'Enabling' And The 1993 Local Government Act In New South Wales

Different conceptions of 'enablement' provide a framework for the analysis of the reform of local government in New South Wales. The enabling local authority is one that contracts out to the commercial and not-for-profit sectors, adopts a consumerist approach to the recipients of services, engages in strategic planning, influences other organizations, stimulates pluralist collectivism, and facilitates participation. In New South Wales the Local Government Act of 1993, though potentially enabling, especially in the delegation of a general competence, has had less effect than might have been expected. However, local government has traditionally been enabling in the narrow sense as well as in the sense of employing interesting forms of participative community management and in seeking to influence the decisions of other organizations which are part of local governance. Some councils are developing community plans to strengthen these relationships.