Talk:Local government areas of Australia

A potential Wikiproject
Ideally, I'd like to see at least a stub for every Local Government Area within Australia. Basic data, even rudimentary maps showing the location of every LGA, can be found for free at the Australian Bureau of Statistics website. The thing is -- what should be included in each stub? I know that for counties and municipalities in the United States there is some sort of bot called Rambot which grabs basic US Census Bureau data and turns basic census data into a Wiki stub, complete with a map -- e.g. Polk County, Arkansas -- but I'm not sure if a bot could do this for Aussie LGA stats. So, what sort of info should be on an Aussie LGA stub? I've created a stub from free ABS data at Aurukun Shire, Queensland - Thoughts on what should be in an LGA stub would be greatly appreciated. Perhaps a WikiProject could be commenced to fill in the info for all 600-odd LGAs in Australia. --Humehwy 07:00, July 18, 2005 (UTC)
 * Ya, but this is what the Sydney and Melbourne Wikiprojects are trying to do... feel free to create one though! - Ta bu shi da yu 10:10, 28 October 2005 (UTC)
 * I am working on making locator maps at the moment; if anyone else wants to, there are blank maps at commons:Template:Aus LGA maps --Astrokey 44 08:35, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

Sydney/Melbourne <> Australia. As a Queenslander, and one time resident of Brisbane (or at least the Brisbane conurb, LGA's here are different. Brisbane is an amalgamation of a couple of dozen LGAs done in the early part of last century. Many Shires in the conurb have become Cities, and some others now style their Chairperson "Mayor" while retaining the word "Shire". Queensland has Australia's largest inland city (except Canberra), Toowoomba. We don't refer to the geographic bounds of an LGA as "The Council", by that we mean the G3 body and it's service departments and bureaucracy. Various amalgamations and other changes have taken place over the last century. I guess what I'm saying is that a template like the US one may not help much (especially as copyright unemcumbered maps will be hard to find). Unless we have different ones for each state.Alex Law 03:31, 30 October 2005 (UTC)

Naming convention
What would be the best naming style to use for LGAs eg Pine Rivers/Pine Rivers, Queensland vs Pine Rivers Shire, Queensland? What about small towns which are both a town and LGA, like Clifton, Queensland? At what point do you break the LGA stuff to a sepreate article, like Toowoomba, Queensland vs. Toowoomba City Council? -Alex Law 13:12, 31 October 2005 (UTC)

Constitutional status
The article says that this teir is not mentioned in the consitution. However, the Victorian Department of Infrastructure website states:

Local government is recognised in Part 2A of the Constitution Act 1975 to be a

“distinct and essential tier of government consisting of democratically elected Councils having the powers that the parliament considers necessary to ensure the peace, order and good government of each municipal district.”

Part 2 of the Constitution Act gives the Parliament the power to make laws it considers necessary for local government, including laws relating to the constitution of councils, council elections and the powers and duties of councillors and council staff. It also states that a council cannot be dismissed except by an Act of Parliament relating to that council.

Have they got it wrong or do we need to amend: "G3 is difficult to accurately place in the structure of Australian Government, it is not mentioned in the Commonwealth Constitution"?

G3 might not be mentioned as a term (a bit jargonistic anyway) but the third tier of government seems to be.--A Y  Arktos 00:12, 2 December 2005 (UTC)


 * Local government is not mentioned in the Australian Constitution. This is why Canberra can not make direct grants to local governments without the permission of the States. Local government derives its power from state legislation, e.g. the Local Government Act 1989 in New South Wales. Local governments exist and exercise their power solely because state governments allow it. However, from what you have written, it seems as though Victorian local government is

mentioned in the Victorian state constitution. --Humehwy 04:13, 2 December 2005 (UTC)


 * Local government is mentioned in Section 51 of the NSW Constitution and Chapter 7 of the Queensland Constitution. Referendums to include it in the federal constitution were rejected in 1974 and 1988. I am unsure about the other 3 states. Alan 05:27, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

Local governments are illegal as they are unconstitional as are there revenues and bylaws implemented by local councils —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 202.6.138.34 (talk • contribs) 13:25, 24 December 2005  (UTC + 10 hours for AEST)

Merger of Local government in Australia and Local Government Area
I think this article should be merged with Local government in Australia. There is some repetition already and I don't see the point of two articles. There should be a sub-section within the Local government in Australia article dealing with the statistical concept.--Arktos talk 19:50, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

Absolutely the two should be merged. This item conveys a view that the term "Local Government Area" has some legal status. That is not the case. Nor is it the case that the name of a Local Government Body (the term now used more commonly) ie "municipal Council" conveys necessarily any different legal status to "council" etc etc. There is also confusion here about constitutional status.

Local Governments are recognised now I think in all of the Constitution Acts of the States of Australia (e.g. the South Australian Constitution Act 1934). Local Government is not recognised in the Australian Constitution. This simply means its legal status currently stems from State legislation and the capacity of the Australian Government to deal exclusively with it is questioned from time to time. It's an esoteric point which doesn't help anyone but constitutional lawyers.

Chris Russell - Local Government Association of SA. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.49.151.61 (talk) 12:21, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

How many?
Thought the total number should be added. The pages themselves say there are: 152 (NSW) + 126 158 (Qld) + 144 (WA) + 63 (NT), and if my MS word wordcount works it is:  79 (Vic) + 29 (Tas) + 69 (SA), so that is atotal of 662   694--Astrokey 44 11:26, 21 March 2007 (UTC)
 * I have now added this figure to the page with a citation needed tag.. if anyone could confirm this it would be good, I cant find the total number listed --Astrokey 44 11:55, 7 April 2007 (UTC)