Local government in Australia
[4] Despite the (largely) single tier of local governance in Australia, there are a number of extensive regions with relatively low populations that are not a part of any established LGA.
The administrative area covered by local government councils in Australia ranges from as small as 1.5 km2 (0.58 sq mi) for the Shire of Peppermint Grove in the Perth metropolitan region, to as big as 624,339 km2 (241,059 sq mi) for the Pastoral Unincorporated Area in South Australia.
By the 21st century, only a handful remain, with the majority of New South Wales LGAs no longer belong to any county council.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), however, considers the entire ACT as an "unincorporated" local government area, even though it is technically a state-level administrative region.
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.
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.
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.
[8] The classification, at the two-digit level, is: 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.
The councils' chief responsibility in the first half of the 20th century was the provision of physical infrastructure such as roads, bridges and sewerage.
[10] 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.
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.
The first official local government in Australia was the Perth Town Trust, established in 1838, only three years after British settlement.
Council representatives attended conventions before Federation, however local government was unquestionably regarded as outside the Constitutional realm.
[15] An increase in the range of services offered by councils, but only minor cost savings of less than 10% have been noted by academics as outcomes after mergers.
The council mergers have resulted in widespread job losses and lingering resentment from some whose roles have experienced a larger workload.
A 1988 referendum sought to explicitly insert mention of local government in the federal constitution but this was comprehensively defeated.
The functions and practices of local councils are mostly centered around managing public services and land uses at the community level, and are similar throughout Australia, but can vary to some degree between jurisdictions.
State departments oversee the activities of local councils and may intervene in their affairs when needed, subject to relevant legislation.
These include the Cox-Daly and Marrakai-Douglas Daly areas in the Top End region,[19] the Northern Territory Rates Act Area and Darwin Waterfront Precinct within Darwin, Nhulunbuy on the Gove Peninsula, Alyangula on Groote Eylandt, and Yulara in Central Australia.
