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Ethical Issues in Australian Local Government

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Local Government in Australia

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Abstract

In turning to examine Australian local government from an ethical perspective, we discuss three salient issues. First, the casual observer of Australian politics might conclude that local government is beset by problems of governance, probity and corruption. Following a survey of recent episodes of this type, we concede that while evidence suggests that this might be correct, approaches to addressing these issues have to be carefully considered. Second, we argue that a far more positive narrative for Australian local government can be constructed from the theory of public value creation . We argue that this theory provides an ethos for Australian local government writ large, at the same time recognising that public value creation involves risks and, consequently, the possibility of failure. Third, examining state-local government relations from an ethical perspective, we observe that public policy debates concerned with reforms to local government, particularly programs of amalgamation, are often characterised by utilitarian-based claims set against rights-based claims. We suggest that the Principle of Double Effect (PDE) is useful in moving beyond these approaches, in particular in directing our attention to the issues of proportionality and intent on the part of policy-makers.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    These charges were filed against six individuals. Of these, one local councillor and two prominent local developers were found guilty on seven charges. The councillor served four months in prison. One of the property developers served a 10-month intensive correctional order instead of a custodial sentence (ICAC 2015c).

  2. 2.

    It is important to note that not everyone is necessarily in either the “utility-maximisation corner” or the “rights of extant communities” corner of the debate about amalgamation and that, as demonstrated by Ryan et al. (2015), many people across Australian local government jurisdictions are ambivalent toward the topic.

  3. 3.

    We readily concede that it may be difficult to argue this in some jurisdictions at particular points in time. For a brief account of impropriety at the level of state government in 2014, see Grant et al. (2015).

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  1. Institute for Public Policy and Governance, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Bligh Grant & Joseph Drew

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  1. Bligh Grant
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  2. Joseph Drew
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Correspondence to Bligh Grant .

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Grant, B., Drew, J. (2017). Ethical Issues in Australian Local Government. In: Local Government in Australia. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3867-9_9

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