State Oversight Models for Australian Local Government

All Australian local government systems operate under sweeping legislative powers of their respective state government agencies, which has extensive implications for the manner in which local councils conduct their affairs. Thus the existence, functions, powers and structures of local authorities depend entirely on the whim of state and territory governments. Despite the overwhelming importance of the oversight role of state government agencies in Australian local government, this question has been virtually ignored by scholars of Australian local government. In an exploratory effort to remedy this neglect, this paper draws on the international literature on the oversight role of state government agencies to develop a tentative quadrilateral typology of local government oversight models potentially applicable to Australian local government.