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• Presents a typology of emergent risk that highlights the iterative and inter-related nature of climate change risk, and propensity for impacts, such as legal action and reduced debt access, to emerge subsequent to, yet far removed from, initial physical impacts. • Highlights current practice and gaps in local government risk management concerning emergent risk. • Highlights the potential and need for local government to consider, the application of risk transfer mechanisms such as catastrophe bonds in the face of historical and conceivable climate change-perpetuated reduced access to, and increased cost of, traditional mechanisms such as insurance. • Provides insight into barriers and enablers to local government agencies gaining an appreciation of the potential application of alternative risk transfer mechanisms. Insurance represents an integral part of local government risk management strategy. As climate change progresses, increased loss and risk related to extreme weather events such as tropical cyclones, could motivate insurers to withdraw from certain markets. In some regions, such a withdrawal represents an emergent risk that, when coupled with increasing populations and other climate change impacts, could leave local governments and ratepayers particularly vulnerable. This paper investigates such a scenario and its ramifications in the context of a region particularly vulnerable to climate change, through an exploration of the degree that consideration of emergent risks, such as loss of insurance, and the potential application of insurance alternatives influence Queensland local government risk management. The study finds little appreciation amongst government officials of emergent risk implicit in extreme weather events such as cyclones, little understanding of the nuances of risk transfer mechanisms beyond familiar traditional insurance and disaster funding mechanisms, and by default, a lack of appreciation of the relationship between the two. A lack of resource and leadership with respect to emergent risk, and an absence of dialogue between insurance brokers and local government concerning climate change risk arise as the main reasons for this result. This research is significant because it challenges current local government risk management practice through an exploration of the risks inherent in the process itself. This has potential social, economic and ecological ramifications in drawing attention to aspects of possible "uninsurability" and prospects of alleviation thereto. Further research is recommended to consider the insurance industry's part in this study's findings in order to inform current industry practice and thinking and further enlighten the causes of local government disengagement in this critical area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across the developed world, including Australia, public policymaking now rests heavily on commissioned reports generated by for-profit consultants, contrasting starkly with the earlier customary reliance on the civil service to provide informed policy advice to political decision makers. Dependence on commercial consultants is problematic, especially given the moral hazards involved in 'hired guns' providing support for policy 'solutions' desired by their political paymasters. This paper provides a vivid illustration of some of the dangers flowing from the use of consultants by examining the methodology employed by KPMG in its empirical analysis of the pecuniary consequences of proposed municipal mergers as part of the New South Wales' (NSW) Government's Fit for the Future local government reform program. We show that the KPMG (2016) modelling methodology is awash with errors which render its conclusions on the financial viability of the NSW merger proposals fatally flawed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Victoria's Regional Management Forums were established in 2005 to facilitate collaboration between Victorian Government departments and local government in each of Victoria's eight administrative regions. At the time they were established, Regional Management Forums were a pioneering experiment in collaborative governance. Seven years after their establishment, this paper examines the Regional Management Forums to consider how they have evolved, what role they now serve, and what lessons can be learned. This paper finds that Victoria's Regional Management Forums have been able to adapt to an evolving policy and governance context. While not without their challenges, Regional Management Forums have given rise to regional-scale thinking and collaborative relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) has on business has been considered by various authors, such as Jones and Higgins (2006). However, there has not been the same research conducted with respect to local government. As Australia and New Zealand are leading the world by being the first to introduce IFRS into local government financial reporting, this study is timely in order todetermine the impact of compliance on local government. With the New Public Management (NPM) introduced in the late 1970s, accrual accounting and the desire to enhance transparency became embedded in financial reporting across the world. The paper adds to the growing literature on institutional theory with results of the study suggesting that a form of coercive isomorphism is present in regards to local government compliance with IFRS. It also suggests that the philosophy behind NPM - especially that espousing the benefits of public sector reporting in a private sector vein-may not be as relevant to Australian local government as the policy makers would have us believe. The thrust to implement IFRS may have finally pushed local government into a world they struggle to cope with. For example, findings indicate that there is now, more than ever, a perception in the community that the bottom line is an important indicator of a council's performance. Results reported here determined that the implementation process was time-consuming and costly with, in general, very little perceived benefit. Councils are conforming to the coercive pressure from legislative bodies, but they are not converging as part of the 'transaction-neutral' reporting regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]