The cliché is that Australian local councils are synonymous with garbage collection and planning approvals. But new research from ANU provides evidence that most Australians want their local government to play a broader role in the big issues of our time, including climate justice, reconciliation, and the rights of LGBTQIA+ people.
Read time: 4 mins
Based on From the Three Rs to the “Culture Wars”? How Australians Perceive Local Government Action on Climate Change, Indigenous Reconciliation, and LGBTQIA + Advocacy by Mark Chou, Rachel Busbridge, Serrin Rutledge-Prior, published March 2024.
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Local policies aimed at ‘grand issues’ like climate change, reconciliation, and supporting LGBTQIA+ communities enjoy wide popular support.
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Younger Australians and women are especially likely to approve of local government action on these issues.
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The findings indicate that local governments are well-supported when they go beyond a narrow administrative focus and seek to actively shape community life and culture.
Australian local government is most often associated with the ‘3Rs’ or roads, rates, and rubbish. But in recent years, a growing number of councils have made important policy forays into ideologically contentious issues of national significance.
Sometimes defying state and federal governments, local councils are increasingly tackling wide-ranging social, cultural, and environmental issues – all while still focusing on growing the local economy and maintaining community spaces.
And when they do this, their constituents are mostly glad they took the initiative, according to a new ANU survey.
The researchers asked Australians how they feel about local government action on divisive cultural and moral issues. These included changing the date of Australia Day, declaring a climate emergency, and flying the rainbow flag in solidarity with LGBTQIA+ people.
More than seven in ten respondents supported local government tackling climate change and Indigenous reconciliation, and approximately two-thirds believe local government should advocate for the LGBTQIA + community.
Some communities were more approving of a wider role for local government.
Younger people, women, people living in metropolitan areas, and those with progressive political views approved most of local governments taking issues of social conflict.
But those in rural areas, those with more conservative affiliations, and older people still broadly supported local government action on these issues.
However, not every polarising issue ignited the same enthusiasm.
Researchers found the lowest public support for local government action when it was focused on LGBTQIA+ advocacy.
Action on climate change and Indigenous reconciliation were more widely accepted – apart from low approval for local councils engaging in debates about changing the date of Australia Day.
“More than seven in ten respondents supported local government tackling climate change and Indigenous reconciliation, and approximately two-thirds believe local government should advocate for the LGBTQIA + community.”
