No Lessons Learned: A Critique of the Queensland Local Government Reform Commission 'Final Report'

On 17 April 2007 the Queensland government established a Reform Commission to consider the compulsory amalgamation of local councils. On 27 July 2007 the Commission recommended a program of compulsory amalgamation that would reduce the number of local councils from 157 to 73. These recommendations were passed into law amidst great acrimony in the early hours of 10 August. This paper provides a critical evaluation of the arguments for amalgamation presented by the Commission in the light of the scholarly literature on local government mergers.