Place Based Governance and Local Democracy: Will Australian Local Government Deliver?

The final report of the LogoNet Dialogue process is now available to download from the LogoNet website. The report represents two years’ work by LogoNet Conveners and the input of around 150 contributors and participants in LogoNet activities.

Since its beginnings in November 2016, strengthening local democracy has been a high priority for LogoNet. This led to the establishment of the Dialogue to explore the case for, and ways to promote, effective place-based governance and local democracy as vital elements of Australia’s federal system. The Dialogue also responded to trends such as declining levels of trust in governments and politicians, the inability of ‘big government’ to deal with issues such as climate change, rapid metropolitan growth and increasing inequality, and the impacts of globalisation and populism.

The Dialogue involved an online forum that sought and published a wide range of contributions, informal roundtable discussions, and ‘From the Frontline’ – a series of three specific questions about aspects of local democracy and governance circulated to LogoNet members and supporters, with responses collated into summary reports. In addition, Dialogue themes were addressed at the 2017 and 2018 Future of Local Government Summits sponsored by the Municipal Association of Victoria.

The report outlines the findings of these processes. The Dialogue demonstrated a widespread understanding that place and identity are of fundamental importance to individuals and communities and provide a unique basis for local government and local governance. The process also revealed the major institutional and cultural barriers to the devolution of power, as well as a potential way forward for councils. As the report concludes:

A growing number of councils are responding – in different ways – to the rewarding challenge of fostering community-led governance, but many still lack the courage or willingness to do so. A catalyst is needed to allow communities and citizens to reclaim power over the local and end the waiting.

Completion of the Dialogue process represents a major milestone for LogoNet and will provide a basis for our activities in 2019/20, as we continue to explore opportunities to research and promote place-based governance and local democracy.

From the Frontline – Local Government, Devolution and Local Power

By Alex Gooding

In August 2018 LogoNet commenced the From the Frontline initiative, seeking the responses of people working at the “frontline” in local government to a series of questions exploring the relationships between councils and their communities.

From the Frontline evolved from the ongoing LogoNet Dialogue, a national conversation around the most critical issues affecting local communities and Local government. The initiative sought to address the Dialogue’s aim of stimulating fresh thinking on effective place-based governance and local democracy and also drew on the 2017 Future of Local Government Declaration. This sees local government as having an important role in reinvigorating faith in democracy and citizenship, and facilitating new forms of community-centred, bottom-up governance.

From the Frontline also recognised that many in the local government sector would like to participate in these discussions but simply don’t have the time to attend forums or write articles. From the Frontline provided an alternative way for people to be involved, by allowing them to contribute short responses to key questions on how councils could develop their relationships with local communities. The intention was to collate these responses into a set of papers to reflect current views in the sector; these would provide a basis to inform decision-makers and help set directions for the ongoing LogoNet process.

The three questions in the 2018 From the Frontline series were distributed to LogoNet members and supporters by email in the period from August to November 2018. The questions were also circulated in the LogoNet News, placed on the LogoNet website, and publicised in social media. The responses to each question were synthesised into separate but related papers. The intervals between the questions allowed the responses from the first question to help shape the second question, which in turn influenced the third.

The three questions and the responses to them are summarised below:

Question 1: How can local governments improve trust and openness in their relationships with the community?

The first question received the highest number of responses. These highlighted the key markers of good relationships, including factors such as transparency, open communication, engagement and real community empowerment, as well as the bad. The latter included tokenistic consultation, the gap between some councillors and their constituents and the poor perception in some communities of local government.

A wide range of proposals for action were provided in direct response to the question. These included improving communication and information flows, strengthening transparency and accountability, building strong two-way partnerships between councils and communities – including the devolution of power to communities, and improving the delivery of services. As the paper concluded, “many of the solutions to the question of how to improve trust and openness in the relationship between local government and the community lie in councils demonstrating all the basic elements of good governance”.

Question 2:

• To what extent should councils share decision-making with their communities?

• What methods should they use?

• Can you describe any examples of this being done successfully?

Question 2 was designed to address some of the themes that emerged in the responses to the first question, seeking feedback on how far shared decision-making should be taken and the methods that should be used. The responses showed widespread support for councils taking a proactive approach, though some limitations were also nominated. These included recognising the most appropriate decisions to share, the importance of adapting processes to suit specific communities, councils and issues, and also taking steps to ensure the involvement of minority, disadvantaged and disengaged groups.

Several approaches to implementing shared decision-making were suggested. A number related to how the process should be managed, proposing for example an evolutionary approach to the development of shared decision-making protocols, a critical component of which is information provision. The appointment of committees, boards and panels, the use of surveys, the creation of forums, focus groups and juries and “traditional” face-to-face meetings were all suggested as specific approaches.

As the paper summarising the outcomes of question 2 noted, the responses suggested growing support for the devolution of decision-making to the community. The paper concluded: “we may be moving towards a democratic partnership in which we want elected officials to bring a commitment to sharing power in the interests of what we now see as a more legitimate and socially beneficial decision-making arrangement”.

Question 3:

• Is it time for local government to lead democratic change and commit to devolving and authentically sharing decision-making power with the community?

• If so, can Australian councils adopt the sorts of formal, whole-of-council approaches being used elsewhere and if not, why not?

Question 3 explored further the opportunities for councils to devolve power to the community identified in the responses to question 2. The responses to the final 2018 From the Frontline question generally agreed that it is time for local government to lead the process of sharing power and devolving decision-making, though they also nominated some issues which will need to be addressed if councils are to take a leadership role.

Some identified the practical benefits of devolved decision-making, but the majority proposed more philosophical reasons, for example, the pressing need to address the community’s increasing distrust of political leaders and governance systems. Another factor is the rate of technological, social and economic change, which is making traditional concentrations of authority and models of decision-making irrelevant and inappropriate, and at the same time providing new opportunities for the community to participate directly in decision-making.

There was recognition that the capacity of both councils and communities to participate in devolved decision-making processes also needs to be improved. Small councils, isolated and disadvantaged communities need to be supported and the underlying inequalities addressed if the devolution process is to be completely authentic.

While there was limited discussion of the concept of councils adopting devolved decision-making on a formal, organisation-wide basis, there was general support for councils drawing on processes which have already been adopted successfully elsewhere. While several practical measures were proposed a number of potential obstacles were also identified, including the erosion of council autonomy by state governments which has reduced the scope for decision-making at the local level. However, as the paper discussing question 3 concluded:

Despite these challenges …the enthusiasm for the principle that councils should authentically share power with their local communities has been evident throughout the responses to all three questions. It’s time, it seems, for genuine devolved decision-making.

This quote also provides an appropriate conclusion to the first successful From the Frontline series. The enthusiasm for power sharing will also inform LogoNet’s activities and direction throughout 2019, as we continue to explore and promote the role of councils and the local government sector generally in developing and implementing devolved decision-making.

LogoNet would like to thank Alison Dalziel for her work in initiating the From the Frontline concept and the LogoNet Conveners who were involved in its development. In particular, we would like to thank all the people from across the local government sector – and across all state and territory jurisdictions – who responded to the 2018 From the Frontline questions.