Local Government in Tasmania: Reform and Restructuring

by

“…success of amalgamation and reform in local government has been strongly influenced by the degree of local government involvement and support in the reform process, lessons that have wider application.”

Tasmania has a long history of failed attempts at restructuring local government boundaries yet managed a major reform process of ‘modernisation’ between 1990 and 1993 that incorporated major changes to council operations together with a restructuring of boundaries and a reduction from 46 to 29 councils. This process can be compared with a recent attempt to reduce further the number of local governments. In April 1997 the Liberal Premier announced reforms (‘Directions for Tasmania’) that led to a further reduction in the number of councils.

This process collapsed following legal challenges and the proroguing of parliament prior to the 1998 state election. The defeat of the Liberal government saw the abandonment of the proposed amalgamations and establishment of ‘partnerships’ between the new ALP state government and councils. This paper compares the 1990–93 and 1997–98 reform processes and evaluates the outcomes of the amalgamations in 1990–93.

Published in Australian Journal of Public Administration | M. Haward | 2000, https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Local-Government-in-Tasmania%3A-Reform-and-Haward-Zwart/3e6945e9174baeba7f980bea32e451433d7bf3ae, https://consensus.app/details/argues-success-amalgamation-reform-government-strongly-haward/b0adf2a4c71d5598bf71b0acd2046dfb/

Related posts:

  1. The rhetoric and reality of local government reform “Local government restructuring must be seen as part of a broader state strategy to defuse political unrest and restructure the economy. This article will show how contradictory objectives of this strategy at local government level are primarily responsible for the...
  2. The reform of local government structure in Wales: A critique of the case for unitary authorities “The Welsh Office has proposed that local government in Wales be restructured to produce a system of 20 unitary authorities based on the boundaries of the existing 37 district councils. All eight of the Welsh county councils will be abolished....
  3. Misconceiving Regional/Local Tensions: Two case studies from Tasmania “While tensions between the imperatives of regional, state and national development and local autonomy are common, there is no necessary trade-off between the two since regional development can co-exist with a vibrant system of local government. However, this is often...
  4. Improving Efficiency in Australian Local Government: Structural Reform as a Catalyst for Effective Reform “It is argued that ‘top-down’ state government structural reform policy initiatives carrying the threat of amalgamation constitute an efficient mechanism for evoking optimal ‘bottom-up’ structural change models.” Municipal amalgamation has been the main policy instrument of local government structural reform...
  5. Leadership in local government reform : strategic direction versus administrative compliance “This paper reports on a study into the managerial and organizational responses to the reform of Victorian local government, highlighting the fact that each local authority is unique and that broad policy instruments designed to reform and improve local government...
  6. Metropolitan restructuring (and more restructuring) in South Africa “The article argues that structural reform, territorial changes, development in local government and new forms of service delivery have seriously overburdened local government in the short term and have detracted from service delivery. These unitary metros have, however, been operating...
  7. The Implications of the Lyons Report into Local Government in England for Structural Reform in Australian Local Government “It is argued that the Lyons Inquiry adds weight to other work that questions the traditional reliance on amalgamation as the chief instrument of Australian local government reform.” The Lyons Inquiry into English local government presented its Final Report in...
  8. From Convergence to Divergence: Reforming Australian Local Government “The article maps local government reform in the six Australian states over the last decade. It identifies an earlier phase of reform that focused primarily on redefining the roles and relationships within local government, especially between state and local governments,...
  9. Structural Reform in Australian Local Government “Amalgamation has always been the favoured Australian policy instrument for improving the efficiency of Local government. However, this policy consensus has flown against mounting evidence that amalgamation not only often fails to reduce costs, but also generates significant unintended negative...
  10. Municipal Amalgamation in Japan: Who Is Happy? “In order to improve efficiency in local government public services, Japan’s central government has implemented a strategy of amalgamation of municipalities and created larger local government units. Since the Meiji Restoration (1868) there have been three big waves of amalgamations...