However, NEGOC has commendable objectives of facilitating regional strategic planning; participating in intergovernmental collaboration; engaging in regional advocacy; facilitating the exchange of knowledge between member councils; and collaborating on improved service delivery.

The NSW government will shortly legislate to create Joint Organisations (JOs) for the local government sector after modelling five trial JOs over the past two years. JOs, which will have legal status, will probably replace most Regional Organisations of Councils (ROCs).

All NSW councils will be required to be members of a JO which will agree on a regional statement of priorities. In the Northern Tablelands, it is likely that there will be seven member councils of the JO for the region.

In recent decades, local governments have more actively engaged in co-operative activities, especially with the objective of improving service delivery for constituents. In NSW, ROCs have generally been effective in this regard and have often engaged collaboratively to advocate and lobby governments for better services and improved infrastructure for their communities.

Councils have, for example, demonstrated the capacity to provide shared services in fire protection; emergency services; health administration and planning; noxious weeds; museums and art galleries; garbage services; water and wastewater; tourism and regional promotion; and sale yards and markets. However, there is a scarcity of solid empirical evidence on the economic effects of shared services in Australian local government.

Most councils in NSW participate in some form of collaborative arrangements for the performance of some of their functions, particularly delivery of specific services or projects, including through ROCs. However, ROCs share some key features which differentiate them from other forms of collaboration. These include an emphasis on political leadership, multi‐purpose agendas and engagement in advocacy and lobbying around wider regional policy.

In some quarters, this has led to ROCs being discounted as a primary option for shared delivery of “traditional” local government services, as their focus has tended to lie elsewhere, in areas such as advocacy and lobbying. They have also been regarded as being too “political” and less structured than some alternative models, such as formal shared services agreements.

While ROCs have been criticised as lacking the capacity to provide consistent and significant outcomes in the delivery of shared services, research indicates that, in NSW at least, ROCs are the primary form of multi‐purpose shared services provision by local government.

Their role in regional advocacy is not only an important form of collaborative delivery but also supports development of shared services in operational areas. Several government agencies such as the Department of Planning and Infrastructure and Transport NSW are adopting policy and planning processes with a regional focus and have been increasingly engaging through ROCs.

Overall, the role of shared services is one among many means of ameliorating the financial constraints on local councils. I believe that shared service arrangements cannot solve all the service provision problems of local governments. The judicious use of shared service models for carefully selected local government service functions can make a modest contribution to cost savings and improved local service provision.

It is my view that shared service arrangements can be beneficial for councils both in terms of cost savings and enhanced service quality.

Nevertheless, the delivery of shared services by ROCs remains patchy and uneven. This reflects the disparate size, number, and wealth of participating councils, as well as variations in factors such as the level of commitment and institutional leadership involved. It will be incumbent on the JOs when introduced to significantly improve regional collaboration for their constituencies.

Dr Ian Tiley is the administrator for Armidale Regional Council.