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The purpose of this paper was to examine the direct economic and social benefits accruing from the Birdsville Races. The paper also explores how strategic place marketing has been used to shape the image of the destination, and how this has provided a boost to tourism visitation to periods outside of the event.

This study was based around a textual analysis of online discourse, interviews with local residents and business owners and a survey of visitors.

The data indicate that the Races make a solid contribution to the local, regional and state economy; however the local economic benefits are relatively limited due to the high level of leakages. It is also clear that the Races provide important social benefits by generating a strong sense of history, togetherness and engagement among the local community. Another important benefit is the national and international exposure the event receives, enabling the generation of additional economic benefits.

The practical implications of this study are that regardless of its size and/or location, the staging of a high-quality event or festival can help a destination to market itself effectively, both nationally and internationally. This exposure will generate additional benefits to the destination, region, state and nation. A successful event can also enable a destination attract substantial government funding that can further enhance the event experience.

This paper illustrates that an event hosted in a very remote destination in outback Australia can provide direct benefits as well as indirect benefits. Place marketing can also allow the generation of an “iconic” image for a destination.

This study aims to examine the state and extent of disclosures on stakeholder engagement in sustainability reporting in Australian local councils.

Content analysis was used to analyse 23 sustainability/state of environment/annual reports out of a total of 563 local councils (city, shire, district, borough and regional) in Australia for the year 2009-2010 – those found to be using stakeholder engagement in the development of sustainability reports. A stakeholder engagement index was developed on the basis of the literature review to examine the extent of disclosures on stakeholder engagement.

This study identifies: the Australian local councils that are engaging with their stakeholders in the development of sustainability reports; key stakeholders for sustainability reports; extent of engagement; media and approaches used for engagement; and difficulties in the engagement process. The results suggest that stakeholder engagement is an essential component in the development of sustainability reporting as it informs reporters of material concerns, issues and aspirations of key stakeholders.

The focus of this paper is the state of disclosures on stakeholder engagement in sustainability reporting. The findings of the paper are limited to only one level of governance of the public sector, that is, local councils.

International standards such as Global Reporting Initiative and AccountAbility (AA) 1000 have signified the role of stakeholder engagement in the development of sustainability reports. However, there has been a little research that demonstrates whether or not organisations engage with their stakeholders for reporting purposes. This paper provides evidence of stakeholder engagement in sustainability reporting in Australian local councils.

Firstly, I must point out to the reader that this article differs a little from the speech actually given at the conference. My second explanation is the inevitable statement that any views expressed here are entirely my own and do not necessarily represent official Cheshire County Council views.

Scholarly research into community members’ views on the positive and negative impacts of Airbnb on the local community is sparse, especially in regional Australia. The purpose of this paper is to explore the views of key informants in the Byron Shire of Australia about the impacts of Airbnb on the local community, as well as possible solutions to the problems.

A qualitative approach of in-depth interviewing using a semi-structured interview guide was used to capture the views regarding the impacts of Airbnb held by 22 key informants in the Byron Shire community. The interview data were analysed using thematic analysis.

The 22 interviewees identified five main positive impacts of Airbnb on the Byron Shire community and eight main negative impacts of Airbnb. All participants said they wanted more regulation of Airbnb properties to help address the negative impacts of Airbnb in the community. Eight specific recommendations were offered by the interviewees.

The negative impacts of Airbnb felt by local community are more extensive and deleterious than have been accounted for in the literature. Research into community stakeholder perspectives is important, in order to gain a fuller view of the costs and benefits of sharing economy, especially with regard to short-term letting or holiday letting in tourism centres, as well as potential for more sustainable solutions to the issues.

The findings are being used to inform policy makers’ decisions in managing Airbnb in the Shire.

The involvement of key informant community members in this study highlights that there is much common ground between different stakeholders. This type of research may help to provide a sense of enfranchisement and empowerment. This is important in fostering a more balanced public debate, as well as more sustainable approaches to managing the issues.

This paper is the first to explore the views of a range of different key informants in the regional tourist area of Byron Shire in Australia with regard to the positive and negative impacts of Airbnb on the local community, as well as possible solutions to the issues raised by Airbnb.

Remote communities often face a range of problems related to distance, service provision, high costs, and economic uncertainty. Many of these problems are structural and a direct result of their location on a periphery. In recent decades many remote settlements have looked to the tourism sector to supplement existing local economies. Numerous tools variously described in the literature as theories, models, and frameworks have been suggested as approaches for assisting local economies develop tourism. In searching for solutions, it is not unusual for researchers to advocate a standalone theory, model, or framework as a preferred approach. However, this method ignores the complexity of the real world and that solutions usually require a multidimensional approach based on combining various theoretical tools. This paper proposes an open architecture approach that utilizes a number of theories and models that can be selectively and collectively used to assist remote settlements develop a tourism sector. This approach was tested in Cooktown, Australia. One outcome was the identification of a range of deficiencies in the strategies currently used by the destination.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how accountability and transparency was used to inform the local community and support the decision-making of the Surf Coast Shire (SCS) with respect to the development of an aquatic and health centre.

This project investigates a case study of a proposed aquatic and leisure centre located within the SCS (Victoria-Australia). The paper draws on content analysis and an interpretative approach to critically analyse publicly available archival documents sourced from the SCS, consultant reports and the popular press.

Providing extensive disclosure for a major capital works project and engaging the community to determine support for such a project was undertaken for reasons of accountability and transparency. However, community feedback has provided evidence of divisions between and within local township communities.

This project illustrates that being transparent and communicating accounting information via different forums can create significant community engagement to facilitate council decision-making albeit at a cost to some social disharmony.

It is typical for local councils to prepare budgets that inform the community how funds will be expended. In this case, the council has sought feedback from the community before a capital-intensive decision has been made. This approach extends the notion of accountability by disclosing managements’ decision-making apparatus.

The purpose of this study is to provide explanations for the factors affecting sustainability disclosures by a local coastal shire council in Australia. Drawing on the theory of accountability, a further aim is to examine how this information is communicated to stakeholders.

A qualitative and case study approach is adopted for this investigation. The main sources of empirical data are semi‐structured interviews with the senior managers of the council, observation and the use of publicly available documentation.

Significant issues relating specifically to this council were identified as managing population growth, planning for land use, climate change and community engagement. These issues were addressed through various forums such as the annual report, a sustainability report and through community engagement meetings. There was also little evidence to suggest that the global reporting initiative is influencing how the local council was accounting for its social and environmental activities.

Coastal regions are fragile areas that are subjected to varying degrees of pressure on their environment. This study suggests that community demand for information on sustainability is commencing to change the content of the council's annual report.

Much attention has been paid to the role and extent of sustainability reporting in the private sector, however, less research has been devoted to investigating this area in the realm of the government sector.

Over the past decade Australian local government has undergone drastic change. The sheer pace of reform has made it difficult for practitioners and scholars alike to document and evaluate these rapid changes and even most recent extant analyses are now dated. Given the urgent need to review trends in Australian local government, this paper examines the recent programs of legislative, structural, workplace and financial reform.