Governance

This report investigates the role that vocational education and training (VET) could play in Indigenous capacity building and community governance. Drawing on the research literature, focus groups, and case studies, it examines how Indigenous people conceptualise governance, the skills needed for participation in community and orga ....

This article investigates recent claims concerining the 'new regionalism' - that is, the 're-emergence' of the region and a unit of economic analysis and the territorial sphere most suited to the interaction of political, social and economic progress in the era of 'globalization'.  It is also borne out of an interest in the changing pattern ....

Various state-based and national reports into Australian local government have conclusively demonstrated that the problem of financial sustainability is widespread amongst local councils, especially in non-metropolitan areas. The main impact of this financial distress has fallen on local infrastructure and the magnitude of the prob ....

The Council of Australian Government (COAG) Trials, announced in 2002, aimed to explore new ways for governments to work together and with communities to address the needs of Indigenous Australians. Eight trials were conducted in sites across Australia - the New South Wales trial was conducted in the Murdi Paaki region, and aimed t ....

This report provides an overview of emerging trends in community governance through reviewing local and international literature as well as interviews with Australian local government leaders and Bendigo Bank representatives. The paper explores the implications of the research findings for new approaches to local decision making and directions fo ....

Edited version of a speech to the IPAA National Conference, Roundtable on Federalism, Perth, 19 September 2007 - whether the decline of the states creates an opening for the rise of local or regional government - impact of centralising pressures on local government - pessimism about the 'third tier' of government in Australia. Re ....

Australia's federal system is in a state of flux and its relevance is being challenged. Dramatic shifts are occurring in the ways in which power and responsibility are shared between governments. Pressure for reform is coming not just from above, but from below, as the needs of local and regional communities – both rural and urban – occupy an ....

Local government is an integral part of Australian culture and society and its formation dates from the early years of formal governance in Australia. There is no longer a traditional definition of 'core' local government services such as 'roads, rates and rubbish'. Australian local government in the twenty first century delivers a  ....

The Gascoyne Regional Development Plan is designed to provide a strategic direction for the Gascoyne region over the next ten years to 2020. Report LocationClick here to view the full publication ....

A key policy issue in many countries is the maldistribution of doctors across geographic areas, which has important effects on equity of access and health care costs. Many government programs and incentive schemes have been established to encourage doctors to practise in rural areas. However, there is little robust evidence of the effectiveness o ....

This paper reports on a participatory research project conducted in two Victorian rural communities during 1998-1999: one Mallee town and one Western District town. The inspiration for this research came from the changes that have occurred in rural areas of Australia over the past two decades, together with the political neglect of ....

This report attempts to identify a way forward on some of the challenging self-governance and service delivery issues facing governments and Aboriginal peoples, by identifying strategic opportunities for change and the development of more collaborative relationships. The authors provide some background on Aboriginal affairs reform ....

This paper outlines first why good governance for northern Australia is important to the nation. It details how things actually function in a pan-tropical sense, in northern Western Australia (WA), the Northern Territory (NT) and northern Queensland, and at regional and local scales. It then looks at how the north has been governed through the le ....

The appropriate role of the state in economic and social development has been much disputed in the past decades, with earlier ideas about an interventionist state under attack from a neo-liberal perspective rooted in the neo-classical economics which emphasis the superiority of the market forces. This force has led to the agriculture an ....