GSB 680 Local Government
This is a policy orientated unit designed for students who seek a career in local government and for students already involved in local government. Topics include an introduction to Australian local government, democratic local government, local government reform (efficiency and democracy), market failure and local government, government failure and local government, alternative mechanisms of local governance, the political economy of local government reform, intergovernmental relations, financing local government, local government grants commission, costing and pricing local government services, performance measurement in local government, and local government and economic development.
The primary learning objective behind GSB 680 is to familiarise students with policy analysis in a local government setting. No prior knowledge of Australian local government is assumed. The ‘style’ of the unit is essentially discursive with an emphasis on applying the tools of public sector policy analysis to the local government milieu.
GSB 680 is based on two textbooks (The Political Economy of Local Government: Market Failure, Reform and Leadership and Australian Local Government: Reform and Renewal), together with some additional readings. Although GSB 680 does require substantial reading, students have found that they can combine it with the study of another unit in the same trimester. It is also possible to ‘catch up’ a couple weeks if pressure of work has made you fall behind in your study schedule.