Editing Local government in Australia (section)

==History==
There is no mention of local government in the [[Constitution of Australia]], though it is mentioned several times in the [[Annotate]]d Constitution of Australia.<ref name=annotated>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/annotatedconstit00quicuoft |title=The annotated constitution of the Australian Commonwealth (1901) |access-date=9 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325103029/https://archive.org/details/annotatedconstit00quicuoft |archive-date=25 March 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://adc.library.usyd.edu.au/data-2/fed0014.pdf |title=The annotated constitution of the Australian Commonwealth (1901) |access-date=9 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140411012727/http://adc.library.usyd.edu.au/data-2/fed0014.pdf |archive-date=11 April 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> "Municipal institutions and local government" appears in Annotation 447, and "Power of the Parliament of a Colony" appears under "Residuary Legislative Powers" on pages 935 and 936.

The first official local government in Australia was the [[City of Perth|Perth Town Trust]], established in 1838, only three years after British colonisation of Western Australia.<ref name="uow">{{cite conference |url=http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1542&context=lawpapers |author=Kelly, A. H. |title=The Development of Local Government in Australia, Focusing on NSW: From Road Builder to Planning Agency to Servant of the State Government and Developmentalism |format=Paper |event=World Planning Schools Congress 2011 |location=Perth |date=4–8 July 2011 |publisher=[[University of Wollongong]] |access-date=1 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011225005/http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1542&context=lawpapers |archive-date=11 October 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[City of Adelaide|Adelaide Corporation]] followed, created by the province of South Australia in October 1840. The [[City of Melbourne]] and the [[City of Sydney|Sydney Corporation]] followed, both in 1842.<ref name="uow" /><ref name="cmh">{{cite web |url=http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/AboutMelbourne/History/Pages/CouncilHistory.aspx |title=Council history |publisher=City of Melbourne |access-date=1 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130704074004/http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/AboutMelbourne/History/Pages/CouncilHistory.aspx |archive-date=4 July 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> All of these early forms failed; it was not until the 1860s and 1870s that the various colonies established widespread stable forms of local government, mainly for the purpose of raising money to build roads in rural and outer-urban regions. Council representatives attended conventions before [[Federation of Australia|Federation]], however local government was unquestionably regarded as outside the Constitutional realm.<ref name="uow" />

In the 1970s, the [[Whitlam government]] expanded the level of funding to local governments in Australia beyond grants for road construction. General purpose grants become available for the first time.<ref name="algrar">{{cite book |title=Australian Local Government: Reform and Renewal |last=Dollery |first=Brian E. |author2=Marshall, Neil |year=1997 |publisher=Macmillan Education AU |isbn=0732929040 |page=4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S_XqbJ3ViuoC |access-date=1 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160515194929/https://books.google.com/books?id=S_XqbJ3ViuoC |archive-date=15 May 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Reforms===
Significant reforms took place in the 1980s and 1990s in which state governments used metrics and efficiency analysis developed within the private sector in the local government arena. Each state conducted an inquiry into the benefits of council amalgamations during the 1990s.<ref name="lgr" /> In the early 1990s, Victoria saw the number of local councils reduced from 210 to 78.<ref name="lgr" /> South Australia, Tasmania and Queensland saw some reductions in the number of local governments while Western Australia and New South Wales rejected compulsory mergers.  New South Wales eventually forced the merging of some councils. The main purpose of amalgamating councils was for greater efficiency and to improve operations, but forced amalgamation of councils is sometimes seen as a dilution of [[representative democracy]].<ref name="lgr">{{cite book |title=Local Government Reform: A Comparative Analysis of Advanced Anglo-American Countries |last=Dollery |first=Brian E. |author2=Joseph Garcea, Edward C. Lasage, Jr. |year=2008 |publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing |isbn=978-1782543862 |pages=18–19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y2EH2pXtNesC |access-date=1 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160502004546/https://books.google.com/books?id=y2EH2pXtNesC |archive-date=2 May 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>

An increase in the range of services offered by councils, but only minor cost savings of less than 10% have been noted by academics as outcomes after mergers. The council mergers have resulted in widespread job losses and lingering resentment from some whose roles have experienced a larger workload.<ref name="lgr" />

The growth of the [[Regional Organisations of Councils]] has also been a factor in local government reform in Australia.<ref name="lgr" /> In 1995, there were 50 such agreements across the country.  A 2002 study identified 55 ROCs with the largest involving 18 councils.<ref name="lgr" />