The Centre fo Policy Futures, Adjuct Research Fellow Dr Sarah De Vries, has written the chapter Local governments as policy shapers in the newly released book Policy as Pratice edited by H.K. Colebatch and Calista Castles.
Effective policy formation should be a highly collaborative process, including input from those most impacted by a decision as well as responsive to the values of the broader community. Local governments are in a unique position – at once a part of government and a part of their communities. There is also a large diversity of local governments which impacts on their capacity for genuine engagement with their citizens and their interactions with state and national governments. This chapter analyses a number of examples of local government advocacy in areas related to environmental policy to reflect on how decision-making processes work to include or exclude their contributions. It goes on to suggest means by which local government involvement in policymaking might be enhanced by actions at various levels of government and by a different way of framing the role of local governments and why these opportunities are particularly important for climate change and environmental policy.