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 cities or counties.
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 for the Shire of Peppermint Grove in the Perth metropolitan region, to as large as 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.
Types of local government
Local governments are subdivisions of the six federated states as well as the Northern Territory. The term "local government area" (LGA) is used by the ABS to collectively refer to all local government administrative zones regardless of the varying designations.The Australian Capital Territory has no separate local government, and municipal functions in Canberra and the surrounding regions (normally performed by local governments in other states) are performed by the ACT territorial government.
Local government authorities across the country have similar functions and powers, but have different official designations in different states, which may vary based on whether the LGA is regional or for historical reasons. Below is a table that lists the various designations per state.
+Australian LGA status by state/territoryState/territoryLGA statusNew South WalesCities AreasNorthern TerritoryCities
Towns
Municipalities
ShiresQueenslandCities
Shires
Towns
Regional councils
Aboriginal shiresSouth AustraliaCities Rural cities
Municipalities/municipal councils
District councils
Regional councils
Towns
Aboriginal councilsTasmaniaCities
MunicipalitiesVictoriaCities
Rural cities
Boroughs
ShiresWestern AustraliaCities
Towns
Shires
Most urban municipalities in all states are "cities". Many in Western Australia are officially "towns", even within the Perth metropolitan area. Many rural areas in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia are "shires", while rural areas in South Australia have "district councils", and those in Tasmania officially use the title "municipality". Due to the Australian Capital Territory's small size it has no local government and is instead overseen by the ACT Legislative Assembly.
Sometimes designations other than "city" or "shire" are used in the names of LGAs, and today the stylised titles of "town", "borough", "municipality", "district", "region", "community government", "Aboriginal council/shire" and "island" are used in addition. The word "municipality" occurs in some states with differing meanings: in New South Wales it is typically used for older urban areas, and the word is used for some rural towns in South Australia. Larger towns and small metropolitan exurban centres in Queensland and Western Australia simply use the term "town", while in Victoria they are designated as "rural city". Historically, the word "borough" was common for small towns and suburban centres in Victoria, but nowadays only the Borough of Queenscliffe remains as the one and only borough in the entire country. New South Wales and Queensland have also introduced a new term "region" for outback LGAs formed by the amalgamation of smaller shires and rural cities. In New South Wales, where the Local Government Act does not mandate adopting a designation, some local government areas are legally known simply as "council", such as Port Macquarie-Hastings Council, Inner West Council and Federation Council. Some rural areas in South Australia are known as "district council", and all the LGAs in Tasmania that were previously municipalities have been renamed "council".
Almost all local councils have the same administrative functions and similar political structures, regardless of their naming, and retain a particular designation ("shire", "borough", "town", "city") for historical reasons only. They will typically have an elected council and usually a mayor or shire president responsible for chairing meetings of the council. In some councils, the mayor is a directly elected figure, but in most cases the mayor is elected by the board of fellow councillors. The powers of mayors vary as well; for example, mayors in Queensland have broad executive functions, whereas mayors in New South Wales are essentially ceremonial figureheads who can only exercise power at the discretion of the council.
Most of the capital city LGAs administer only the central business districts and nearby central suburbs. A notable exception is the City of Brisbane, the most populous LGA in the country, which administers a significant part of the Brisbane metropolitan area. In most cases, when a city's population statistics are used, it is the statistical division population rather than the local government area.
Local governments by type and state The following table provides a summary of local government areas by states and territories by local government area types as of December 2023: Local government area typesNSWVicQldWASATasNTACTThe Australian Capital Territory does not have a separate system of local government such as that seen in other states and the Northern Territory. Local government functions in the ACT are instead handled directly by the Territory government. The Australian Bureau of Statistics refers to the whole of the ACT as an unincorporated local government area.Total Aboriginal councils 2 2 Aboriginal shires 12 12 Boroughs 1 1 Cities 30 34 8 27 21 6 2 128 Councils 32All LGAs in New South Wales that are not cities are classified as "areas" in the Local Government Act. Some may choose to retain their titles held under older versions of the act, tabulated here. Others have no title and refer to themselves as "[geographical area] Council". 17 23 2 74 District councils 23 23 Municipalities 2 2 Regional councils 9 29 4 9 51 Rural cities 6 1 7 Shires 55 38 28 104 2 227 Towns 1 8 2 2 13 Sub-total 128 79 78 139 70 29 17 0 540 Unincorporated 2 9 2 1 7 1 22 Total 130 88 78 141 71 29 24 1 562 Note the above table does not include the county councils of New South Wales, which while a form of local government are not classified as being local government areas.
Classification The Australian Classification of Local Governments (ACLG) categorises local governing authorities using the population, the population density and the proportion of the population that is classified as being urban for the council. The classification, at the two-digit level, is: RA Rural Agricultural RS Rural Significant RT Rural Remote UC Urban Capital UD Urban Developed UF Urban Fringe UR Urban Regional
Powers and functions
All local governments are approximately equal in their theoretical powers, although LGAs that encompass large cities such as Brisbane and the Gold Coast command more resources due to their larger population base. Unlike local governments in many other countries, services such as police, fire protection and schools are provided by respective state or territory governments rather than by local councils. However, local governments still maintain some responsibility for fire service functions within Queensland and Western Australia.
The councils' chief responsibility in the first half of the 20th century was the provision of physical infrastructure such as roads, bridges and sewerage. From the 1970s the emphasis changed to community facilities such as libraries and parks, maintenance of local roads, town planning and development approvals, and local services such as waste disposal. Child care, tourism and urban renewal were also beginning to be part of local governments' role. These are financed by collection of local land taxes known as "rates", and grants from the state and Commonwealth governments. They are caricatured as being concerned only with the "three Rs": Rates, Roads and Rubbish.
However, the roles of local government areas in Australia have recently expanded as higher levels of government have devolved activities to the third tier. Examples include the provision of community health services, regional airports and pollution control as well as community safety and accessible transport. The changes in services has been described as a shift from 'services to property' towards 'services to people'. Community expectations of local government in Australia have risen in the 21st century partly as a result of wider participation in decision-making and transparent management practices.
Recent years have seen some State governments devolving additional powers onto LGAs. In Queensland and Western Australia LGAs have been granted the power to independently enact their own local subsidiary legislation, in contrast to the previous system of by-laws. Councils also have organised their own representative structures such as Local Government Associations and Regional Organisations of Councils.