scholarly journals The poll provisions and local government reform in Western Australia

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Berry

Local government reform is on the agenda of many countries, particularly those with local government systems based on the Anglo-Saxon approach. In many of these jurisdictions, from Wales to the Republic of Ireland, to most of the Australian states and New Zealand, the dominant reform narrative is structural change, and the challenge faced in most of these jurisdictions is how to marry the apparent national interest in creating bigger councils with the desire of citizens to have a say about how their towns and districts are governed; it is a debate that inevitably finds governments’ technical experts at odds with local citizens. The resulting challenge has led to a range of new approaches to structural reform, optimistically designed to meet the needs of both.

Author(s):  
Chris Berry

The Western Australian Minister for Local Government, the Hon John Castrilli MLA announced on 4 February 2009 strategies for local government reform based on a voluntary reduction in the number of individual councils.Western Australia has a professional and well managed local government sector that is characterised by diversity in size, revenue and remoteness. However, Western Australia is effectively the last state in Australia to experience major structural reform in the sector. Local government reform in WA is currently being implemented as a voluntary, industry led process.


1970 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Brosnan

The Republic of Ireland and New Zealand are alike in many respects. They have similar-sized populations and similar climates; agriculture has an unusual prominence in their national economies and industrial development is strongly encouraged. In addition, both were once British colonies and have similar legal and political systems with English as their majority language. Despite these, and many other similarities, the two countries have markedly different industrial relations systems. In contrast to New Zealand's state-regulated system, the Irish system is notably voluntaristic, multi-unionism is the norm and Irish unions compete for membership with British-based unions. There are many other differences and this paper highlights the main aspects of the Irish system, covering the collective bargaining system, the union and employer organisations, legislation, Ireland's experience with national pay agreements, participation in management, picketing policy, union restructuring and public sector industrial relations.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-48
Author(s):  
Ibrahim Krasniqi

Public administration management in most developing countries is changing rapidly through reform processes with respect to public service delivery and the stimulation of economic growth. That change, in general is affected by the need for policy reform, has resulted in different structural public management reforms known as decentralization and ‘the new public management’, reflecting a movement away from the old values and norms of public administration management. This paper discusses the issue of local government reform processes in Kosovo in parallel with the new public management processes in the country. Local government reform has been and is a priority of the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo, and as such, it has gone through various stages of its evolution. In other words, special emphasis should be put also on the achievements, progress, challenges and difficulties of local government reform processes. As such, this paper reflects the ontological aspect of the new public management approach in local government reform in the Republic of Kosovo, starting from the development stages of this extensive process up to the current situation, including falls and downs of this process. Therefore, this paper reflects empirically (through research) the current status of local government in Kosovo, as well as the difficulties faced by the local government. As a result of the elaboration of this paper, we have come to the conclusion that local government has made a significant progress since the end of the war. However, much remains to be done in this regard, especially in terms of: transparency, accountability, citizen participation in decision-making, and many other processes, which further strengthen local democracy in the country.


Author(s):  
Koenraad De Ceuninck ◽  
Kristof Steyvers ◽  
Tony Valcke

This chapter scrutinizes the ongoing debate on structural reform in local government in the Flemish Region of Belgium at the turn and the first decades of the 21st century. As in many European polities, discussions on the territorial and functional arrangements of the level deemed closest to the citizen have occupied a protracted place on the reform agenda. Likewise, given their often controversial and conflictual nature all but a part of these reformist ambitions have eventually been adopted and implemented. Actual structural change often only crystalizes as the residue of a heated reform base once the damp of the discussion evaporates.


Author(s):  
Mike Reid

The New Zealand local government system has experienced considerable reform over the last twenty-five years. The nature of the reform has been contingent on both international trends and local factors, including prevailing ideologies. The experience provides lessons for other nations, particularly the lack of a consistent direction and any overall coherence. The paper identifies six themes, some of which have been recurring while others have been specific to local political economy factors. The lack of any national consensus about the role of local government, and the lack of constitutional status, means that reform is expected to continue into the future.


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