Alternatives to Amalgamation in Australian Local Government: The Case of Walkerville

Structural reform chiefly through council amalgamation has long been the most favoured means of enhancing municipal efficiency by Australian state government policy makers. However, the results of most amalgamation programs have led to a growing scepticism in the local government community and a search for alternative methods of improving council efficiency. Not only have scholars designed generic models suitable for Australian conditions, but individual councils and groups of councils around the country have also developed several de facto alternatives to amalgamation. An embryonic body of research has now begun to examine the efficacy of these alternative organizational arrangements. The present paper seeks to augment this nascent literature by evaluating the outcomes achieved by Walkerville, an Adelaide suburban council exempted from the South Australian merger program completed in 1998.