Bligh Grant is Senior Lecturer at the UTS Institute for Public Policy and Governance (UTS:IPPG).Bligh has been a research-intensive academic for several years who nevertheless enjoys teaching into a range of social science disciplines. Much of his work comprises bringing expertise in his core disciplines (politics, philosophy, political economy) to areas of public policy. He enjoys working with scholars, practitioners and HDR candidates to produce academic research outputs and broader outcomes.A continuing focus of Bligh's work is local government. He is co-author of three recent books, Local Government in Australia, with Joseph Drew, and Funding the Future (2013) and Councils in Cooperation (2012), both with Brian Dollery and Michael Kortt. Recent, co-authored academic articles have appeared in Australian Journal of Political Science, International Journal of Public Administration, Australian Journal of Public Administration and Research in Ethical Issues in Organisations.Bligh has held positions as Lecturer in Business Ethics at the UNE Business School, Lecturer at the UNE Centre of Local Government and Associate Lecturer in Political Economy at the University of Southern Queensland. He has also taught in the areas of Philosophy, Politics, Sociology, Asian Studies and International Political Economy at UNE. He contributes regularly to media on issues relating to Australian politics, in particular local government. Address: Australia
The research aims to better understand how and why the activities of local governments, and their... more The research aims to better understand how and why the activities of local governments, and their roles in society are valued by communities. Executive summary The research investigates: 1. local government’s role as a ‘place shaper’ and its importance in meeting the needs of citizens that drive their attachment to, and satisfaction with, the areas in which they live 2. the preferences of communities for how their services are delivered at the local level and the ability of local governments to offer flexible and community specific service delivery 3. theories of governance, particularly community beliefs about big versus small government and its role in the market, the appropriate role for the private sector in local service provision, the preferred extent of public participation in government decision making, and preferences for the realisation of public value 4. community knowledge of local government, ranked importance of services which can be delivered by local government in di...
The concept of community is one that is intrinsically associated with local government. However, ... more The concept of community is one that is intrinsically associated with local government. However, the concept is also central to political writing and has been defined—and profoundly so—in a variety of ways. This chapter argues that we should acknowledge these views when we approach the topic of community in local government, particularly where the putative shift from “government” to “governance” is heralded as an intrinsically good thing. We examine the theory and practice of community engagement, both generally and in the specific context of local government in Australia, before outlining the legislative frameworks and adjacent mechanisms for community engagement as an element to local government practice across Australia’s jurisdictions. We then present a case study of community engagement in the City of Greater Geraldton from 2011, an example of successful, locally-led regionalism against a backdrop of economic change and threatened structural reform to local government. Despite ...
International Journal of Public Administration, 2021
ABSTRACT Comparatively little attention has been paid to public value’s specific applicability to... more ABSTRACT Comparatively little attention has been paid to public value’s specific applicability to local government. This article addresses this gap in four ways. First, by reflecting on some of the reasons for its appeal to local government managers who encounter public value as graduate students. Second, by examining the greater suitability of public value to local government, as demonstrated by the debate about it as a theory of public management. Third, by identifying the putative limits of this appeal, specifically those arising from measuring public value. Fourth, by explaining how these putative limits are overcome by way of revisiting the theory.
Good capital? Examples of successful municipal bond banking and implications for Australian publi... more Good capital? Examples of successful municipal bond banking and implications for Australian public policy Abstract: The putative benefits of a variety of types of decentralisation (political, administrative, and fiscal, for example) have been the subject of debate across a range of polities and supra-national political economies for several decades. However, the question of how finance might best follow function – and the attendant oversight of this process – is less resolved. Against the backdrop of reforms to municipal finance in Australia, this paper provides an account of the formation and functioning of the Local Government Finance Authority of South Australia (LGFA) the New Zealand Local Government Funding Agency (NZLGFA) and the Municipal Finance Authority of British Colombia (MFABC). The case studies suggest that own-source sub-national finance can be augmented through the use of such instruments for the deployment of ‘good capital’. The broader introduction of such financia...
This chapter provides an overview of the origins and development of Australia’s different local g... more This chapter provides an overview of the origins and development of Australia’s different local government systems. It documents and compares key milestones in this development, including dates when Indigenous peoples were first dispossessed of their land by European settlers, the granting of the status as colonies independent from NSW, the introduction of representative and responsible government, and the introduction of permissive and comprehensive systems of incorporation. We draw upon an earlier generation of scholars, arguing that the history of local government in Australia can be viewed as the tension between “constitutionalist” and “State-interventionist” systems, and trace this tension through the development of the individual jurisdictions. We also argue that what we are portraying as “the history wars” in Australian local government studies reflects the central question of local government, namely: Is local government self-government, or is it a creature of state? Conceiv...
Over the last two decades a feature of local government reforms globally has been the introductio... more Over the last two decades a feature of local government reforms globally has been the introduction of New Public Management (NPM). Under this broad approach to public administration there is an expectation that councillors play a greater strategic role and move away from involvement in day-to-day management. This research, carried out in the state of Victoria, Australia, examines councillors’ understandings of their roles. Based on 17 in-depth interviews and two focus groups, we found that despite the evolving legislative requirements framing councillors as policymakers not managers, most councillors continued to seek involvement in the day-to-day management of councils. We argue that this gap may be linked to the diversity of views concerning the role of the councillor and the idea of representation and how both play out at the local level. It may also signal a lack of awareness as to how the legislatively inscribed role for councillors has changed over time.
Rapid urbanization processes in China have created a series of new urban realities in cities, aff... more Rapid urbanization processes in China have created a series of new urban realities in cities, affecting their physical transformations, economic transitions, and sociodemographic dynamics. This special issue presents six articles that examine various dimensions of urban changes happening in Chinese cities, position their inquiries in China’s unique spatial, institutional, and political contexts and explicitly evaluate the role of state, provincial, and local development policies in shaping such outcomes. Topics include Coordinated Urban-Rural Development (CURD) in mega-city regions; fiscal decentralization and inter-governmental competition; rural-urban migration and migrants’ spatial access to jobs; local land use policy in industrial land expansion; housing investment and stimulus measures in housing supply; as well as temporal, sectoral, and spatial variations of capital investment in urban infrastructure. These articles use detailed case studies and rigorous research methods to demonstrate the uneven growth patterns across and within Chinese cities and among different population groups and inform how policies at different levels of government can potentially address these growth disparities to achieve more efficient and equitable urbanization.
Across Australia’s individual local government jurisdictions, state-local government relations ar... more Across Australia’s individual local government jurisdictions, state-local government relations are vexatious arenas of public policy debate and reform. Academic work concerned with these matters is typically drawn to the headline topics of first, forced or compulsory programs of amalgamation aimed at achieving increased financial sustainability for local government and second, shifting the costs of service provision to the third tier of Australia’s democracy. By way of contrast, and conforming to the institutional approach adopted in Part IV of this book generally, we examine the issue of state-local relations utilising the concept of autonomy. The discussion proceeds from a theoretical account of autonomy, distinguishing between autonomy and democracy and delineating between autonomy as ‘immunity’ on the one hand and ‘initiative’ on the other hand. We insist that autonomy is best understood as denoting the relation between state and local government. We then examine the legislative basis for the operation of immunity and initiative across Australia’s local government jurisdictions. The concept of home rule as a form of autonomy as it has developed in the United States is discussed by way of comparison. We argue that understanding home rule as a set of normative principles sheds some light on the nature of local government in Australia and highlights the constitutional, albeit variable, barriers that have to be overcome in pursing fundamental reforms.
The scoring of wines and the ratings of wineries is the source of much debate. In this paper we a... more The scoring of wines and the ratings of wineries is the source of much debate. In this paper we attempt to explain variations in winery ratings in Victoria by examining two winery rating systems, the winery 5-star ratings system of Halliday and the WineBoss version that modifies the Halliday system, to obtain a consensus industry rating from a variety of sources; in conjunction with a limited number of other data about the wineries that are rated. We use ordered logit models and odds ratios on a sample of rated Victorian wineries (291 in the Halliday sample and 331 in the WineBoss sample) to see which predictor variables increase the odds of a winery being in a higher-rated category. Wineries that are older, use a consultant winemaker and/or produce predominantly red wines are more likely to be in a higher-rated category than those wineries that do not; conversely, wineries that use a contract winemaker and/or are located in a number of particular regions of Victoria are more likely...
The Australasian Journal of Regional Studies, 2016
Regional Australia is confronted by specific demographic, social, economic and infrastructure cha... more Regional Australia is confronted by specific demographic, social, economic and infrastructure challenges, which we are denoting as 'slow-burn' threats. This article interrogates a recent national survey concerned with the value of local government to Australian communities, focusing upon differences in responses for regional and remote areas compared to those from urban capital cities. Findings indicate that regional and remote residents place more importance on local government delivering services that specifically focus on the long-term development and sustainability of the community than their urban counterparts, particularly economic and community development roles. We argue that this constitutes a demonstration of the different expectations that regional and remote communities have of local government in the face of 'slow burn' in regional and remote areas. Further, we suggest that the relationship between local governments in regional Australia and the communit...
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to articulate the conceptual foundations of the role of inte... more Purpose The purpose of this paper is to articulate the conceptual foundations of the role of internal auditing in corporate governance by drawing on Michel Foucault’s concept of governmentality. Design/methodology/approach The paper is a literature-based analysis of the role of internal auditing from a Foucauldian perspective. Findings It is argued that Foucault’s notion of governmentality provides conceptual tools for researching internal auditing as a disciplinary mechanism in the corporate governance setting of contemporary organizations. The paper develops an initial conceptual formulation of internal auditing as: ex post assurance about the execution of economic activities within management’s preconceived frameworks and ex ante advisory services to enhance the rationality of economic activities and accompanying controls. Research limitations/implications The paper is expected to initiate debate on the choice of theory and method in internal auditing research. The propositions a...
Handbook of Research on Sub-National Governance and Development
The political and economic benefits of decentralization have been cogently represented, to the ex... more The political and economic benefits of decentralization have been cogently represented, to the extent that decentralization and devolution comprise identifiable programs of reform across a range of polities. However, the public policy question of finance following function – and the oversight of this process – is less resolved. Further, concerns over the financial sustainability of sub-national governments continue across a range of polities. Against the backdrop of reforms to municipal finance in both Australia and China, this chapter provides an account of the formation and functioning of two successful sub-national financial institutions, the Local Government Finance Authority of South Australia (LGFA) and the Municipal Finance Authority of British Colombia. The case studies suggest that sub-national finance may not be the thorn in the side of decentralization it sometimes appears to be. The broader introduction of such financial instruments is considered.
The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa, 2012
The South African local government sector has undergone changes in the post-apartheid era as poli... more The South African local government sector has undergone changes in the post-apartheid era as policy makers have sought to improve basic services provided to disadvantaged local communities. While scholars have considered various dimensions of the reform program, little effort has been directed at evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency dimensions of the changes in service provision, with some notable exceptions (van der Westhuizen and Dollery, 2009; Krugell, et al., 2010). This article seeks to contribute to this literature by evaluating the efficiency with which municipalities have provided (Reconstruction and Development Program) RDP water, RDP sanitation RDP electricity and RDP refuse removal, using Data Envelopment Analysis techniques (DEA) applied to panel data from 2006/2007 to 2008/2009 for 231 local municipalities and 46 district municipalities.Keywords: Data warehousing, Systems thinking, Prescriptive theory, Descriptive theory, Interpretative research. Disciplines: Inf...
On 18 February 2009 the Tax Bonus for Working Australians Act (No 2) came into force, providing t... more On 18 February 2009 the Tax Bonus for Working Australians Act (No 2) came into force, providing that the Commissioner of Taxation pay a tax bonus to eligible Australian citizens - amounting to $7.7 billion for 8.7 million taxpayers - as part of the Rudd Government's three-pronged $42 billion Nation Building and Jobs Plan designed to ameliorate the impact of the 2008-09 global economic retraction. The validity of the Act was challenged by Bryan Pape, Senior Lecturer in Law in the University of New England. On 3 April 2009 a majority ruled that the Act was valid but in doing so said the Court's reasons would be published at a later date. The majority was revealed to be a 4: 3 decision when the reasons were published on 7 July 2009. In this conversation with Bryan Pape, this paper explores the reasons of the judges and their implications. While the case can be read as demonstrative of the political division between conservative federalists and progressive centralists, we suggest that the case invokes revisiting of the nature of Australian federalism.
The research aims to better understand how and why the activities of local governments, and their... more The research aims to better understand how and why the activities of local governments, and their roles in society are valued by communities. Executive summary The research investigates: 1. local government’s role as a ‘place shaper’ and its importance in meeting the needs of citizens that drive their attachment to, and satisfaction with, the areas in which they live 2. the preferences of communities for how their services are delivered at the local level and the ability of local governments to offer flexible and community specific service delivery 3. theories of governance, particularly community beliefs about big versus small government and its role in the market, the appropriate role for the private sector in local service provision, the preferred extent of public participation in government decision making, and preferences for the realisation of public value 4. community knowledge of local government, ranked importance of services which can be delivered by local government in di...
The concept of community is one that is intrinsically associated with local government. However, ... more The concept of community is one that is intrinsically associated with local government. However, the concept is also central to political writing and has been defined—and profoundly so—in a variety of ways. This chapter argues that we should acknowledge these views when we approach the topic of community in local government, particularly where the putative shift from “government” to “governance” is heralded as an intrinsically good thing. We examine the theory and practice of community engagement, both generally and in the specific context of local government in Australia, before outlining the legislative frameworks and adjacent mechanisms for community engagement as an element to local government practice across Australia’s jurisdictions. We then present a case study of community engagement in the City of Greater Geraldton from 2011, an example of successful, locally-led regionalism against a backdrop of economic change and threatened structural reform to local government. Despite ...
International Journal of Public Administration, 2021
ABSTRACT Comparatively little attention has been paid to public value’s specific applicability to... more ABSTRACT Comparatively little attention has been paid to public value’s specific applicability to local government. This article addresses this gap in four ways. First, by reflecting on some of the reasons for its appeal to local government managers who encounter public value as graduate students. Second, by examining the greater suitability of public value to local government, as demonstrated by the debate about it as a theory of public management. Third, by identifying the putative limits of this appeal, specifically those arising from measuring public value. Fourth, by explaining how these putative limits are overcome by way of revisiting the theory.
Good capital? Examples of successful municipal bond banking and implications for Australian publi... more Good capital? Examples of successful municipal bond banking and implications for Australian public policy Abstract: The putative benefits of a variety of types of decentralisation (political, administrative, and fiscal, for example) have been the subject of debate across a range of polities and supra-national political economies for several decades. However, the question of how finance might best follow function – and the attendant oversight of this process – is less resolved. Against the backdrop of reforms to municipal finance in Australia, this paper provides an account of the formation and functioning of the Local Government Finance Authority of South Australia (LGFA) the New Zealand Local Government Funding Agency (NZLGFA) and the Municipal Finance Authority of British Colombia (MFABC). The case studies suggest that own-source sub-national finance can be augmented through the use of such instruments for the deployment of ‘good capital’. The broader introduction of such financia...
This chapter provides an overview of the origins and development of Australia’s different local g... more This chapter provides an overview of the origins and development of Australia’s different local government systems. It documents and compares key milestones in this development, including dates when Indigenous peoples were first dispossessed of their land by European settlers, the granting of the status as colonies independent from NSW, the introduction of representative and responsible government, and the introduction of permissive and comprehensive systems of incorporation. We draw upon an earlier generation of scholars, arguing that the history of local government in Australia can be viewed as the tension between “constitutionalist” and “State-interventionist” systems, and trace this tension through the development of the individual jurisdictions. We also argue that what we are portraying as “the history wars” in Australian local government studies reflects the central question of local government, namely: Is local government self-government, or is it a creature of state? Conceiv...
Over the last two decades a feature of local government reforms globally has been the introductio... more Over the last two decades a feature of local government reforms globally has been the introduction of New Public Management (NPM). Under this broad approach to public administration there is an expectation that councillors play a greater strategic role and move away from involvement in day-to-day management. This research, carried out in the state of Victoria, Australia, examines councillors’ understandings of their roles. Based on 17 in-depth interviews and two focus groups, we found that despite the evolving legislative requirements framing councillors as policymakers not managers, most councillors continued to seek involvement in the day-to-day management of councils. We argue that this gap may be linked to the diversity of views concerning the role of the councillor and the idea of representation and how both play out at the local level. It may also signal a lack of awareness as to how the legislatively inscribed role for councillors has changed over time.
Rapid urbanization processes in China have created a series of new urban realities in cities, aff... more Rapid urbanization processes in China have created a series of new urban realities in cities, affecting their physical transformations, economic transitions, and sociodemographic dynamics. This special issue presents six articles that examine various dimensions of urban changes happening in Chinese cities, position their inquiries in China’s unique spatial, institutional, and political contexts and explicitly evaluate the role of state, provincial, and local development policies in shaping such outcomes. Topics include Coordinated Urban-Rural Development (CURD) in mega-city regions; fiscal decentralization and inter-governmental competition; rural-urban migration and migrants’ spatial access to jobs; local land use policy in industrial land expansion; housing investment and stimulus measures in housing supply; as well as temporal, sectoral, and spatial variations of capital investment in urban infrastructure. These articles use detailed case studies and rigorous research methods to demonstrate the uneven growth patterns across and within Chinese cities and among different population groups and inform how policies at different levels of government can potentially address these growth disparities to achieve more efficient and equitable urbanization.
Across Australia’s individual local government jurisdictions, state-local government relations ar... more Across Australia’s individual local government jurisdictions, state-local government relations are vexatious arenas of public policy debate and reform. Academic work concerned with these matters is typically drawn to the headline topics of first, forced or compulsory programs of amalgamation aimed at achieving increased financial sustainability for local government and second, shifting the costs of service provision to the third tier of Australia’s democracy. By way of contrast, and conforming to the institutional approach adopted in Part IV of this book generally, we examine the issue of state-local relations utilising the concept of autonomy. The discussion proceeds from a theoretical account of autonomy, distinguishing between autonomy and democracy and delineating between autonomy as ‘immunity’ on the one hand and ‘initiative’ on the other hand. We insist that autonomy is best understood as denoting the relation between state and local government. We then examine the legislative basis for the operation of immunity and initiative across Australia’s local government jurisdictions. The concept of home rule as a form of autonomy as it has developed in the United States is discussed by way of comparison. We argue that understanding home rule as a set of normative principles sheds some light on the nature of local government in Australia and highlights the constitutional, albeit variable, barriers that have to be overcome in pursing fundamental reforms.
The scoring of wines and the ratings of wineries is the source of much debate. In this paper we a... more The scoring of wines and the ratings of wineries is the source of much debate. In this paper we attempt to explain variations in winery ratings in Victoria by examining two winery rating systems, the winery 5-star ratings system of Halliday and the WineBoss version that modifies the Halliday system, to obtain a consensus industry rating from a variety of sources; in conjunction with a limited number of other data about the wineries that are rated. We use ordered logit models and odds ratios on a sample of rated Victorian wineries (291 in the Halliday sample and 331 in the WineBoss sample) to see which predictor variables increase the odds of a winery being in a higher-rated category. Wineries that are older, use a consultant winemaker and/or produce predominantly red wines are more likely to be in a higher-rated category than those wineries that do not; conversely, wineries that use a contract winemaker and/or are located in a number of particular regions of Victoria are more likely...
The Australasian Journal of Regional Studies, 2016
Regional Australia is confronted by specific demographic, social, economic and infrastructure cha... more Regional Australia is confronted by specific demographic, social, economic and infrastructure challenges, which we are denoting as 'slow-burn' threats. This article interrogates a recent national survey concerned with the value of local government to Australian communities, focusing upon differences in responses for regional and remote areas compared to those from urban capital cities. Findings indicate that regional and remote residents place more importance on local government delivering services that specifically focus on the long-term development and sustainability of the community than their urban counterparts, particularly economic and community development roles. We argue that this constitutes a demonstration of the different expectations that regional and remote communities have of local government in the face of 'slow burn' in regional and remote areas. Further, we suggest that the relationship between local governments in regional Australia and the communit...
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to articulate the conceptual foundations of the role of inte... more Purpose The purpose of this paper is to articulate the conceptual foundations of the role of internal auditing in corporate governance by drawing on Michel Foucault’s concept of governmentality. Design/methodology/approach The paper is a literature-based analysis of the role of internal auditing from a Foucauldian perspective. Findings It is argued that Foucault’s notion of governmentality provides conceptual tools for researching internal auditing as a disciplinary mechanism in the corporate governance setting of contemporary organizations. The paper develops an initial conceptual formulation of internal auditing as: ex post assurance about the execution of economic activities within management’s preconceived frameworks and ex ante advisory services to enhance the rationality of economic activities and accompanying controls. Research limitations/implications The paper is expected to initiate debate on the choice of theory and method in internal auditing research. The propositions a...
Handbook of Research on Sub-National Governance and Development
The political and economic benefits of decentralization have been cogently represented, to the ex... more The political and economic benefits of decentralization have been cogently represented, to the extent that decentralization and devolution comprise identifiable programs of reform across a range of polities. However, the public policy question of finance following function – and the oversight of this process – is less resolved. Further, concerns over the financial sustainability of sub-national governments continue across a range of polities. Against the backdrop of reforms to municipal finance in both Australia and China, this chapter provides an account of the formation and functioning of two successful sub-national financial institutions, the Local Government Finance Authority of South Australia (LGFA) and the Municipal Finance Authority of British Colombia. The case studies suggest that sub-national finance may not be the thorn in the side of decentralization it sometimes appears to be. The broader introduction of such financial instruments is considered.
The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa, 2012
The South African local government sector has undergone changes in the post-apartheid era as poli... more The South African local government sector has undergone changes in the post-apartheid era as policy makers have sought to improve basic services provided to disadvantaged local communities. While scholars have considered various dimensions of the reform program, little effort has been directed at evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency dimensions of the changes in service provision, with some notable exceptions (van der Westhuizen and Dollery, 2009; Krugell, et al., 2010). This article seeks to contribute to this literature by evaluating the efficiency with which municipalities have provided (Reconstruction and Development Program) RDP water, RDP sanitation RDP electricity and RDP refuse removal, using Data Envelopment Analysis techniques (DEA) applied to panel data from 2006/2007 to 2008/2009 for 231 local municipalities and 46 district municipalities.Keywords: Data warehousing, Systems thinking, Prescriptive theory, Descriptive theory, Interpretative research. Disciplines: Inf...
On 18 February 2009 the Tax Bonus for Working Australians Act (No 2) came into force, providing t... more On 18 February 2009 the Tax Bonus for Working Australians Act (No 2) came into force, providing that the Commissioner of Taxation pay a tax bonus to eligible Australian citizens - amounting to $7.7 billion for 8.7 million taxpayers - as part of the Rudd Government's three-pronged $42 billion Nation Building and Jobs Plan designed to ameliorate the impact of the 2008-09 global economic retraction. The validity of the Act was challenged by Bryan Pape, Senior Lecturer in Law in the University of New England. On 3 April 2009 a majority ruled that the Act was valid but in doing so said the Court's reasons would be published at a later date. The majority was revealed to be a 4: 3 decision when the reasons were published on 7 July 2009. In this conversation with Bryan Pape, this paper explores the reasons of the judges and their implications. While the case can be read as demonstrative of the political division between conservative federalists and progressive centralists, we suggest that the case invokes revisiting of the nature of Australian federalism.
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Papers by Bligh Grant