Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Local government Victoria'

The purpose of this study is to investigate how senior accounting staff in Victorian local councils are recording and reporting infrastructure assets (IAs) with their relevant depreciation in General Purpose Financial Reports (GPFRs). Infrastructure assets are long-lived assets such as roads, drains and bridges. Historically, the purpose of public sector accounting in Western countries has been to demonstrate that funds have been raised and expended strictly within the authority of the annual budget. This short-term charge/discharge objective, involving the use of a cash-based system of accounting, has effectively prevented the provision of information for long-term decision making and the assessment of those decisions. The major disadvantage for management purposes is the loss of information relating to the longterm benefits of expenditures with one of the major issues being the failure to record IAs and their relevant depreciation. The introduction of Australian Accounting Standard No. 27 Financial Reporting by Local Governments (AAS27), which applies to all Australian local authorities and the Statements of Accounting Concepts (SACs) require IAs to be reported in the Statement of Financial Position and depreciation to be charged in the Statement of Financial Performance in order to reflect the loss of service potential in the operating period concerned. It is anticipated that the study will report the implications for the accountability of the implementation of IA accounting and the utility and relevance of IA information and depreciation for decision-making by both internal and external users. Conclusions on the consequences of current practices and recommendations for change will be developed to assist local government authorities and accounting bodies.

Wendel (1994, p. 91) defined perceived organizational support (POS) as “organization support in terms of all things that relate to assistance and relationships amongst working peers and colleagues, which involve the feeling of need between superiors and subordinates . Rothbard (2001, p. 656) in defining job engagement (JE) listed two components which he thought were critical for its effectiveness on organizational functioning: (i) attention and (ii) absorption, with the former referring to “cognitive ability and the amount of time one spends thinking about the role”, while the latter “means being engrossed in a role and means the intensity of one’s focus on a role”. Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) was first introduced by Organ in the 1980s and he defined the concept of organizational citizenship behavior “as discretionary behaviors by individuals (employees) that do not form part of formal requirements of a job, but are necessary and promote effective functioning of the organization (Organ, 1988)”. The objective of study was to explore the relationship between perceived organizational support and job engagement and their effect organizational citizenship behavior. Other relationships that were tested were first, the direct relationship between POS JE. Secondly, the combined effect of POS and JE on OCB. The study was conducted amongst nurses at Victoria hospital, in Alice within the Nkonkobe district municipality. The results showed a significant relationship between JE and OCB, whilst the relationship between POS and OCB was not accepted. The results for the other two hypotheses that were tested; (i) relationship between POS and JE, (ii) combined effect of POS and JE on OCB also showed that they were not accepted. The consistency scores for these variables were of international level (n=106). The Pearson correlation coefficients were used for hypothesis testing.

Thesis (PhD) - Faculty of Business and Enterprise, Swinburne University of Technology, 2007.
A thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree Doctor of Philosophy, Faculty of Business and Enterprise, Swinburne University of Technology - 2007. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (p. 331-343).

Service delivery in all aspects of life is a major problem facing the local, provincial and national governments in South Africa. Service delivery, in particular recreation as a field intending to better the total quality of life of the people seems not to receive the attention it deserves. From the comprehensive reviewed literature it was revealed that participation in recreation has numerous benefits such as improving personal health, a key determinant to health status. Recreation is a key to balanced human development (in terms of providing life skills such as motor skills, social skills, arts and craft skills). Recreation is essential to quality of life and a sense of place. Recreation reduces self-destructive and anti-social behaviour (antidote to smoking, substance abuse, suicide and depression). Recreation builds strong individuals, families and healthy communities. It reduces health care costs, social services and police and justice costs. Recreation and parks are significant economic generators in the community. Parks and open spaces and natural areas are essential to ecological survival. The aim of the study therefore, was to investigate recreation service delivery by local governments in the North West Province. The study utilised a mixture of two research methods. A combination of two research approaches (qualitative and quantitative methods) was used to collect data in all twenty identified Local Governments within North West Province. The target groups of this study were recruited from the four districts (Dr Kenneth Kaunda, Dr Ruth Mompati, Dr Modiri Molema, and Bojanala districts) consisting of twenty local governments according to the demarcation of the North West Province. The participants within these areas were personnel who are responsible for managing recreation at local government level in the North West Province. Given the nature of this study (quantitative and qualitative methods), the participants comprised of two groups. Group one consisted of twenty personnel from local governments who were requested to complete the quantitative questionnaire. Group 2 was identified during collection of quantitative data to form a focus group consisting of five people. Both the quantitative and focus group findings lent the study an opportunity to recruit recreation specialists and to gather their views regarding recreation service delivery in the local governments. The results of the study from the questionnaires, the focus group and recreation specialists show that there is a lack of strategies regarding recreation provision at the local government level. The results further indicated that human resources working in recreation do not have formal or practical experience in the provision of comprehensive recreation services. In addition, the result of the study indicated differences concerning policy aspects on financing, provision of recreation programmes, coordination, planning and implementation of recreation programmes in the local community, the lease of recreation facilities, the guidelines for the appointment of administrative/supportive services and the use of volunteers. In addition budgets for recreation in local governments are limited and this results in little or no financial aid to recreation bodies, lack of full-time personnel, and absence of volunteers. Local governments also have limited programmes for various target groups such as the youth, and the elderly. It is clear from the results that suitably qualified human resources, lack of recreation facilities, insufficient funding, nonexistent recreation policies and ineffective recreation programmes were major factors affecting recreation service delivery in the local governments in the North West Province. From these findings the present study recommends that: human resources must be provided with proper training such as in-service training or part-time studies available at tertiary institutions; provision of recreation facilities and funding, development of recreation policies as well as development of effective recreation programmes which must be accessible to all the people. An interesting conclusion from the results is that participants as well as the recreation specialists alluded to the lack of coordination and networking among stakeholders as another factor hampering recreation service delivery. As such, the present study recommends that there should be well-established coordination and networking as well as partnership among stakeholders (i.e. Provincial Recreation Council (PROREC), so as to enable speedy delivery of recreation service in local governments. In addition, it can be recommended that for recreation service delivery to happen, local, provincial and national governments should do a SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats) analysis as a means to enable them to have a roadmap to ensure that recreation is more effective. The results of the study warrant further investigations pertaining recreation service delivery either to confirm or refute them.
Thesis (Ph.D. (Recreation Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011

This thesis investigates the development of radical politics in Liverpool in the first half of the nineteenth century and argues that distinctive events and trends in Liverpool exercised an important influence on the activities of the Reform Movement nationally between 1848 and 1854. It addresses two important but largely neglected areas of historiography: first, the political history of Liverpool in the years between the abolition of the slave trade and the mass influx of Irish refugees in mid-century, during which time the town rose to commercial pre-eminence; secondly, the influence of major provincial centres such as Liverpool on politics at the national level. The origins of Liverpool’s reformist Town Council of 1835-1841 are traced and show a continuity of thought and personalities over several decades against a backdrop of Tory paternalism and institutionalised corruption. The new reformist administration is seen as laying the foundations of a modern society through good governance, financial economy, civil liberty and innovation. On the Corn Laws issue, Liverpool’s reformers were reluctant to follow Manchester’s lead, preferring to pursue free trade on a broad front. This study follows their progress and shows how, ultimately, their thinking on financial reform influenced Cobden’s “National Budget” and remained an ever-present stimulus for several decades. The most prominent of Liverpool’s radical reformers was Sir Joshua Walmsley, whose achievements in both municipal and national politics have received much less attention from historians than they have merited. This study details the influences and experiences in his early career and then traces how, through political dexterity, he pushed parliamentary reform to the forefront of the national political agenda and established the National Parliamentary and Financial Reform Association in 1849. The influence exerted by his Liverpool background on both his political development and style of campaigning may be seen throughout his parliamentary career.

The tenets of local government are based on strong financial probity, adherence to independence principles to avoid conflict of interest and conformance to ethical principles. This thesis addresses the issue of possible corruption and misconduct in local government, with particular reference to the role of the audit committee. The primary research question is: ‘Do audit committees in Victorian local government function effectively?’ The secondary research question is: ‘Do the investigations into local government maladministration and malfeasance enhance governance and the audit committee’s effectiveness?’ Qualitative and quantitative data were collected to develop a model of audit committee effectiveness through a pilot survey, research questionnaire and interviews.

A central feature of public sector reform in Australia in the past decade or so has been the introduction of competition into service markets that were previously monopolised by public agencies. The adoption of more competitive strategies by these agencies has usually been accompanied by changes in their organisational culture - found in their structures, modes of operation and in internal and external relationships, as well as in the underlying values orientation of the organisation. The introduction of compulsory competitive tendering (CCT) in local government in the state of Victoria reflected criticisms of the performance of traditional local government bureaucracies and a determination by the state government to secure a change in local government culture. This study investigates the impact of CCT on local authorities in Victoria, and explores the changes to organisational culture that have occurred. It assesses the extent to which the changes are consistent with a 'post-bureaucratic' conception of public organisations. The study presents evidence that cultural change has occurred in Victorian local authorities, particularly in the establishment of new organisation structures, a more entrepreneurial or outward focused orientation, and the development of more market focused and customer oriented service delivery systems. While cultural changes may not have progressed as far as intended by the Victorian government, they represent a more radical approach to local government reform than in other Australian states - so radical that they present a serious challenge to long-held views of the role of local government in the community. The thesis reveals that the new competitive environment may itself generate new problems such as transactions costs and erosion of trust within local councils and enables senior managers to assert stronger control over the council. It is this control, together with the technocratic or top-down approach to reform taken by the state government, which has constrained the development of model post-bureaucratic local government organisations in Victoria. In particular, it seems that senior managers are more intent on reshaping their organisations than in encouraging the greater market responsiveness anticipated in the post-bureaucratic model.

Since the 1980s the public sector in Australia, including local government, has been imbued with the language of business management. In part, this has occurred because other levels of government have brought changes to the operation of local government and also because public sector managers have accepted the conventional wisdom that the private sector provides the better model for managing large organisations. But how useful is this way of operating in the public sector? This thesis argues that local government management continues to be 'captured' by the dominant ideology of neoliberalism. This ideology has shaped the politically conservative policies of many western countries and is based on economic theories of public choice and agency, which essentially argue that the market is the key sphere of influence that, if it is left to regulate itself without undue government intervention, inevitably brings order and prosperity. The neoliberal theory of the market - economic rationalism - still appears to dominate language and thinking within local government, and this may not be in the best interests of either local government organisations or the communities they serve. Management theories arising from the private sector, in the main, do not take account of the direct engagement of local government with local communities, the ethic of service, the breadth of services provided and the political environment of local government. Nor do they fully address issues such as the impact on the practice of management of CEO values, worldviews and unconscious motivations. This research aims to take account of the rich unspoken, unconscious meanings in human dialogue and interaction. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the breadth of experience in being a local government CEO, the researcher conducted face-to-face semistructured interviews with 18 (23per cent) of Victorian local government CEOs. Then the researcher observed one local government CEO at her workplace, over a period of six months. The thesis draws on socio-analytic theory to look beyond currently popular management theories, with their emphases on rationality and instrumentality, to examine the beliefs and motives local government CEOs bring to their work. It concludes that local government is not a non-profit variant of private enterprise and that the importation of business language and tools has damaged local government's service role. It argues for a renewal of commitment to the values of service and to leadership that encompasses both rational and non-rational aspects of managing people. The real work of the leader is to participate in a relationship with staff that acknowledges that projections, splitting and denial do occur and to be patient with their effects. The more able a leader is to contain the projected fantasy material of those around her, the better leader she will be.

Because of the serious financial plight of local governments (Dollery et. al, 2012) and in response to the emergence of a neo-liberal regime (Geddes, 2005), the Victorian State Government has sought strategies for improving both economic efficiency and participatory democratic governance. Establishing a network form of local governance was one of the strategies, with various actors from non-government sectors joining in the public policy process (Considine and Lewis, 2003). Previous studies did not clearly address the following issues: why the Victorian Local Governments introduced a network structure for their governance, how the involved organizations were coordinated, what affected their collaborative relationships, and the impacts of networking. The purpose of this study was to answer those questions. The Kindergarten Cluster Management policy framework is an example of a local government’s network governance. A multiple-case study was conducted with twelve interviewees who were primary stakeholders of kindergarten service provision in four different local councils. The data collected from the interviews were analyzed by pattern matching following Yin’s (2004) guidelines. This study found that local governments sought to improve economic their efficiency by networking, and that the national and Victorian Governments’ social policies and regulations significantly affected the operations of local governments and community organizations. This research found that three modes of governance - hierarchy, market and network - were utilised as coordinating mechanisms by the collaborating organizations. In contrast to the previous literature, this study found that a hierarchy mode of governance maintained stable and reliable working relationships. The relationships formed through contracts were fragile, which was characteristic of the market mode of governance. The network mode of governance existed in all collaborative relationships, and facilitated the smooth communication among network participants. ‘The Rhodes model’ of policy network (Rhodes 1992, p.13-14), identified in previous research, was not utilizable, but the concept of industrial networks (Johanson and Mattsson, 1991) can also be applied to the connection of organizations involved in the provision of kindergarten services. That said, the different positions held by stakeholders provided different perspectives, particularly in the assessment of networking outcomes.

The aim of this research is to investigate the variations in experiences, career identity and career development of female and male CEOs in Victorian local government, in order to establish if gender in any way either facilitates or hinders career success. The starting point for this study is not a hypothesis to be tested but rather an attempt to understand CEOs’ own conceptions. The study is also interested in the influence of Councillors on CEO career development and identity and seeks to establish whether CEOs and Councillors have a common understanding of success for a CEO. Phenomenography is the selected qualitative approach, as it provides a framework for describing experience and examining variations in experience. In-depth semi-structured interviews are conducted with 21 CEOs and Councillors and the interview transcripts form the basis of the research data. The findings identify that Councillors have a significant impact on the career development and experience of being a CEO. While outcomes for CEOs are clearly influenced by Councillors, CEO identity does not appear to be as interwoven with Councillor perceptions. CEOs do however, suggest that performance is not the major determinant of CEO success, but rather identify capacity to engage Councillors as the most crucial issue in gaining a successful outcome. The study also identifies a strong and recurrent theme of institutionalised sexism within the sector and as such finds that the experiences of females and males do differ in a number of ways. Female CEOs experience more scrutiny than their male colleagues and suggest that their actions reflect not only on them as individuals, but on all women.

The research aims to provide an understanding of local governance in an outer metropolitan area of Melbourne. Through the examination of the policy framework that has established and maintained community governance in Victoria by the State Government from the period of local government amalgamations in 1994 to the present day and the use of a case study, Hume City Council, the thesis has descriptive and analytical elements drawing on empirical inquiry using case study methodology. The case study method has been chosen because it is most suitable for discovering how the community participants perceive their level of governance and their desires for future governance structures. Since the dramatic reforms of local government in Victoria, there have only been two governance reviews; at Hume City Council in 2000 and at Delatite Shire in 2002. In addition, minor boundary realignments were made to the Cities of Melbourne and Moonee Valley in 2007. These are the only attempts at a review of the structure of local Understanding Outer-Urban Governance: A case study of local government in Victoria since the Kennett Government reforms. This thesis reaches the conclusion that the concept of wicked problems is applicable to the management of the case study and other complex problems created as a result of amalgamation. The wicked problem context of this thesis cites decision making as the major focus. Through decisions about authority, governance, identity and community consultation the key concept of trust is questioned which has led to the inherent unsatisfactory resolution of the selected local government wicked problems.

Climate change response is a social contract that requires collective action and can be enhanced through human agency. Management research is needed to examine how institutions at various levels are accountable for climate change and to consider the social and behavioural contexts relevant to the institutions’ engagement with the community. Community climate change response is also an under-researched phenomenon, particular into how the social dimensions of climate actions coalesce with an institutional response. Community collective climate action has been conceptualised as the collective effort between citizens and local government. This multilevel mixed methods research explored public accountability at the local government level and collective climate actions, through a social-psychological lens, at an individual level. A case study of six local governments in Victoria, Australia was undertaken, where council interview transcripts and documents were examined via discourse analysis. Results from the analysis suggest that accountability mechanisms include community demands, hierarchical chain of command, and embedding climate change response within the council and the political interests of its leaders. In the second study, 603 Victorian citizens participated in a survey that focused on how psychological adaptation, social norms, collective efficacy, and procedural justice contribute to collective climate action tendencies. Results of a structural equation model indicated a positive psychological appraisal of climate change influenced the degree to which an individual engages in collective actions, but the magnitude of this relationship depends on the degree to which the individual believes the group can act. Procedural justice had a dampening effect on this positive relationship. The results of these two studies were then synthesised and conceptually integrated in a joint display. Community collective climate actions encompass systems, processes, and behaviours at multiple levels and require incentives that promote self-interest, as well as the collective good. People need to see the benefits of their contributions to the collective good, as this awareness of the benefits of their contribution enhances efficacy and builds a sense of agency. Community response to climate change has an important and complementary role, and insights from public accountability and psychology can contribute to a nuanced understanding of this phenomenon in the Australian context.

Since the 1980s the public sector in Australia, including local government, has been imbued with the language of business management. In part, this has occurred because other levels of government have brought changes to the operation of local government and also because public sector managers have accepted the conventional wisdom that the private sector provides the better model for managing large organisations. But how useful is this way of operating in the public sector? This thesis argues that local government management continues to be 'captured' by the dominant ideology of neoliberalism. This ideology has shaped the politically conservative policies of many western countries and is based on economic theories of public choice and agency, which essentially argue that the market is the key sphere of influence that, if it is left to regulate itself without undue government intervention, inevitably brings order and prosperity. The neoliberal theory of the market - economic rationalism - still appears to dominate language and thinking within local government, and this may not be in the best interests of either local government organisations or the communities they serve. Management theories arising from the private sector, in the main, do not take account of the direct engagement of local government with local communities, the ethic of service, the breadth of services provided and the political environment of local government. Nor do they fully address issues such as the impact on the practice of management of CEO values, worldviews and unconscious motivations. This research aims to take account of the rich unspoken, unconscious meanings in human dialogue and interaction. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the breadth of experience in being a local government CEO, the researcher conducted face-to-face semistructured interviews with 18 (23per cent) of Victorian local government CEOs. Then the researcher observed one local government CEO at her workplace, over a period of six months. The thesis draws on socio-analytic theory to look beyond currently popular management theories, with their emphases on rationality and instrumentality, to examine the beliefs and motives local government CEOs bring to their work. It concludes that local government is not a non-profit variant of private enterprise and that the importation of business language and tools has damaged local government's service role. It argues for a renewal of commitment to the values of service and to leadership that encompasses both rational and non-rational aspects of managing people. The real work of the leader is to participate in a relationship with staff that acknowledges that projections, splitting and denial do occur and to be patient with their effects. The more able a leader is to contain the projected fantasy material of those around her, the better leader she will be.

In this thesis the role of Victorian local government has been explored from a community perspective. Often referred to as the sphere of government closest to the people, this dissertation has explored the potential for local government to positively impact on residents’ quality of life and provide opportunities for citizen engagement and participation in key issues and within a diversity of fields. As a level of government it is contended that Victorian local government has six roles: democratic; governance; service provision; community building; advocacy and community planning. These roles have been reviewed from the following perspectives: the context within which Victorian local government undertakes these roles; the limitations or barriers that impede achievement of these roles; how these roles benefit the community and what proposals could be introduced to enhance their implementation. The examination of Victorian local government’s role has also been examined within its historical, political and financial context. A qualitative research method was utilized in this thesis. The relevant literature has been examined and discussed within the context of the four perspectives as listed above. Thirty-one in-depth, semi-structured interviews with opinion leaders were undertaken and analyzed. As a result of the research for this thesis a number of key recommendations have been identified that would progress the effectiveness of Victorian local government’s role. These recommendations focus on the enhancement of local government’s image, increased facilitation of citizen engagement, a review of the legal and political framework within which local government operates and in particular local government’s relationship with the state government, enhancement of local government’s financial capacity, changes to the electoral structure, additional training for elected representatives and senior officers, the evelopment of a range of performance indicators, the need for local government to operate on a more regional basis and a review of organizational structures.

In this thesis the role of Victorian local government has been explored from a community perspective. Often referred to as the sphere of government closest to the people, this dissertation has explored the potential for local government to positively impact on residents’ quality of life and provide opportunities for citizen engagement and participation in key issues and within a diversity of fields. As a level of government it is contended that Victorian local government has six roles: democratic; governance; service provision; community building; advocacy and community planning. These roles have been reviewed from the following perspectives: the context within which Victorian local government undertakes these roles; the limitations or barriers that impede achievement of these roles; how these roles benefit the community and what proposals could be introduced to enhance their implementation. The examination of Victorian local government’s role has also been examined within its historical, political and financial context. A qualitative research method was utilized in this thesis. The relevant literature has been examined and discussed within the context of the four perspectives as listed above. Thirty-one in-depth, semi-structured interviews with opinion leaders were undertaken and analyzed. As a result of the research for this thesis a number of key recommendations have been identified that would progress the effectiveness of Victorian local government’s role. These recommendations focus on the enhancement of local government’s image, increased facilitation of citizen engagement, a review of the legal and political framework within which local government operates and in particular local government’s relationship with the state government, enhancement of local government’s financial capacity, changes to the electoral structure, additional training for elected representatives and senior officers, the evelopment of a range of performance indicators, the need for local government to operate on a more regional basis and a review of organizational structures.

The aim of this research is to investigate the variations in experiences, career identity and career development of female and male CEOs in Victorian local government, in order to establish if gender in any way either facilitates or hinders career success. The starting point for this study is not a hypothesis to be tested but rather an attempt to understand CEOs’ own conceptions. The study is also interested in the influence of Councillors on CEO career development and identity and seeks to establish whether CEOs and Councillors have a common understanding of success for a CEO. Phenomenography is the selected qualitative approach, as it provides a framework for describing experience and examining variations in experience. In-depth semi-structured interviews are conducted with 21 CEOs and Councillors and the interview transcripts form the basis of the research data. The findings identify that Councillors have a significant impact on the career development and experience of being a CEO. While outcomes for CEOs are clearly influenced by Councillors, CEO identity does not appear to be as interwoven with Councillor perceptions. CEOs do however, suggest that performance is not the major determinant of CEO success, but rather identify capacity to engage Councillors as the most crucial issue in gaining a successful outcome. The study also identifies a strong and recurrent theme of institutionalised sexism within the sector and as such finds that the experiences of females and males do differ in a number of ways. Female CEOs experience more scrutiny than their male colleagues and suggest that their actions reflect not only on them as individuals, but on all women.

At a time of rapid change in the political involvement of young people, the creation of structures to facilitate the participation of young people in decision-making processes has been on the rise globally (Badham & Wade 2010; Farrow 2015). Youth councils are often created with the aim of representing the interests of young people in the community through advocacy, lobbying and provision of advice to decision-making bodies. At the same time the landscape of youth councils, particularly at a local government level, is varied and often lacking the evidence of best practice, an enabling environment and coordination. This mixed-methods comparative case study research analysed the current environment and context in which youth councils are operating, and the experiences of former and current members of youth councils and the professionals that support their work, in the Australian state of Victoria and in Estonia. Semi-structured interviews and an online survey across the two countries and in two languages were employed from 2016 until 2017 to map the experiences and identify youth councils’ successes, gaps and potential for improvement. Qualtrics software was used to collect, analyse and code the survey data; data from semi- structured interviews was coded manually. The coding process identified key nodes and sub- nodes. The results revealed that local level youth councils in Victoria and Estonia share many similarities, particularly in their aims, commonly undertaken activities and aspirations; however, there are also noticeable differences which can largely be attributed to the relevant legislative framework, policies, coordination mechanisms and resourcing for youth councils that exist in Estonia but not in Victoria. Through the results of this study, a framework for an enabling environment for youth councils was identified and conceptualised, using the Enabling Environment Index developed by CIVICUS (2013), the World Alliance for Citizen Participation, as a guide. The findings of this research also sought to provide an understanding of how the work of local level youth councils can be better supported and organised by policy, organisational and legislative measures to increase the effectiveness and benefits of these structures for young people and the community.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the motivation of the employees in the Austrahan pubhc service with special attention to the Western Melbourne Institute Of TAFE (TAFE), and Darebin City Council (DCC), located in Melbourne. The dependent variables considered in this study were: age, education, decision making process, employee development programs, measurement and feedback of actual results, opportunities for advancement, group cohesion, and performance based pay systems.