Key Point
- Using PPP models similar to those used by State Governments
could enable local government to meet the requirements of the
community for new and upgraded infrastructure within its funding
constraints.
Local governments in Australia perform a range of functions
which include providing infrastructure, delivering services as well
as performing planning and regulatory roles. PPPs are a partnership
between the public and private sector to deliver a project that
otherwise would have been funded solely by the public sector, but
they have traditionally not been widely used at the local
government level.
While each local government performs a different range of
functions, there has been a broad trend towards increasing service
provision beyond local roads and other services to ratepayers'
properties to include substantial involvement in delivering human
services and regulatory functions. This has resulted in increased
expenditure for local government.
