The State Government is reforming the Local Government Act 1995 (the Act).
These are the most significant reforms to the sector in 25 years and aim to ensure local governments better serve residents and ratepayers.
Reforms have been crafted in consultation with the local government sector and are based on six themes:
To ensure that key election related reforms were in place before the 2023 local government elections, the amendments to the Act were divided into two tranches. The first tranche, which was passed by Parliament on 11 May 2023, focused on electoral reform.
The second tranche focuses on establishing the new Local Government Inspector and introducing local government monitors for early intervention and resolution of problems.
Tranche two reforms to introduce the Local Government Inspector and the ability to appoint monitors.
Past reforms to the Local Government Act 1995.
Council members elected at the recent elections have 12 months to complete Council Member Essentials training.
This training consists of five units and can be completed through the WA Local Government Association, North Metropolitan TAFE, or South Metropolitan TAFE.
Recognising the unique and challenging role that council members have; the training provides them with the skills and knowledge to perform their role as leaders in their district.
As the requirement for training was introduced in June 2019, any council members re-elected in 2023 are exempt from the requirement to complete training within 12 months, providing they completed the Council Member Essentials training following their 2019 election.
Council members are also exempt if they have completed any of the following courses within the past five years:
Please arrange for the Council Member Essentials training to be made available to newly elected council members.
To reinforce the importance of mandatory training, the WA Government is progressing local government reforms to ensure that council members who do not complete this training within the 12-month period will not be able to receive council member allowances until they have complied with the requirements. This is intended to be part of the second tranche reforms to Local Government Act 1995.
If you have any questions, please contact the Local Government Hotline on 1300 762 511 or lghotline@dlgsc.wa.gov.au
Full Reform Proposals provides an overview of all the reforms topics that were consulted on.
The DLGSC holds regular webinars to explain reforms and update the local government sector on progress.
Register for LG Alerts to be notified of future webinars.
Previous webinars are available for viewing: Local government reform webinars
Still have questions?
If you still have questions about reform, email us at actreview@dlgsc.wa.gov.au