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64-703: The Aboriginal Shire of Palm Island is a special local government area of Queensland , Australia, managed by the Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council under a Deed of Grant in Trust granted to the community on 27 October 1986. The local council was previously the Palm Island Community Council , which had far fewer powers. The shire is located on the Palm Island group , off the north Queensland coast near

128-588: 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

192-407: A close friend of Police Commissioner Lewis, to head the inquiry, which led to fears by journalists that it would be a whitewash . After consulting the legal profession, Attorney-General Paul Clauson opposed Pratt as unsuitable and he was removed from consideration. The government then approached Ian Callinan to head the inquiry, but he refused on the basis that he was perceived to be too close to

256-508: A failure to deliver major infrastructure projects. In addition, according to the Palm Island Select Committee, the local government elections of 1997, 2000, and 2004 demonstrated a lack of continuity in office-bearers, a relatively small number of voters combined with a large number of candidates, and a trend in some families for a number of relatives to stand for election. Lex Wotton , who would later go on to lead

320-412: A former health minister, was charged with misappropriating of public funds as part of an investigation resulting from the findings of the inquiry. She spent one year in jail. Don Lane , a former transport minister, was sentenced to twelve months imprisonment for falsifying expense accounts. Lane's resignation resulted in the 1989 Merthyr state by-election . Brian Austin , another former health minister,

384-591: 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

448-426: A jury led by Young Nationals member, Luke Shaw". A special prosecutor announced in 1992 there would be no retrial because Sir Joh, then aged 81, was too old. Jack Herbert had been the bagman , collecting bribes for police commissioner Terry Lewis from 1980. Lewis himself had been a bagman for former commissioner Francis Bischof . Lewis was convicted (and subsequently stripped of his knighthood ). Leisha Harvey ,

512-545: 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

576-403: 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

640-524: Is a fully non-partisan council, with no elected councillors declaring membership of any political parties. Below is the current council, elected in 2020 : 18°44′12″S 146°34′53″E  /  18.73667°S 146.58139°E  / -18.73667; 146.58139 Local government in Australia [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Local government is the third level of government in Australia , administered with limited autonomy under

704-531: 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

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768-447: 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

832-504: 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

896-640: 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

960-481: The 2004 Palm Island riots , had resigned in June 2003 after becoming dissatisfied with the council's practices. At the conclusion of the administrator's term, a handover report was presented to the newly elected Council, which included: allocation of specific portfolios for Councillors and the establishment of committee structures to ensure functional decision-making, appointment of a financial controller for 12 months and

1024-666: The 2016 census , the Aboriginal Shire of Palm Island had a population of 2,446 people of whom 2,298 (94.1%) self-identified as an Indigenous person. In the 2021 census , the Aboriginal Shire of Palm Island had a population of 2,098 people of whom 1,918 (94.1%) self-identified as an Indigenous person. The Palm Island Shire Council operate the Bwgcolman Indigenous Knowledge Centre at 1 Main Street, Palm Island. The Palm Island Shire Council

1088-703: The Cape York Justice Study undertaken by Justice Fitzgerald QC in November 2001. Delena Foster became Mayor on 16 December 2006, taking over from Erykah Kyle. She had previously been chairwoman of the Community Council from 2001 to 2003, and had stood as an Independent candidate for the electoral district of Townsville in the 2004 election . The structure of the Aboriginal Shire Council (or Community Council as it

1152-572: The Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) and the Electoral and Administrative Review Commission which was to review electoral boundaries. The need for Freedom of Information legislation in the state was noted, as was the need to review laws relating to public assembly and guidelines for the disclosure of pecuniary interests of parliamentarians. The CJC was to be responsible for investigating specific individuals mentioned during

1216-664: 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

1280-551: The Outback Communities Authority . Victoria has a number of unincorporated areas which are not part of any LGA: Western Australia has two unincorporated areas: Fitzgerald Inquiry The inquiry was established in response to a series of articles by reporter Phil Dickie in The Courier-Mail about high-level police corruption, followed by a Four Corners television report on

1344-735: 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

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1408-805: 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,

1472-652: 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

1536-537: 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 the two-tier local government system in Canada or

1600-694: The Bjelke-Petersen government. Mike Ahern became the new Premier after Bjelke-Petersen was deposed by his own party. Evidence revealed by the investigation, including testimony from Bjelke-Petersen himself, caused significant political damage and led to a power struggle within the National Party . Bjelke-Petersen resigned as Premier after an unsuccessful attempt to have the Governor of Queensland sack all of his ministers after they had deposed him as party leader. The inquiry's special prosecutor

1664-598: The March 2020 Council elections, two former council finance staff had charges of fraud laid against them by the Crime and Corruption Commission , and the state government brought in financial and governance advisers. In July 2020 it was found that the council had an operational deficit of about A$ 7 million out of a total budget of A$ 24.5 million . It was feared that plans for a new shopping precinct, due to deliver much-needed business and job opportunities, would be affected. In

1728-633: The city of Townsville . Ten of the twelve Islands in the Greater Palm Island Group come under the control of the Shire – Palm Island , Fantome Island , Curacoa Island , Havannah Island , Brisk Island , Esk Island , Falcon Island , Eclipse Island , Barber Island , Fly Island – plus a few rocks (Dido Rock, Hayman Rock, Chilcott Rocks, Paluma Rock), but neither Orpheus Island nor Pelorus Island , are within its borders, and Albino Rock belongs to Orpheus Island National Park. At

1792-709: The engagement of a Human Resource Management consultant. On 1 January 2005, under the Local Government (Community Government Areas) Act 2004 (Qld) (the "CGA"), the Palm Island Aboriginal Council became the Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council, on a par with other local councils in Queensland. This reconstitution into a Shire Council formed part of the Meeting Challenges, Making Choices strategy developed in response to

1856-453: 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

1920-504: 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

1984-448: 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

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2048-415: 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

2112-501: 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

2176-481: The government. Callinan recommended Fitzgerald as a suitable head. He also drafted the terms of reference for the inquiry and represented the Queensland Government before it. While the terms of reference were initially narrow, restricted only to the specific allegations raised against specific persons named in the media over a period of just five years, Fitzgerald used his moral authority to expand

2240-673: The inquiry and the inquiry itself were depicted in the 1989 TV movie Police State by Chris Noonan . Bjelke-Petersen's trial was later the subject of a TV movie, Joh's Jury . Margot Hutcheson painted a picture of the inquiry, Wasn't the Fitzgerald Inquiry Fun? In 2009 as part of the Q150 celebrations, the Fitzgerald Inquiry was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for its role as

2304-464: The inquiry to examine any relevant matter. As a result, the terms of reference of the Commission were extended twice. That enabled Fitzgerald to set a precedent for commissions of inquiry and Royal Commissions in Australia generally, using innovative methods, such as indemnities from prosecution for key witnesses, to secure vital evidence. He began formal hearings on 27 July 1987. The inquiry

2368-469: The inquiry. The police culture of the state was also criticised. Aspects such as loyalty to fellow police officers, police not enforcing laws against other police, and failure to listen to whistle-blowers, were condemned because they led to misconduct, inefficiency and contempt for the justice system. Many of the inquiry's recommendations were implemented by Wayne Goss , the first Labor Party Premier of Queensland in 32 years. The investigation leading up to

2432-543: The inquiry. The jury in the case was deadlocked, bringing about a mistrial . In 1992, it was revealed that the jury foreman, Luke Shaw, was a member of the Young Nationals, was identified with the "Friends of Joh" movement, and had misrepresented the state of deliberations to the judge. According to an ABC TV analysis, "A later inquiry conducted by Justice Bill Carter found the selection process had been manipulated by ... ex-police officers ... helping to put Joh before

2496-564: The local government elections on 28 March 2020, a new mayor , Mislam Sam, was elected. In the 2021 census , the Aboriginal Shire of Palm Island had a population of 2,098 people. After the Land Act (Aboriginal and Islander Land Grants) Amendment Act 1982 had established a system for granting a Deed of Grant in Trust (DOGIT) rather than land title to Indigenous councils, the Community Services (Aborigines) Act 1984 (Qld)

2560-628: 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

2624-494: 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

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2688-430: The media were not new. They had surfaced from time to time and some news organisations had been forced to pay damages to aggrieved people who alleged their reputations had been damaged (Bjelke-Petersen himself was notoriously litigious in response to unfavourable press coverage). The government was reported to have initially preferred District Court Judge Eric Pratt, chair of the controversial Police Complaints Tribunal and

2752-631: 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

2816-649: 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

2880-619: 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

2944-818: 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

3008-414: 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

3072-538: 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

3136-408: 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

3200-403: The same issue by Chris Masters , entitled "The Moonlight State", which aired on 11 May 1987. Both investigations dealt with illegal prostitution and gambling aided by police corruption. With Queensland's Premier of 18 years, Joh Bjelke-Petersen, out of the state, his deputy, Bill Gunn , ordered a commission of inquiry the day after the television report was broadcast. The allegations aired in

3264-493: 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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3328-621: 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

3392-501: 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

3456-450: Was Doug Drummond QC. It was Drummond who decided not to retry Bjelke-Petersen after a hung jury had failed to convict him of corruption and perjury . Fitzgerald's report was submitted on 3 July 1989. As a result, a number of high-profile politicians were charged with crimes, and Queensland Police Commissioner Terry Lewis was charged with corruption. Bjelke-Petersen himself was put on trial for perjury in respect of evidence he gave to

3520-489: Was among the first DOGITs received. It meant that the new autonomous Council would hold a perpetual lease over the former Aboriginal reserve lands on Great Palm Island and the ten surrounding islands of the group. The council area was transferred on 27 October 1986 to the trusteeship of the council under a DOGIT. Self-appointed "president" of Palm Island, Jeremy Geia , symbolically declared independence from Australia in 2001. The "Peoples Democratic Republic of Palm Island"

3584-609: Was an expression of grievances against the Australian and Queensland Governments for neglect of Palm Islanders. The Palm Island Council received qualified audits for the financial years 1999–2000, 2002–03 and 2003–04, and unqualified audits for 2000–01 and 2001–02. In October 2003 the council was dissolved and an administrator was appointed until the March 2004 election. This occurred due to a range of governance and financial management issues, including: insolvency , financial mismanagement, poor records and decision-making processes, and

3648-412: Was convicted of misappropriating public funds. Geoff Muntz was convicted of misappropriation of ministerial expense funds. The resignation of senior minister Russell Hinze , after damaging allegations were made against him during the inquiry, led to the 1988 South Coast state by-election . The Queensland Police Special Bureau was formed on 30 July 1940 and renamed Special Branch on 7 April 1948. It

3712-532: Was criticised for being used for political purposes by the Bjelke-Petersen government in the 1970s and 1980s, for example, enforcing laws against protests, sometimes outnumbering the protesters or using provocateurs to incite violence so the protesters could be arrested, and investigating and harassing political opponents. Following a recommendation by the Fitzgerald Inquiry, the Special Branch

3776-539: 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

3840-664: Was disbanded in 1989, having destroyed its records before Fitzgerald could subpoena them. In large part due to public anger over the revelations in the Fitzgerald report, the National Party was decisively defeated in the December 1989 state election , which brought the Australian Labor Party to power for the first time since 1957. The two most significant recommendations were the establishment of

3904-593: Was effected in order to transfer land currently under the administration of the Queensland Government to locally elected Aboriginal councils , giving Aboriginal councils powers and responsibilities similar to other local governments in Queensland. On 30 March 1985, the Palm Island Aboriginal Council, with five councillors elected by the community, was established. Under the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (Land Holding) Act 1985 , Palm Island

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3968-550: Was initially expected to last about six weeks; it instead spent almost two years conducting a comprehensive investigation of long-term, systemic political corruption and abuse of power in Queensland. Public sittings were held on 238 days, hearing testimony from 339 witnesses. On 28 August, a Licensing Branch sergeant, Harry Burgess confessed to corruption, and implicated Jack Herbert, and assistant commissioner Graeme Parker . In turn, Parker implicated police commissioner Terry Lewis on 16 September. The inquiry eventually outlived

4032-468: Was previously) was criticised in the 2000 Dillon Report for the following reasons: The Shire's core business is the provision of housing. It conducted an audit of its houses and the people living in them in 2007, finding found that 120 new homes were needed. However, the Council primarily relies on income from rent and Government subsidies and can only afford to build one or two new houses a year. Before

4096-621: 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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