Editing Local government in Australia (section)

{{Short description|Third-level government in Australia}}
{{About|the third-level government division in Australia|the first level|Australian Government|the second level|States and territories of Australia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2016}}
{{More citations needed|date=July 2011}}
{{Politics of Australia sidebar}}
'''Local government''' is the third level of [[government]] in [[Australia]], administered with limited [[autonomy]] under the [[states and territories of Australia|states and territories]], and in turn beneath the [[Australian Government|federal government]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Democracy in Australia – Australia's political system|url=http://www.australiancollaboration.com.au/pdf/Democracy/Australias-political-system.pdf|publisher=Australian Collaboration|access-date=25 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140127041502/http://www.australiancollaboration.com.au/pdf/Democracy/Australias-political-system.pdf|archive-date=27 January 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> Local government is not mentioned in the [[Constitution of Australia]], and two [[referendum]]s in [[1974 Australian referendum (Local Government Bodies)|1974]] and [[1988 Australian referendum#Local Government|1988]] to alter the Constitution relating to [[local government]] were unsuccessful.<ref name="uow" /> Every state/territory government recognises local government in its [[state constitutions in Australia|own respective constitution]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://localgovrecognition.gov.au/content/final-report.html |title=Appendix G Local government in State constitutions |date=December 2011 |work=Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Local Government |publisher=Australian Government |access-date=24 June 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510030317/http://localgovrecognition.gov.au/content/final-report.html |archive-date=10 May 2013}}</ref> Unlike the two-tier local government system in [[local government in Canada|Canada]] or the [[local government in the United States|United States]], there is (largely) only one tier of local government in each Australian state/territory, with no distinction between [[county|counties]] and [[city|cities]].

The Australian local government is generally run by a [[Municipal council#Australia|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 and localities (Australia)|suburbs or localities]] (roughly equivalent to neighborhoods) often of different [[postcodes in Australia|postcodes]]; however, stylised terms such as "city", "[[borough]]", "[[List of regions of Australia|region]]" and "[[shire]]" also have a geographic or historical interpretation. The council [[board of directors|board members]] are generally known as [[councillor]]s, and the head councillor is called the [[mayor]] or shire president.  As of August 2016, there were 547 local councils in Australia.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://regional.gov.au/local/|title=Local Government|date=17 August 2016|work=Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161010212851/http://regional.gov.au/local/|archive-date=10 October 2016}}</ref>

Despite the (largely) 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 area]]s may be exercised by special-purpose [[governing body|governing bodies]] established outside of the local legislation, as with [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]]'s [[ski resort|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 {{convert|1.5|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} for the [[Shire of Peppermint Grove]] in the [[Perth metropolitan region]], to as big as {{convert|372571|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} for the [[Shire of East Pilbara]] in [[Western Australia]]'s [[Pilbara]] region.

As an exception to the generalisation that Australian local government has only a single tier, New South Wales has [[County council (New South Wales)|county councils]], which are special purpose local governments governing county districts composed of two or more LGAs; variously responsible for water supply, flood mitigation and weed management; formerly they also played significant role in urban planning, electricity distribution, and some also operated abattoirs. By the 21st century, only a handful remain, with the majority of New South Wales LGAs no longer belong to any county council.