Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Local government
while the smallest is Peppermint Grove, which covers just 1.5 square-kilometres at
the centre of Perth. 6 Australia’s local governments employ almost 200,000 people;
around 100 of these councils are the largest or second largest employer in their local
area. 7 Local governments across Australia are typically referred to as ‘councils’, ‘cities’
or ‘municipalities’ in urban areas, and ‘shires’ or ‘towns’ in rural and remote areas.
‘County councils’ are incorporations of two or more local governments established
to deliver services, such as water, across rural areas. 8 The entire Australian land
mass is not covered by local government areas. Some remote ‘unincorporated’
areas are administered by state and territory governments. The Australian Capital
Territory–theseatofAustralia’snationalgovernment–doesnothaveaformal
system of local government, and local services are delivered by the territory
government.
Most capital city councils have their own legislation that provides expanded
powers for these local governments. 9 For example, the City of Brisbane Act 2010
(Qld) allows the lord mayor to prepare a budget for approval by the elected council
andallowscouncillorstobeassignedaportfoliosuchastransportorcommunity
services. In contrast, in non-capital city councils, the general manager or chief
executive officer prepares the budget for approval by council. The CityofSydney
Act 1988 (NSW) establishes voting rights for central business district businesses,
whereas businesses in non-capital councils do not have voting rights. 10
Functions and governance
The functions of Australia’s local governments have expanded in the postwar era to
include a more diverse and complex range of economic, social and environmental
services, such as child care and youth services, libraries and aquatic centres,
economic development, environmental management and community health. 11
Local councils are governed by elected councillors, who form the official governing
body, and an operational executive, led by a general manager or CEO, responsible
for day-to-day functions such as corporate governance and finance, community
services, assets and engineering, and planning and environment. Councils have
a high degree of flexibility in the organisational structures they choose to adopt.
Whilst these executive portfolio areas are fairly common, they can differ between
councils.
The responsibilities of councillors and mayors differ across the states and
territories, depending on the legislation establishing the local government system
6 Australian Local Government Association 2018.
7 Ryan, Lawrie and Hastings 2014.
8 Larcombe 1978.
9 Larcombe 1978; Spearritt 2000.
10 Ng et al. 2017.
11 Australian Local Government Association 2018.
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