Shared services in Australian local government: The case of the common service model

In local government systems across the world, small regional, rural, and remote local authorities face far greater challenges than their metropolitan cousins, not only in terms of fiscal constraints, but in numerous other operational difficulties, not the least of which are problems in attracting staff with specialist administrative and technical skills (Bel and Warner, 2015; Lægreid et al., 2016). Given the vast spatial scale involved, these problems are especially acute in regional, rural, and remote Australian local government, which confronts the ever-present 'tyranny of distance' (Dollery and Akimov, 2008b). While various methods have been advanced for tackling these challenges, resource-sharing, shared services, and other forms of inter-local cooperation between local councils represent the most promising approach (Dollery et al., 2012). Furthermore, recent technological developments associated with web-based systems of regional collaboration and service provision have improved the delivery of back-office functions and local services in an efficient fashion over long distances. This chapter explores the most advanced model of shared service provision to small remote, rural, and regional local authorities in Australian local government in the form of the Common Service Model.