'I follow firmly in the footsteps of Sir Frank Layfield, who reached similar conclusions in his 1976 report of the Committee of Inquiry into Local Government Finance' (Lyons Citation2007, i). 2These principles represent prescriptive axioms in the sense that they are general recommendations based on the identification of what Lyons regards as 'virtuous behaviour'. 3Lyons (Citation2007, 146) has observed that: 'Local authorities already have wide legal powers, extended significantly by the introduction of the power of well-being in Section 2 of the Local Government Act, 2000, which enables authorities to "do anything which promotes or improves the economic, social or environmental well-being of their area". There is still some way to go to ensure that all local authorities are aware of and able to use their existing powers fully'. Additional informationNotes on contributorsBrian Dollery Brian Dollery is Professor of Economics and Director, Centre for Local Government, University of New England, Armidale, Australia. His research interests focus largely on Australian local government. Bligh Grant Bligh Grant is a member of the Centre for Local Government at the University of New England. His research interests include rural restructuring and the hospitality sector in the Australian economy. Sue O'Keefe Sue O'Keefe is Lecturer in the School of Business at the Albury/Wodonga campus of La Trobe University. Her research interests encompass Australian water economics and the economics of post-secondary education.