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, principally through the reform of the state local government Acts. As stare reform agendas have shifted more to focus on managerial improvement, significant differences between local government reforms between states have emerged, in focus, process and outcomes. These differences are such that the role of local government itself has been refocused in several states away from the traditional local democracy values that have for so long underpinned this third sphere of government.