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Local Government and the Australian Federation: Regionalisation, Regionalism and the Struggle for Constitutional Recognition

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Abstract

This chapter provides an introduction to the history of local government in Australia from the federal perspective, discussing three interrelated narratives. First, we identify what we are labelling as the necessity for, and the romance of, regionalism in Australia, considering how the issue of local government has always featured as an element of Australian federalism. This concern for local government dates from the drafting of the Australian Constitution through to the advocating for new states and to contemporary discussions about what is, in essence, the political organisation of territory in Australia. The crucial distinction between “top-down”, or administrative, regionalisation on the one hand and “bottom-up” political regionalism on the other hand is highlighted. The chapter then provides a history of federal-local relations from the immediate post-World War II period through to contemporary Labor and Liberal-National Coalition governments, noting that the assumption of a strict party-political divide about local government is not helpful. We then consider the failed attempts at constitutional recognition for local government in 1974 and 1988 and the failed attempt at achieving a referendum on the issue to coincide with the federal election in 2013. We argue that the issue of constitutional recognition of local government has reached an impasse and, as such, policy considerations have been directed to a consideration of state-local relations.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Notably, Ellis (1933) did not include the excision of the Northern Territory from South Australia or that of the Australian Capital Territory from NSW, both of which occurred in 1911. See Brown (2004).

  2. 2.

    Brown (2006, p. 21) issued a cautionary salvo against what we will label “bi-partisan reductionism”—that is, with the Federalists (conservatives) on the one side and the Centralists (Labor) on the other—arguing that the pro-federalist new state arguments were also accompanied by rhetoric endorsing stronger central government “to deal with national issues” and that “proposals for conversion to a unitary system closely resembled new state movements, in their constitutional formulae for the structural devolution of power to ‘regional’ provincial governments”. In the context of contemporary public policy debates these arguments appear at once sincere, radical and very important (see also Grant et al. 2016).

  3. 3.

    For an account of the redesigning of the Commonwealth Grants Commission under the 1933 legislation to becoming the Grants Commission under the new Act of 1973, see CGC (1995, pp. 107–136).

  4. 4.

    As discussed in Chap. 2, Power et al. (1981, p. 20) issued a strong cautionary note against what they described as the “mainstream interpretation” of the historical weakness of Australian local government systems writ large, which asserts that “[b]ecause of the reluctance of local inhabitants to combine in order to build and pay for local institutions … they have had to be imposed from above by colonial governments”. Indeed, Power et al. (1981, p. 20) went so far as to state that while this view “is not without relevance in Queensland and parts of Tasmania and especially in New South Wales”, this view—which they accused scholars of NSW local government of promulgating—“is coming to be seen as inappropriate to the experience of the majority of the systems”. As we emphasised in Chap. 2, they then moved to distinguish between two types of systems: “constitutionalist”, denoting “the stably structured systems which have developed largely in response to local demand”, and “state-interventionist, for those that are malleable and have been imposed from above”. According to Power et al. (1981, p. 21) at that time neither were the two types mutually exclusive; however, generally South Australia, Western Australia and Victoria are “constitutionalist” while NSW, Queensland and Tasmania are “State-interventionist”.

  5. 5.

    This referendum achieved a 90.77% “yes” vote (National Archives 2016). It is worth emphasising how unapologetically racist §§51 and 127 of the Constitution were before they were altered following the 1967 referendum (see: National Archives 2016).

  6. 6.

    A little-noted feature of the continual presence of the ALGA commenting upon the issue of constitutional recognition is the extent to which it had explored and put forward the rhetoric of a moral justification for local government, derived in great part from the support for local government in the international community. See, for example, Grant and Dollery (2011).

  7. 7.

    The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) was formed out of the “Special Premiers Conferences” initiated by the Hawke Labor Government in 1990, with the meetings renamed COAG by the then newly-elected Keating Labor Prime Minister in 1991 (Walsh 2012, p. 26). COAG has played a key role in securing the cooperation of the states and territories when the federal government has introduced wide-ranging policies and in monitoring subsequent reforms. These have included micro-economic reforms initiated under the Keating Government from 1991 (for an overview, see Walsh 2012) and strengthening “cooperative federalism” under the Rudd Government from 2007 (Anderson and Parkin 2010, p. 108). Under Rudd, COAG met far more frequently than was the case under previous Prime Minister Howard and pursued an active policy agenda across a range of areas, including education, health and housing (for an overview, see Anderson and Parkin 2010). These policy agendas have been overseen by intergovernmental ministerial councils organised by COAG (Walsh 2012, p. 27). Local government, specifically the head of the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) has been represented on COAG since its inaugural meeting on 7 December 1992 (COAG 1992). Arguably, local government having a seat at the COAG table is not tokenistic. Rather, it is demonstrative of the fact that in order to introduce wide-ranging and deep reforms (such as compulsory competitive tendering, adjustments to labour market regulation and the governance of cross-jurisdictional natural resources, including the Murray-Darling Basin) federal governments have found it useful to communicate directly with the peak organisation of local government in Australia, thereby facilitating the communication of reforms to ALGA’s constituents (see, for example, ALGA 2010).

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  1. Institute for Public Policy and Governance, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Bligh Grant & Joseph Drew

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Appendices

Appendix 1

See Table 3.3

Table 3.3 Federation conventions and conferences
Full size table

Appendix 2

Specifications for regions in Fig. 3.2 The Labor Party scheme of 1920 proposed the subdivision of Australia into the 31 provinces.

  1. 1.

    PAPUA. Estimated number of electors, 1000.

  2. 2.

    NORTHERN TERRITORY, including the Kimberley District of West Australia. Estimated number of electors, 3000.

  3. 3.

    GOLDFIELDS DISTRICT, W.A., extending from the South Australian boarder to No. 1 rabbit proof fence (including Kalgoorlie Federal Electorate, and portion of Dampier Electorate east of No. 1 rabbit proof fence). Estimated number of electors, 28,000.

  4. 4.

    PORTION OF DAMPIER Federal Electorate, West of No. 1 rabbit proof fence, and south to the 129th parallel of latitude. Estimated number of electors, 12,500.

  5. 5.

    GREATER PERTH, including the Perth and Freemantle Federal Electorates, and a portion of the Swan Electorate, within 25 miles of Perth. Estimated number of electors, 77,000.

  6. 6.

    SOUTH-WESTERN PORTION OF W.A., including the electorate of Swan and portion of Dampier electorate south from the 129th parallel of latitude. Estimated number of electors, 17,043.

  7. 7.

    The portion of South Australia west from a line from Port Augusta to Oodnadatta. Estimated number of electors, 7300.

  8. 8.

    NORTH EASTERN PORTION OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA , including the Federal Electorate of Wakefield, northern portion of Angus, and eastern portion of Grey, from Port Augusta to Oodnadatta, to NSW boarder. Estimated number of electors, 86,000.

  9. 9.

    SOUTH-EASTERN PORTION OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA, including the Federal Electorate of Barker and southern portion of Angus, excepting such portions as may be within 25 miles of Adelaide . Estimated number of electors, 44,000.

  10. 10.

    GREATER ADELAIDE, including the Federal electorate of Adelaide and such portions of the electorate of Hindmarsh, Boothby, Angus and Barker as may be within 25 miles of the City of Adelaide . Estimated number of electors, 128,000.

  11. 11.

    WESTERN DISTRICT OF VICTORIA , including federal electorates of Corangamite, Wannon (except subdivisions of Dimboola, Kaniva, Jeparit, and Nhill), and the Stawell and Glenorchy sub-divisions of Grampians. Estimated number of electors, 70,000.

  12. 12.

    NORTH-WESTERN DISTRICT OF VICTORIA , including Federal Electorates of Wimmera, Bendigo (except Elmore, Goornong, Castlemaine, Maldon, and Tarandale sub-divisions), Dunolly, Inglewood, St. Arnaud, and Wedderburn sub-divisions of Grampians, and Dimboola, Kaniva, Jeparit, and Nhill sub-divisions of Wannon. Estimated number of electors, 75,000.

  13. 13.

    Includes Federal Electorate of Ballarat, Corio (except subdivisions of Diamond Creek, Melton, Sunbury, Wallan, Werribee, and Whittlesea), Grampians, (except sub-divisions of Dunolly, Inglewood, St Arnaud, and Wedderburn), and Castlemaine, Maldon, and Taradale sub-divisions of Bendigo. Estimated number of electors, 88,000.

  14. 14.

    GREATER MELBOURNE, including the Federal Electorates of Balaclava, Batman, Bourke, Fawkner, Henty, Kooyong, Maribyrnong, Melbourne Ports, Yarra, Corlo (part) Flinders (part). Estimated number of electors, 450,000.

  15. 15.

    NORTH EASTERN, including the Federal Electorates of Echuca, Indi, and the Elmore and Goornong sub-divisions of Bendigo. Estimated number of electors, 70,000.

  16. 16.

    GIPPSLAND, including the Federal Electorates of Gippsland, and the Berwick, Bunyip, Cowes, Dromana, Drouin, Frankston, Korumburra, Lang Lang, Loch, Pakenham, and Wonthaggi subdivisions of Flinders. Estimated number of electors, 56,000.

  17. 17.

    EDEN-MONARO, including the Federal Electorates of Eden-Monaro and eastern portion of Hume. Estimated number of electors, 44,000.

  18. 18.

    Includes Federal Electorates of Riverina (except portion north of Lachlan River), Hume (Western portion), and a small portion of Barrier east of Lachlan River. Estimated number of electors, 63,000.

  19. 19.

    Includes Federal Electorates of Werriwa, Illawarra (except sub-divisions adjacent to Sydney, and the Cowra sub-divisions of Calare. Estimated number of electors, 63,000.

  20. 20.

    Includes the federal electorates of Darling, Barrier (except small portion east of Lachlan River), Calare (western portion), and small portion of Riverina north of Lachlan River. Estimated number of electors, 65,000.

  21. 21.

    GREATER SYDNEY , including the Federal Electorates of Cook, Dalley, East Sydney, Lang, North Sydney, Parkes, Parramatta, South Sydney, Wentworth, West Sydney, northern portion of Illawarra and Nepean (except four northern subdivisions). Estimated number of electors, 540,000.

  22. 22.

    Includes Newcastle and Greater Hunter electorates. Estimated number of electors, 81,000.

  23. 23.

    Includes electorates of Robertson, Macquarie, eastern portion of Calare, and small portion of Nepean. Estimated number of electors, 90,000.

  24. 24.

    Includes the Federal Electorates of Gwydir, New England (except small northern portion). Estimated number of electors, 88,000.

  25. 25.

    Includes the Federal Electorates of Richmond, New England (small part), Cowper (small part), and southern half of the Darling Downs and Moreton Electorates of Queensland . Estimated number of electors, 75,000.

  26. 26.

    Includes the Federal Electorates of Maranoa, Darling Downs (northern portion, including Toowoomba), and the northern portion of the Moreton electorate. Estimated number of electors, 64,000.

  27. 27.

    GREATER BRISBANE, includes the Federal Electorates of Brisbane, Oxley, Moreton (part, including Logan and Ipswich districts), and southern portion of Lilley. Estimated number of electors, 135,000.

  28. 28.

    Includes the Federal Electorates of Capricornia, Wide Bay, and the northern portion of Lilley. Estimated number of electors, 83,000.

  29. 29.

    Includes the Federal Electorates of Herbert and Kennedy. Estimated number of electors, 72,500.

  30. 30.

    Includes the Federal Electorates of Bass, Darwin, and Wilmot. Estimated number of electors, 60,000.

  31. 31.

    Includes the Federal Electorates of Denison and Franklin. Estimated number of electors, 48,000.

Source McNamara (1928, pp. 72–73).

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Grant, B., Drew, J. (2017). Local Government and the Australian Federation: Regionalisation, Regionalism and the Struggle for Constitutional Recognition. In: Local Government in Australia. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3867-9_3

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