44-459: The Shire of Woocoo was a local government area located in the Wide Bay–Burnett region of Queensland , Australia, containing the rural residential area to the west of the town of Maryborough , and surrounding countryside. The shire covered an area of 2,007.9 square kilometres (775.3 sq mi), and existed as a local government entity from 1914 until 2008, when it was amalgamated with
88-588: 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
132-591: 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
176-545: 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
220-639: A local government area centred on the Hervey Bay urban area. The Local Government (Maryborough and Woocoo) Regulation 1993 , which took effect on 31 March 1994, resulted in Maryborough 's annexation of about 700 square kilometres (270 sq mi) of Woocoo's area. At this time, Woocoo was resubdivided into three divisions each electing two councillors. On 15 March 2008, under the Local Government (Reform Implementation) Act 2007 passed by
264-1349: A majority in no state and an overall minority of 2,335,741 votes. Not carried Local Government [ edit ] This section is an excerpt from 1988 Australian referendum (Local Government) § Results Result State Electoral roll Ballots issued For Against Informal Vote % Vote % New South Wales 3,564,856 3,297,246 1,033,364 31.70 2,226,529 68.30 37,353 Victoria 2,697,096 2,491,183 882,020 36.06 1,563,957 63.94 45,206 Queensland 1,693,247 1,552,293 590,868 38.31 951,332 61.69 10,093 South Australia 937,974 873,511 256,421 29.85 602,499 70.15 14,591 Western Australia 926,636 845,209 247,830 29.76 584,863 70.24 12,516 Tasmania 302,324 282,785 76,707 27.50 202,214 72.50 3,864 Australian Capital Territory 166,131 149,128 58,755 39.78 88,945 60.22 1,428 Northern Territory 74,695 56,370 21,449 38.80 33,826 61.20 1,095 Total for Commonwealth 10,362,959 9,537,725 3,163,488 33.61 6,248,166 66.39 126,071 Results Obtained
308-1355: A majority in no state and an overall minority of 2,335,741 votes. Not carried Rights and Freedoms [ edit ] This section is an excerpt from 1988 Australian referendum (Rights and Freedoms) § Results Result State Electoral roll Ballots issued For Against Informal Vote % Vote % New South Wales 3,564,856 3,297,246 965,045 29.65 2,289,645 70.35 42,556 Victoria 2,697,096 2,491,183 816,057 33.42 1,625,484 66.58 49,642 Queensland 1,693,247 1,552,293 506,710 32.90 1,033,645 67.10 11,938 South Australia 937,974 873,511 223,038 26.01 634,438 73.99 16,035 Western Australia 926,636 845,209 233,917 28.14 597,322 71.86 13,970 Tasmania 302,324 282,785 70,987 25.49 207,486 74.51 4,312 Australian Capital Territory 166,131 149,128 60,064 40.71 87,460 59.29 1,604 Northern Territory 74,695 56,370 20,503 37.14 34,699 62.86 1,168 Total for Commonwealth 10,362,959 9,537,725 2,892,828 30.79 6,503,752 69.21 141,145 Results Obtained
352-1346: A majority in no state and an overall minority of 3,217,670 votes. Not carried Fair Elections [ edit ] This section is an excerpt from 1988 Australian referendum (Fair Elections) § Results Result State Electoral roll Ballots issued For Against Informal Vote % Vote % New South Wales 3,564,856 3,297,246 1,159,713 35.57 2,100,604 64.43 36,929 Victoria 2,697,096 2,491,183 981,508 40.12 1,465,119 59.88 44,556 Queensland 1,693,247 1,552,293 691,492 44.83 850,979 55.17 9,822 South Australia 937,974 873,511 263,006 30.61 596,102 69.39 14,403 Western Australia 926,636 845,209 266,639 32.02 566,145 67.98 12,425 Tasmania 302,324 282,785 80,608 28.89 198,372 71.11 3,805 Australian Capital Territory 166,131 149,128 76,815 51.99 70,937 48.01 1,376 Northern Territory 74,695 56,370 23,763 42.99 31,512 57.01 1,095 Total for Commonwealth 10,362,959 9,537,725 3,538,817 37.59 5,874,558 62.41 124,350 Results Obtained
396-534: A majority in no state and an overall minority of 3,610,924 votes. Not carried See also [ edit ] Referendums in Australia Politics of Australia History of Australia References [ edit ] ^ Handbook of the 44th Parliament (2014) "Part 5 - Referendums and Plebiscites - Referendum results" . Parliamentary Library of Australia . ^ Following
440-403: 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
484-1208: Is an excerpt from 1988 Australian referendum (Parliamentary Terms) § Result Result State Electoral roll Ballots issued For Against Informal Vote % Vote % New South Wales 3,564,856 3,297,246 1,032,621 31.66 2,228,503 68.34 36,122 Victoria 2,697,096 2,491,183 886,128 36.20 1,561,759 63.80 43,296 Queensland 1,693,247 1,552,293 542,414 35.15 1,000,124 64.84 9,755 South Australia 937,974 873,511 229,938 26.76 629,454 73.24 14,119 Western Australia 926,636 845,209 255,556 30.67 577,555 69.33 12,098 Tasmania 302,324 282,785 70,698 25.34 208,297 74.66 3,790 Australian Capital Territory 166,131 149,128 64,458 43.62 83,328 56.38 1,342 Northern Territory 74,695 56,370 21,092 38.13 34,222 61.87 1,056 Total for Commonwealth 10,362,959 9,537,725 3,099,270 32.91 6,316,940 67.09 121,515 Results Obtained
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#1732780151940528-531: 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
572-447: 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
616-504: 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
660-640: 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
704-583: 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
748-607: The City of Maryborough , City of Hervey Bay and the 1st and 2nd divisions of the Shire of Tiaro to form the Fraser Coast Region . Industry in the shire consisted of beef cattle, sugar, timber and light industry servicing Maryborough. Woocoo was proclaimed a shire under the Local Authorities Act 1902 on 4 December 1914, with its centre of administration at Brooweena . It had previously been part of
792-664: 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
836-1342: The Outback Communities Authority . Victoria has a number of unincorporated areas which are not part of any LGA: Western Australia has two unincorporated areas: 1988 Australian referendum#Local Government Referendum on proposed amendments to the Constitution of Australia The 1988 Australian referendum was held on 3 September 1988. It contained four referendum questions, none of which passed. Results Question NSW Vic Qld SA WA Tas ACT NT States in favour Voters in favour Result (39) Parliamentary Terms 32% 36% 35% 27% 31% 25% 44% 38% 0:6 33% Not carried (40) Fair Elections 36% 40% 45% 31% 32% 29% 52% 43% 0:6 38% Not carried (41) Local Government 32% 36% 38% 30% 30% 28% 40% 39% 0:6 34% Not carried (42) Rights and Freedoms 30% 33% 33% 26% 28% 25% 41% 37% 0:6 31% Not carried Results in detail [ edit ] Parliamentary Terms [ edit ] This section
880-724: The Parliament of Queensland on 10 August 2007, Woocoo merged with the City of Hervey Bay , City of Maryborough and part of Tiaro to form the Fraser Coast Region . The Shire of Woocoo included the following settlements: 1961-1973: Charles Ronald Sutton "Ron" Smith [article in the Maryborough Chronicle early 1973 (also personal family history - my uncle)] 25°30′36.9″S 152°38′40.34″E / 25.510250°S 152.6445389°E / -25.510250; 152.6445389 Local government in Australia [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Local government
924-735: 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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#1732780151940968-754: The Shire of Tiaro , and also included parts of the Shires of Antigua and Howard . The shire was named for Mount Woocoo, which itself was probably named for the local Aboriginal word for " echidna ". It held its first meeting on 30 January 1915. In 1922, the residents of the Woocoo Shire erected a war memorial outside St Mary's Church of England on the Maryborough-Biggenden Road in Teebar (now within Boompa ). The Woocoo Shire War Memorial
1012-805: 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,
1056-453: 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
1100-504: 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
1144-448: 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
1188-415: 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
1232-501: 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
1276-577: 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
1320-553: 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
1364-631: 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
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1408-649: 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
1452-619: 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
1496-818: 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
1540-414: 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
1584-538: 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
1628-408: 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
1672-493: 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
1716-621: 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
1760-756: 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
1804-501: 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
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1848-539: 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
1892-621: 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
1936-678: Was unveiled on Saturday 6 January 1923 by Major-General Thomas William Glasgow . In 1992 the memorial was relocated to the Woocoo Historical Museum in Brooweena due to concerns about vandalism and is now known as the Brooweena War Memorial . On 27 March 1976, the Shire of Woocoo grew by 1,269.00 square kilometres (489.96 sq mi) when the Shire of Burrum was renamed Shire of Hervey Bay and recast as
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