Local Government Reform

The State Government is reforming the Local Government Act 1995.

These are the most significant reforms to the Local Government Act 1995 (the Act) 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 6 themes:

  1. Earlier intervention, effective regulation and stronger penalties
  2. Reducing red tape, increasing consistency and simplicity
  3. Greater transparency and accountability
  4. Stronger local democracy and community engagement
  5. Clearer roles and responsibilities
  6. Improved financial management and reporting.

Full Reform Proposals provides an overview of the reform themes and all reforms topics consulted on.

To ensure that key election related reforms were in place before the 2023 local government elections, the amendments to the Act were divided into 2 tranches. The first tranche, the Local Government Amendment Act 2023, focused on electoral reform.

The second tranche focuses on introducing the new Local Government Inspector and monitors for early intervention and resolution of issues, as well as a range of other important reforms to the local government sector.

Reforms explained

Resources

News

Local Government Amendment Bill 2024 introduced

Aug 15, 2024, 00:00 AM by Geoff White
Significant reforms to local government move forward with the introduction of the Local Government Amendment Bill 2024 today.

On 15 August 2024, the Local Government Amendment Bill 2024 was introduced to Parliament. This Bill is the second tranche of local government reforms and comprises the most significant changes to the Local Government Act since 1995.

This landmark Bill carries through on the reform theme to earlier intervention, effective regulation and stronger penalties and introduces the new independent office of the Local Government Inspector, appointed by the Governor of Western Australia.

The Inspector will strengthen oversight of all 139 local governments with greater early intervention powers to ensure compliance. The Inspector will be able to assign monitors to proactively work within local governments to resolve dysfunction before it escalates.

They will be responsible for handling complaints and managing investigations and inquiries, with significant powers to investigate complaints and take actions for breaches of the Local Government Act 1995 and its regulations.

Adjudicators, who will be legal practitioners, will replace the Local Government Standards Panel, making more efficient decisions and handing out more serious penalties for significant breaches and offences.

The new laws increase most penalties, particularly for conduct breaches including withholding or suspending council member allowances for up to 3 months.

This Bill also includes other significant reforms that will:

  • Require councils to adopt a rates and revenue policy to facilitate better financial planning and increase public transparency of proposed rate changes.
  • Widen the scope of audit committees to ‘audit, risk and improvement committees’, with an independent chairperson, who can be shared with smaller local governments.
  • Require all council and committee meetings to generally be open to the public unless specific circumstances apply.
  • Clarify the roles and responsibilities of the council, mayors and presidents, councillors and local government chief executive officers.
  • Facilitate the shared employment of local government CEOs and senior employees.
  • Ensure council members do not receive their allowances if they fail to complete mandatory training courses.
  • Deliver a range of administrative amendments, including superannuation entitlements for council members and improvements to streamline the making of local laws.

New fact sheets have been created with more information on these topics:

Local government reform webinar

The Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries will be holding a local government reform webinar on 20 August 2024 to provide an overview briefing on the Bill, including an address by the Hon Hannah Beazley MLA, Minister for Local Government.

Register your attendance

A copy of the Bill, the Second Reading speech, Explanatory Memorandum and a blue bill showing the proposed amendments can be found at the WA Parliament website.

You can read more about the status of the various reforms on the Local Government Reforms webpage.

Questions about the local government reforms can be directed to actreview@dlgsc.wa.gov.au

Want more information?

The department 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 local government webinars are available to view.

Still have questions?

If you have questions about local government reform email us at actreview@dlgsc.wa.gov.au 

Page reviewed 15 August 2024