Local government in Australia

This article is about the third-level government division in Australia. For the first level, see Australian Government. For the second level, see States and territories of Australia.

Local government is the third level of government in Australia, administered with limited autonomy under the states and territories, and in turn beneath the federal government. Local government is not mentioned in the Constitution of Australia, and two referendums in 1974 and 1988 to alter the Constitution relating to local government were unsuccessful. Every state and territory government recognises local government in its own respective constitution. Unlike the two-tier local government system in Canada or the United States, there is (largely) only one tier of local government in each Australian state/territory, with no distinction between counties and cities.

Local government in Australia is generally run by an elected council, and the area it administers is referred to by the Australian Bureau of Statistics as a local government area or LGA, each of which encompasses multiple suburbs and/or localities (roughly equivalent to neighbourhoods), often of different postcodes. LGAs are variously styled using terms such as "city", "town", "district", "municipality", "borough", "region" or "shire". These usually have geographic or historical significance, and there is rarely any legal distinction between them. For instance, cities and municipalities tend to apply to councils in urban and metropolitan areas, whereas districts and shires are found primarily in rural and regional areas. A local government area is also commonly known as a "city council", "local council", or simply a "council". Council members are generally known as councillors, and the head of a council is called the mayor, chairman or shire president. Some of Australia’s largest cities, such as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, use the historical title of lord mayor. Councillors are usually elected from single-member districts known as divisions or wards, whilst the mayor or president is directly elected by all the voters within that council area. However, the mayor is often entitled to style themselves as a councillor, and is considered an ex officio member of the council. As of August 2016, there were 547 local councils in Australia.

Despite the (largely) single tier of local governance in Australia, there are a number of vast, sparsely populated regions that are not part of any established LGA. Functions of local government in these unincorporated areas may be exercised by special-purpose governing bodies established outside of local legislation, as with Victoria's alpine resorts, or directly administered by state or territory governments, such as the entirety of the Australian Capital Territory. The administrative areas covered by local government bodies in Australia range from as small as 1.5 km2 (0.58 sq mi) for the Shire of Peppermint Grove in the Perth metropolitan region, to as large as 372,571 km2 (143,850 sq mi) for the Shire of East Pilbara in Western Australia's Pilbara region.

As an exception to the generalisation that Australian local government has only a single tier, New South Wales has county councils, which are special-purpose local authorities governing county districts composed of two or more LGAs, and are variously responsible for water supply, flood mitigation and weed management. Formerly, they also played a significant role in urban planning, electricity distribution, and some also operated abattoirs. By the 21st century, only a handful remain, with the majority of New South Wales LGAs no longer belonging to any county council. These councils are not to be confused with cadastral divisions also known as counties, which are largely obsolete but continue to exist by statute.

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