Shaping and Selling a
‘New Australian Localism’
Graham Sansom
Starting points
 How to address the crisis of confidence in government, alienation
and populist fixes?
 People are focusing inward on their individual/family lives and
appear increasingly pessimistic about their personal futures
 Overall, attention to broader economic/social/environmental issues
facing society as a whole has declined
 The neoliberal agenda seems stronger than ever: government as an
instrument of private wealth – and hence growing inequality
 So what can be done at the local level to improve wellbeing,
recapture a sense of optimism, and restore social capital?
A ‘new Australian localism’
 Conference will explore interlocking themes around place,
community, engagement, devolution, collaboration, innovation …
 Trust in central governments is declining, especially Federal
 World-wide interest in local and regional responses to ‘wicked issues’
 LG is the only sphere that is continuously place-based, multifunctional and directly accountable to local communities
 Opportunities:
 Place-based leadership
 Innovation potential (500+ sites)
 Collaborative planning and service delivery
 Local and regional partnerships
 Using and sharing LG’s considerable resources
 Governance NOT Government; Leadership NOT Control;
Solutions NOT Problems
Place-based leadership (Hambleton)
 Counterweight to globalisation
 Concerted action by a range of
local players to secure the
futures and values of places
and communities
 Collaborative mechanisms –
Local Strategic/Enterprise
Partnerships in UK
 Necessary leadership can
emanate from any of the three
realms: councils must
facilitate, not control
Inconvenient home truths
 Local Government is ideally positioned to shape the ‘new
localism’ to address the challenges we face
 BUT:
 Whilst LG may be ‘closest to’ the people, is it really seen as
being ‘of’ the people?
 LG is only marginally more trusted than federal and state
governments
 ‘All politics is local’ – so local space is congested and contested
political territory, especially in relation to the states (remember
MPs are ‘local’ too)
 LG has by and large failed to shape and sell a convincing story
about its broader role and potential – being good at service
delivery is not enough
Federal perspectives
How it looks now
 Is LG’s ‘dream run’ of federal
engagement coming to an end?
 LG’s low profile cf business,
ACOSS, think tanks
 Challenge: federal budget deficit +
Commonwealth
State re-centralisation (legislative
control, ‘big projects’, rate-capping
etc)
 Opportunity: feds want to be ‘local’
too but can’t ‘occupy’ the space like
the States
Local
 Feds need partners and have
State
invested heavily in LG (but also the
States and community-based
organisations) eg City Deals
What must local government
do?
 Evolve or risk fading into insignificance (It’s Darwin, Stupid!)
 Articulate the ‘new Australian localism’ based on its broader role and
potential (economic, social, environmental)
 Demonstrate that it can do more with its own resources
 Connect local, regional and national concerns eg City Deals
 Build and lead strategic local and regional partnerships with key
players (important role of mayors)
 Create space for – and facilitate – community self-help and
enterprise: reinforce and extend its community base
 Worry less about the States and partner more with the Feds (invest
in a relationship, don’t just ask for money)
 Stay on message as a sector
 Become the indispensible ‘government of communities and
places’