Oz Politics

According to the website of the Australian Local Government Association, there are some 750 local government councils. These are the cities, towns, municipalities and shires of the nation. Local governments are responsible for matters such as collection of property rates, local planning issues, some local community services, local roads, and rubbish collection. This is sometimes referred to as the three R’s of local government: roads, rates and rubbish. The actual powers of local government vary from state to state.

Local governments are created by legislation of state parliaments and the Northern Territory parliament. There are no local governments in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), and the ACT government preforms those functions performed typically by local governments in the rest of the nation.

Want to find out more?

• Australian Local Government Association
• Most local governments have their own website, (for example) Forbes