Creates a positive and welcoming vibe.
Always patient and encouraging to students.
Always approachable and easy to talk to.
Always fair, encouraging, and motivating.
Great Professor!
Joseph Drew is Professor of Local Government Economics in the Institute for Regional Futures at the University of Newcastle, affiliated with the College of Human and Social Futures. He has held this full professorship since January 2016. Previously, he served as Research Associate at the University of New England Business School from March 2014 to March 2016. Drew also holds an adjunct professorship in Economics at the University of New England. His academic qualifications include a Doctor of Philosophy and a Bachelor of Education (Mathematics) from Griffith University, obtained between 1999 and 2003. Drew's research specializations encompass performance management, government financial sustainability, and natural law philosophy. His expertise extends to local governance, public management, public policy analysis, citizen participation, case studies, comparative analysis, policy, governance, decentralization, and political participation.
Drew has produced an extensive body of scholarly work, with over 75 publications in leading journals from Australia and abroad, alongside multiple books. Key recent publications include 'Does Inequality Still Matter? Income Heterogeneity and Local Government Expenditure' (2024), 'Is ‘more’ better? Testing the assumption that larger local governments are more sustainable' (2024), 'Public Policy by Syllogism? Does Logic Hold the Answer to Better Policy Outcomes?' (2025), 'Mission Impossible? Explaining De-Amalgamation Success Through Heresthetic, Rhetoric and Opportunity Costs' (2025), 'What Can We Learn From Local Government in Australia?' (2025), 'The Financial Sustainability of Local Governments With Declining Populations' (2025), 'The other side of the local government ledger—The association between revenue growth and population growth' (2023), and 'New South Wales State Government Failure? An Empirical Analysis of the Cootamundra Gundagai Regional Council Forced Merger' (2023). Prominent books authored by Drew are 'Selling Public Policy: Rhetoric, Heresthetic, Ethics and Evidence' (2023) and 'Creating Human Value as Public Management Theory' (2025). His research addresses pivotal topics such as the fiscal implications of local government amalgamations, the effects of income heterogeneity on expenditures, population-revenue relationships, de-amalgamation costs, and logical frameworks for policy outcomes. Drew's scholarship influences local government studies, and he provides expert advice on financial sustainability to councils such as Cessnock City Council and Leeton Shire Council.