‘Enabling’ And The 1993 Local Government Act In New South Wales
| Author | Brian C. Smith |
| Date | 01 September 1998 |
| Published date | 01 September 1998 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9299.00117 |
‘ENABLING’ AND THE 1993 LOCAL
GOVERNMENT ACT IN NEW SOUTH WALES
BRIAN C. SMITH
Different conceptions of ‘enablement’ provide a framework for the analysis of the
reform of local government in New South Wales. The enabling local authority is one
that contracts out to the commercial and not-for-profit sectors, adopts a consumerist
approach to the recipients of services, engages in strategic planning, influences other
organizations, stimulates pluralist collectivism, and facilitates participation. In New
South Wales the Local Government Act of 1993, though potentially enabling,
especially in the delegation of a general competence, has had less effect than might
have been expected. However, local government has traditionally been enabling in
the narrow sense as well as in the sense of employing interesting forms of particip-
ative community management and in seeking to influence the decisions of other
organizations which are part of local governance. Some councils are developing
community plans to strengthen these relationships.
INTRODUCTION
One recent normative development in the theory of local government has
been located around concepts of ‘enabling’. Precisely what activities local
authorities are expected to enable varies from one conception to another.
Different enabling roles are to be found in the theoretical literature. Dis-
tinguishing between different concepts of enabling provides a framework
for analysing the recent reform of local government in one of the Australian
States, New South Wales.
This article examines the 1993 Local Government Act and its effect on
local government in the state. An ‘enabling’ framework has been adopted
because policy statements, the Act itself, and interpretations of it indicate
that, to different degrees, the intention was to strengthen the features of
local government that can contribute to an enabling role. The legislation
appears to strengthen a trend in Australian local government away from
the service provider role and towards that of co-ordinator and catalyst
(Cutts 1990). The article explains how the 1993 Local Government Act in
New South Wales presents some opportunities for local councils to
strengthen their enabling roles, and what has been happening with refer-
ence to enabling in local government in the state since the Act.
Brian C. Smith is Professor of Political Science and Social Policy at the University of Dundee.
Public Administration Vol. 76 Autumn 1998 (559–578)
Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1998, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 350 Main Street,
Malden, MA 02148, USA.
560 BRIAN C. SMITH
LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORM
The 1990s have been a period of local government reform and reorganiza-
tion throughout Australia. Since 1989 every state has enacted new legis-
lation designed to give local councils a broader competence, stronger
accountability, and better relations with other levels of government. Bound-
ary changes and amalgamations have figured in the reforms in Victoria and
Tasmania. The political concerns motivating the reformers have varied from
state to state, and have included the reduction of government expenditure,
probity in financial administration, over-centralization, and discontent with
a traditionally restrictive view of local government. Everywhere there has
been pressure to ‘do more with less’ by improving levels of efficiency.
Encouraging participation has also been an objective in all states (Wensing
1997; Dollery et al. 1997).
In 1993 the New South Wales Parliament passed the first comprehensive
legislation on the composition and powers of local government since 1919,
though the system had been subjected to official ad hoc reviews since 1973
as well as a standing review process initiated by the Department for Local
Government in 1986 (Dollery et al. 1997, p. 15). The aims of the legislation
were to strike an appropriate balance between state and local responsi-
bilities, allow local councils to perform their functions with the minimum
state intervention, strengthen accountability to the local electorate, and
encourage and support participation.
The structure of the system, which divides the state into 177 all-purpose
local authorities, was not affected by the 1993 Act, having been subjected to
amalgamations over a long period. The Act concentrates on functions and
particularly the legal framework for an environmentally responsible system
of local government in New South Wales (Wheeler 1993, p. 33). The main
provision of the Act, contained in Section 24, is that it is left to a council to
determine what functions it will undertake (see below). A very wide range
of functions was listed in the Local Government (Functions) Bill of 1990 and
it is assumed that all of these are implied by Section 24. Councils are empow-
ered to provide public amenities and facilities for community services, public
health, education, and recreation. They can carry out activities to provide
for public reserves and forests, roads, transport services, energy production,
supply and conservation, water supply, sewerage, drainage, housing, fire
protection, industrial, land and property development, and waste removal,
treatment and disposal. They exercise powers in connection with environ-
mental conservation, protection and improvement. They have wide powers
to engage in commercial activities (Pearson 1994, pp. 233–34).
The distribution of current and capital outlays between broad functional
categories for New South Wales and the other Australian states (see table
1) shows the relative importance of community services, recreation, culture,
transport and communications in the expenditure patterns of local auth-
orities. In NSW 43 per cent of community services expenditure is devoted
Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1998
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