59-558: The Shire of Blackall was a local government area located in central Queensland around the town of Blackall . It covered an area of 16,366.8 square kilometres (6,319.3 sq mi), and existed as a local government entity from 1879 until 2008, when it amalgamated with neighbouring Shire of Tambo to form the Blackall-Tambo Region . The council consisted of a Mayor and 9 elected councillors. No wards or electoral divisions existed. The Barcoo River passes through
118-588: A unitary authority , but the Australian Bureau of Statistics refers to the whole of the ACT as an unincorporated area. The ACT Government directorate Transport Canberra & City Services handles responsibilities that are under the purview of local government in other parts of Australia, such as local road maintenance, libraries and waste collection. Many Canberra districts have community organisations called "community councils", but these are not part of
177-540: A community to be counted, a practice that continued until 1825. The first colonial censuses were conducted in New South Wales in 1828; in Tasmania in 1841; South Australia in 1844; Western Australia in 1848; and Victoria in 1854. Each colony continued to collect statistics separately despite attempts to coordinate collections through an annual Conference of Statisticians . The first simultaneous census across all
236-591: A geographic or historical interpretation. The council board members are generally known as councillors , and the head councillor is called the mayor . As of August 2016, there were 547 local councils in Australia. Despite the 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. Powers of local governments in these unincorporated areas may be exercised by special-purpose governing bodies established outside of
295-545: A larger workload. The growth of the Regional Organisations of Councils has also been a factor in local government reform in Australia. In 1995, there were 50 such agreements across the country. A 2002 study identified 55 ROCs with the largest involving 18 councils. Local government powers are determined by state governments, and states have primary responsibility for funding and exclusive responsibility for supervision of local councils. Local government
354-641: A satisfactory statistical service through their own offices, resulting in mergers with the CBCS. The Tasmanian Statistical Office was transferred to the CBCS in 1924, and the New South Wales Bureau of Statistics amalgamated into it in 1957. The final unification of all state statistical offices with the CBCS occurred in the late 1950s under the guidance of Sir Stanley Carver, who was the New South Wales Statistician acting as
413-403: 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
472-531: Is mentioned in the annotated Australian constitution, as a department of the State Governments, and they are mentioned in the constitutions of each of the six states. Under the Constitution, the federal government cannot provide funding directly to local governments; a 1974 referendum sought to amend the Constitution to authorise the federal government to directly fund local governments, but it
531-447: Is part of a local government area. Unincorporated areas are often in remote locations, cover vast areas, or have very small populations. Queensland and Tasmania are entirely partitioned into LGAs and have no unincorporated areas. The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has no municipalities. The ACT government is responsible for both state-level and local-level matters. In some countries, such an arrangement would be referred to as
590-504: Is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state/territory it belongs to. 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. For more details in each state and territory, see
649-640: 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. The following table provides a summary of local government areas by states and territories by local government area types as of December 2023: The Australian Classification of Local Governments (ACLG) categorises local governing authorities using
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#1732776808610708-583: 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/territory government recognises local government in its own respective constitution . Unlike
767-556: Is used for defining electoral boundaries , planning infrastructure , establishing community services, and formulating public policy. In 2016, the ABS conducted its census largely online through its website and logins rather than through paper forms. The bureau took the form offline for 43 hours from 8:09 pm on 9 August until 2:29 pm on 11 August. On 10 August, the Australian Statistician, David Kalisch , stated that
826-593: The Australian Government . The bureau's function originated in the Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics, established in 1905, four years after Federation of Australia ; it took on its present name in 1975. The ABS conducts Australia's Census of Population and Housing every five years and publishes its findings online. Efforts to count the population of Australia started in 1795 with "musters" that involved physically gathering
885-573: The Department of Home Affairs . In 1928, the bureau relocated to Canberra , where in 1932 it was subsumed within the Department of the Treasury . The first national census, which deployed about 7300 collectors, occurred in 1911. Although coordination and data sharing were facilitated by CBCS, each state in Australia initially had its own statistical office and worked with the CBCS to produce national data. Some states faced challenges in providing
944-664: 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
1003-488: The Outback Communities Authority . Victoria has a number of unincorporated areas which are not part of any LGA: Western Australia has two unincorporated areas: Australian Bureau of Statistics The Australian Bureau of Statistics ( ABS ) is an Australian Government agency that collects and analyses statistics on economic, population, environmental , and social issues to advise
1062-735: The Pastoral Unincorporated Area in South Australia . Local governments are subdivisions of the six federated states as well as the Northern Territory . 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. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), however, considers
1121-670: The Shire of Tambo to form the Blackall-Tambo Region . The Shire of Blackall included the following settlements: In 1993, the Local Government Act Number 70 was introduced; it included that all heads of local government councils should be known as mayors and all other elected representatives were to be known as councillors. 24°35′35″S 145°26′28″E / 24.593°S 145.441°E / -24.593; 145.441 Local government in Australia [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Local government
1180-805: The Top End region, 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 . In South Australia , 63% of the state's area is unincorporated. Residents in this area – less than 0.2% of the state's population – receive municipal services provided by a state agency,
1239-935: The United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) , the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Committee on Statistics and Statistical Policy (CSSP), and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Conference for European Statisticians (CES). The ABS has a partnership with DFAT to deliver statistical and institutional capability building programs for the Indo-Pacific region , both in-country and by hosting development visits. The ABS has also hosted international development and study visits from countries including China , Japan , Canada , Korea , and Nepal . Since 1975,
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#17327768086101298-526: The ABS conducts the Australian Census of Population and Housing as stipulated under federal law in the Constitution of Australia . The most recent was conducted on 10 August 2021. Statistics from the census were published on the ABS website in June 2022. The census aims to accurately measure the population, number of dwellings in Australia, and a range of their key characteristics. Census data
1357-698: The ABS has several other major publications covering topics including: In August 2017, the Treasurer issued a directive to the ABS to undertake a statistical collection into the views of Australians on the electoral roll about same-sex marriage . This is now referred to as the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey . The ABS previously published the Yearbook Australia , from 1908 to 2012 under various ISSNs and titles ( Commonwealth yearbook , Official yearbook of
1416-765: The ABS uses mesh block boundaries to approximate them; therefore the ASGS units should only be used for statistical purposes. The ASGS was introduced by the ABS in 2011 as a replacement for the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC). New editions essentially coincide with the 5-yearly ABS censuses, though boundary changes made to Non-ABS structures may be updated as often as annually. The significant changes for Edition 2 (2016) included: The significant changes for Edition 3 (2021) included: The ABS engages in international and regional statistical forums including
1475-544: The ABS, as well as structures defined by other bodies but which the ABS uses for reporting statistical information. The ABS structures within the ASGS include a Main Structure, which is a nested hierarchy of geographic areas ranging from very small units to the whole of Australia. There are other ABS structures that are schemes with specific uses. They are built from units of the Main Structure, or smaller units in
1534-503: The ASGS so they match boundaries in the ABS Main Structure. The current version of the ASGS is Version 3 of 2021. These structures within the ASGS are defined by the ABS. These structures are defined by bodies other than the ABS, though the ABS commits to providing a range of statistics for them. Where the legal or other boundaries of the geographical units within these structures don't exactly match mesh blocks boundaries,
1593-611: The Australian colonies occurred in 1881. A national statistical office was subsequently proposed to develop comparable statistics. The Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics (CBCS) was established under the Census and Statistics Act 1905 . Sir George Handley Knibbs was appointed as the first Commonwealth Statistician . The bureau was located in Melbourne – at that time the temporary seat of federal government – attached to
1652-676: The Commonwealth Statistician. In 1974, the CBCS was abolished and replaced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The Australian Bureau of Statistics Act 1975 established the ABS as a statutory authority headed by the Australian Statistician, who reported to the federal Treasurer . In 2015, the Australian Government announced a $ 250 million five-year investment in the ABS to modernise its systems and processes. Once every 5 years,
1711-594: The Commonwealth of Australia ). The ABS publishes an annual report with a detailed description of the bureau's activities during the preceding year, accounting for its use of public resources and performance against planned outcomes. The ABS maintains the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS), a system of geographic statistical areas in Australia. The ASGS includes geographic structures created and maintained by
1770-703: The Shire of Kargoolnah, which had in the meantime shrunk to include only the Blackall region. On 19 November 1932, after representations to the State Government, the Shire of Kargoolnah was officially renamed Shire of Blackall. On 15 March 2008, under the Local Government (Reform Implementation) Act 2007 passed by the Parliament of Queensland on 10 August 2007, the Shire of Blackall merged with
1829-466: The Urban Areas structure, to ensure complete geographic coverage. The non-ABS structures within the ASGS have geographical units whose boundaries are defined by bodies such as state governments, and that may or may not cover the whole of Australia without gaps or overlaps. Examples include electoral divisions, Postal Areas, and Suburbs and Localities. The boundaries of these units are approximated in
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1888-404: The entire ACT as an " unincorporated " local government area, even though it is technically a state-level administrative region . Although all essentially identical in functions and jurisdictions, Australian local governments have a variety of different titles. The term "local government area" (LGA) is used by the ABS to collectively refer to all local government administrative zones regardless of
1947-504: 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
2006-448: The first time. Significant reforms took place in the 1980s and 1990s in which state governments used metrics and efficiency analysis developed within the private sector in the local government arena. Each state conducted an inquiry into the benefits of council amalgamations during the 1990s. In the early 1990s, Victoria saw the number of local councils reduced from 210 to 78. South Australia, Tasmania and Queensland saw some reductions in
2065-415: The following: The Australian Capital Territory is not divided into local government areas, so it is regarded as a single "unincorporated" local government area during censusing . Unlike many other countries, Australia has only one level of local government immediately beneath state and territorial governments. Aside from very sparsely populated areas and a few other special cases, almost all of Australia
2124-501: The government (though they generally receive government funding). They do not have the power to change laws or policies, and their role is limited to advising government. They are effectively residents' associations . New South Wales has three unincorporated areas: In the Northern Territory , 1.47% of the total area and 3.0% of the population are in unincorporated areas. These include the Cox-Daly and Marrakai-Douglas Daly areas in
2183-577: The local legislation, as with Victoria 's alpine resorts ; or directly administered by state/territory governments, such as the entirety of the Australian Capital Territory . The administrative area covered by local government councils in Australia ranges from as small as 1.5 km (0.58 sq mi) for the Shire of Peppermint Grove in the Perth metropolitan region , to as big as 624,339 km (241,059 sq mi) for
2242-488: 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
2301-631: 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
2360-434: The non-government sector, reporting breaches of census-related data, open tendering, and stability in funding the bureau. An independent panel was also established by the Australian Statistician to help to ensure the quality of the 2016 census. The 2021 census was conducted during the height of the global Covid-19 pandemic . In obtaining data from 10,852,208 dwellings, it exceeded the ABS target. The dwelling response rate
2419-649: The number of local governments while Western Australia and New South Wales rejected compulsory mergers. New South Wales eventually forced the merging of some councils. The main purpose of amalgamating councils was for greater efficiency and to improve operations, but forced amalgamation of councils is sometimes seen as a dilution of representative democracy . 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
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2478-619: The part of local governments. There is no mention of local government in the Constitution of Australia , though it is mentioned several times in the Annotated Constitution of Australia. "Municipal institutions and local government" appears in Annotation 447, and "Power of the Parliament of a Colony" appears under "Residuary Legislative Powers" on pages 935 and 936. The first official local government in Australia
2537-818: 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: 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
2596-414: 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 . Doctrines of New Public Management have shaped state government legislation towards increased freedoms aiming to allow greater flexibility on
2655-538: The purpose of raising money to build roads in rural and outer-urban regions. Council representatives attended conventions before Federation , however local government was unquestionably regarded as outside the Constitutional realm. In the 1970s, the Whitlam government expanded the level of funding to local governments in Australia beyond grants for road construction. General purpose grants become available for
2714-571: The review included that the ABS should strengthen its approach to managing the performance of outsourced ICT suppliers and that the ABS "should draw upon the lessons it takes from the Census experience to help to guide and to advocate for the cultural change path it is following". A Senate inquiry was held into the 2016 census, reporting in November and making 16 recommendations including externally conducted privacy impact assessments, engagement with
2773-408: 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
2832-615: The same structure. Examples include the Indigenous Structure, a structure for urban areas, and the Remoteness Structure. For all the ABS structures, all geographic units at a given level of the structure cover the whole of Australia without gaps or overlaps, though this sometimes involves defining units, such as 'Remainder of State/Territory (<state>)' in the Urban Centres and Localities level of
2891-635: The shire's former area and the dominant industry is sheep and cattle grazing. Kargoolnah Division was created on 11 November 1879 as one of 74 divisions around Queensland under the Divisional Boards Act 1879 with a population of 726. The division included the areas of Blackall, Tambo and Barcaldine and parts of Jericho (these areas are now part of the Barcaldine Region ). Its headquarters were in Blackall . On 20 May 1880,
2950-412: The site – had occurred. They had been much smaller than attacks experienced by other Australian Government websites and the preventable outages had resulted from a failed geoblocking strategy, compounded by a hardware failure when the contractor, IBM , attempted to reboot the system after the fourth attack. There was no indication that the census data was insecure or was compromised. Many recommendations of
3009-493: 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
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#17327768086103068-621: The term "town", while in Victoria they are designated as "rural city". Historically, the word "borough" was common for small towns and suburban centers 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
3127-756: The two-tier local government system in Canada or the United States , there is only one tier of local government in each Australian state/territory, with no distinction between counties and cities . The Australian local government is generally run by a council , and its territory of public administration is referred to generically by the Australian Bureau of Statistics as the local government area or LGA , each of which encompasses multiple suburbs or localities (roughly equivalent to neighborhoods) often of different postcodes ; however, stylised terms such as "city", " borough ", " region " and " shire " also have
3186-718: The urban part of Blackall was excised from the Kargoolnah Division to create a municipal Borough of Blackall and its first councillors were elected in July 1880. With the passage of the Local Authorities Act 1902 , Kargoolnah Division became the Shire of Kargoolnah on 31 March 1903, while the Borough of Blackall became the Town of Blackall . The town was abolished on 7 November 1931 and became Division 3 of
3245-501: The varying designations, whilst the local governing legislature itself is generally known as a council . In general, an urban / suburban LGA is called a " city ", as in the City of Melbourne , City of Canada Bay and City of Bunbury ; while an exurban / rural LGA covering a larger agricultural / natural area is usually called a " shire ", as in Shire of Mornington Peninsula , Shire of Banana and Lachlan Shire . Sometimes designations other than "city" or "shire" are used in
3304-618: The website was closed after denial-of-service attacks from an overseas source targeted the online form; "the first three were successfully repelled and the fourth one caused the difficulty that then led us to bring the system down as a precaution". A comprehensive review by Alastair MacGibbon, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister on Cyber Security, tabled in October, concluded that five distributed denial-of-service attacks – in which incoming traffic from many different sources "floods"
3363-555: Was 96.1%, an increase from 95.1% in 2016. The ABS publishes monthly and quarterly economic information spanning interest rates, property prices, employment, the value of the Australian dollar , and commodity prices. Publications include things such as: the Key Economic Indicators, Consumer Price Index, Australian National Accounts, Average Weekly Earnings, and Labour Force. Outside the main economic indicators,
3422-539: Was defeated. A 1988 referendum sought to explicitly insert mention of local government in the federal constitution but this was comprehensively defeated. A further referendum was proposed in 2013 , but was cancelled due to the change in the election date . Federal government interaction with local councils happens regularly through the provision of federal grants to help fund local government managed projects. Local government in Australia has very limited legislative powers and no judicial powers , and executive -wise
3481-432: Was the Perth Town Trust , established in 1838, only three years after British settlement. The Adelaide Corporation followed, created by the province of South Australia in October 1840. The City of Melbourne and the Sydney Corporation followed, both in 1842. All of these early forms failed; it was not until the 1860s and 1870s that the various colonies established widespread stable forms of local government, mainly for
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