Performance Monitoring in New South Wales Australia

Abstract

This case study focusses on performance monitoring of local government which is attracting greater attention from state agencies, regulators and the scholarly community. The chapter examines the case of New South Wales, Australia, which introduced performance monitoring for all councils in 2014 based on just seven financial ratios. This performance monitoring data was subsequently used to decide: (i) which councils would be forcibly amalgamated, (ii) which councils would gain access to cheaper finance, and (iii) the details of future improvement plans for councils. The first part of this chapter details the gaming which occurred as a result of the poor design of the 2014 performance monitoring framework whilst the second part explores solutions to the identified problems which formed part of a subsequent (council led project) in 2016 under the auspices of the Institute for Public Policy and Governance at the University of Technology Sydney.