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59-609: The City of South Brisbane was a local government area on the southern side of the Brisbane River , Queensland , Australia. It was established in 1888 and existed until 1925 when it was amalgamated into the City of Brisbane . When the Town of Brisbane was first established, it was predominantly on the northern bank of the Brisbane River, but included some areas south of the river, including

118-577: A unitary authority , but the Australian Bureau of Statistics refers to the whole of the ACT as an unincorporated area. The ACT Government directorate Transport Canberra & City Services handles responsibilities that are under the purview of local government in other parts of Australia, such as local road maintenance, libraries and waste collection. Many Canberra districts have community organisations called "community councils", but these are not part of

177-649: A defined geographic area called a municipality. According to Section 92(8) of the Constitution Act, 1867 , " In each Province the Legislature may exclusively make Laws in relation to … Municipal Institutions in the Province." There are about 3,700 municipal governments in Canada. Municipal governments are established under provincial/territorial authority. The powers granted to municipal governments are delegated by each of

236-484: A few projects in many cities, like major transit and roads. These funds come from a variety of federal programs like P3 Canada, where a private company/consortia does a percentage of a project, construction, operations, maintenance, financing and designing, the Building Canada Fund, where major projects can receive federal funds for a project. Unlike many US projects and cities, most projects only get approximately

295-676: A fixed date. Like many Canadian political institutions, the municipal government has its roots in the medieval system of government in England. Famously, the city of Winchester was given its charter in 1185, and the granting of freedoms became endorsed in Magna Carta , which was signed in 1215. The first formal municipality in Canada was the city of Saint John in New Brunswick , which received royal approval in 1785. For municipal government, this began an almost 50-year hiatus of receiving approval from

354-586: A geographic or historical interpretation. The council board members are generally known as councillors , and the head councillor is called the mayor . As of August 2016, there were 547 local councils in Australia. Despite the 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 areas may be exercised by special-purpose governing bodies established outside of

413-445: A hierarchy of types of municipal governments, starting at the top with cities and continued down past towns, villages and finally townships. Changes to the boundaries of these new governments could be made by petitioning the provincial Municipal Board or by requesting a change through the legislature. By the early 20th century, Canada was deeply involved in a period of municipal reform. An attempt to distinguish municipal government from

472-535: A larger workload. The growth of the Regional Organisations of Councils has also been a factor in local government reform in Australia. In 1995, there were 50 such agreements across the country. A 2002 study identified 55 ROCs with the largest involving 18 councils. Local government powers are determined by state governments, and states have primary responsibility for funding and exclusive responsibility for supervision of local councils. Local government

531-920: A manner analogous to that in which Parliament and the provincial legislatures are accountable to the electorates." Therefore, while municipalities do not have independent constitutional status, they are considered a separate level of government. The organisation of local government is complex. For instance, in some provinces there are several tiers of local government: regional governments, county governments and municipal governments. There are also special service districts in some unincorporated areas. Municipal local governments take various forms including cities, towns and villages. There are also innumerable specific purpose authorities. In Ontario province alone there are at least 2000 of these bodies, including 'police commissions, health units, conservation authorities, public utilities commissions, parks boards and school boards.’ Schools are usually provided locally by school boards, with

590-404: A municipal government at all. Any government services in an unincorporated area are provided either by a local agency, such as a Local services board or local service district , or by the province itself. While many municipal governments have different functions to others (urban vs. rural, etc.), and vary from province to province, most of the services and functions they perform are effectively

649-487: A municipal government is made up of one mayor (occasionally reeve or warden ) and a set number of councillors (occasionally alderman ). There are usually 10−20 councillors in one council; however, an exception to this is Montreal , with over 50 councillors. The councillors may represent districts called wards . In Canada, 83% of the municipal government revenue is raised through their own sources, and legally their accounts cannot go into deficit, safeguarding

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708-494: A particular type of municipality, but this term is still considered inclusive of all local governments regardless of their status. The term "borough" was previously used in Metropolitan Toronto , Ontario , to denote suburban municipalities. The Borough of East York was the last municipality to hold this status, relinquishing it upon becoming part of the City of Toronto government on January 1, 1998. In Quebec , there

767-455: A quarter of their funds from the federal government, and they are not obligated to have a certain amount of the work done by Canadians or Canadian companies. Since each province is responsible for creating local governments in its own territory, the names, functions, and powers of local bodies vary widely across the country. Local governments generally have limited powers, namely creating local by-laws and taxation ( property tax ). Typically,

826-403: A shift from 'services to property' towards 'services to people'. Community expectations of local government in Australia have risen in the 21st century partly as a result of wider participation in decision-making and transparent management practices. Recent years have seen some State governments devolving additional powers onto LGAs. In Queensland and Western Australia LGAs have been granted

885-702: A triangular block land bounded by Stanley Street , Vulture Street and Sidon Street opposite the South Brisbane Town Hall . On 6 August 1923 the park was dedicated Governor-General of Australia , Henry Forster . The voters elected aldermen to represent them. The aldermen elected one of their number each year to be mayor; this election took place in February each year. 27°28′59″S 153°01′30″E  /  27.483°S 153.025°E  / -27.483; 153.025 Local government in Australia [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Local government

944-475: Is a single municipal government covering an entire historical county including all formerly incorporated towns and cities within the county. Within the three regional municipalities, designations such as "city" and "town" exist only as informal signifiers for historically chartered towns and cities that used to exist prior to the establishment of the regional municipality. In Canada, the types of municipal government vary between provinces, although they all perform

1003-517: Is mentioned in the annotated Australian constitution, as a department of the State Governments, and they are mentioned in the constitutions of each of the six states. Under the Constitution, the federal government cannot provide funding directly to local governments; a 1974 referendum sought to amend the Constitution to authorise the federal government to directly fund local governments, but it

1062-645: Is no legal distinction between cities and towns – although an informal and subjective distinction may be observed by English speakers, legally all "cities" and "towns" in Quebec have the same status of ville . In Quebec , the term borough is generally used as the English translation of arrondissement , referring to an administrative division of a municipality. Only eight municipalities in Quebec are divided into boroughs. (See List of boroughs in Quebec .) Some areas in Canada are unincorporated , meaning that they do not have

1121-447: Is part of a local government area. Unincorporated areas are often in remote locations, cover vast areas, or have very small populations. Queensland and Tasmania are entirely partitioned into LGAs and have no unincorporated areas. The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has no municipalities. The ACT government is responsible for both state-level and local-level matters. In some countries, such an arrangement would be referred to as

1180-504: Is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state/territory it belongs to. The functions and practices of local councils are mostly centered around managing public services and land uses at the community level, and are similar throughout Australia, but can vary to some degree between jurisdictions. State departments oversee the activities of local councils and may intervene in their affairs when needed, subject to relevant legislation. For more details in each state and territory, see

1239-585: Is the City of Brisbane , the most populous LGA in the country, which administers a significant part of the Brisbane metropolitan area . In most cases, when a city's population statistics are used, it is the statistical division population rather than the local government area. The following table provides a summary of local government areas by states and territories by local government area types as of December 2023: The Australian Classification of Local Governments (ACLG) categorises local governing authorities using

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1298-572: Is the third level of government in Australia , administered with limited autonomy under the states and territories , and in turn beneath the federal government . Local government is not mentioned in the Constitution of Australia , and two referendums in 1974 and 1988 to alter the Constitution relating to local government were unsuccessful. Every state/territory government recognises local government in its own respective constitution . Unlike

1357-639: The Local Government Act does not mandate adopting a designation, some local government areas are legally known simply as "council", such as Port Macquarie-Hastings Council , Inner West Council and Federation Council . Some rural areas in South Australia are known as "district council", and all the LGAs in Tasmania that were previously municipalities have been renamed "council". Almost all local councils have

1416-642: The Outback Communities Authority . Victoria has a number of unincorporated areas which are not part of any LGA: Western Australia has two unincorporated areas: Local government in Canada The most prominent form of local government in Canada is municipal government , which is a local council authority which provides local services, facilities, safety and infrastructure for communities. Municipal governments are local general-purpose authorities which provide services to all residents within

1475-703: The Pastoral Unincorporated Area in South Australia . Local governments are subdivisions of the six federated states as well as the Northern Territory . The Australian Capital Territory has no separate local government, and municipal functions in Canberra and the surrounding regions (normally performed by local governments in other states) are performed by the ACT territorial government. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), however, considers

1534-461: The Provinces and territories of Canada according to governing legislation. Therefore, the legislation passed by municipalities has the status of subordinate legislation under provincial and territorial jurisdiction. However, rather than being "mere 'creatures of the provinces,'" municipal governments are "democratically elected by members of the general public and are accountable to their constituents in

1593-688: The South Brisbane Town Hall . The building was officially opened on 1 July 1892. Although it was commonly known as the "Town Hall", it was officially called the South Brisbane Municipal Chambers. The town hall is now listed on the Queensland Heritage Register . The South Brisbane Memorial Park commemorates those of South Brisbane who died in World War I . On 20 May 1921 the South Brisbane City Council set aside

1652-759: The Top End region, the Northern Territory Rates Act Area and Darwin Waterfront Precinct within Darwin , Nhulunbuy on the Gove Peninsula , Alyangula on Groote Eylandt , and Yulara in Central Australia . In South Australia , 63% of the state's area is unincorporated. Residents in this area – less than 0.2% of the state's population – receive municipal services provided by a state agency,

1711-552: The Woolloongabba Division was intended to be one of the first established, some delays occurred and it was not established until 9 January 1880. The role of a Divisional Board was to provide such public services as: Divisional boards were intended to administer areas with lower and more sparse population than that of a municipality. However, population of the Woolloongabba Divisional Board grew rapidly as

1770-469: The 'school trustees' being elected. In some provinces, several municipalities in a particular area are also part of an upper tier of municipal government, which provides more regionally oriented services. Depending on the province, this second tier may be called a county , regional municipality , regional district or regional county municipality . In Nova Scotia , three municipalities are designated as "regional municipalities". A regional municipality

1829-461: The 1920s and the 1960s, the municipalities received increased funding from their provincial government parents. This was partly due to the Great Depression , but further discussion about reform reared its head in the 1970s. In many cities, the system of having a few very large wards encompassing many different walks of life was replaced with one ward for every area with different demographics; this

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1888-450: The entire ACT as an " unincorporated " local government area, even though it is technically a state-level administrative region . Although all essentially identical in functions and jurisdictions, Australian local governments have a variety of different titles. The term "local government area" (LGA) is used by the ABS to collectively refer to all local government administrative zones regardless of

1947-504: The first half of the 20th century was the provision of physical infrastructure such as roads, bridges and sewerage. From the 1970s the emphasis changed to community facilities such as libraries and parks, maintenance of local roads, town planning and development approvals, and local services such as waste disposal. Child care, tourism and urban renewal were also beginning to be part of local governments' role. These are financed by collection of local land taxes known as "rates", and grants from

2006-448: The first time. Significant reforms took place in the 1980s and 1990s in which state governments used metrics and efficiency analysis developed within the private sector in the local government arena. Each state conducted an inquiry into the benefits of council amalgamations during the 1990s. In the early 1990s, Victoria saw the number of local councils reduced from 210 to 78. South Australia, Tasmania and Queensland saw some reductions in

2065-415: The following: The Australian Capital Territory is not divided into local government areas, so it is regarded as a single "unincorporated" local government area during censusing . Unlike many other countries, Australia has only one level of local government immediately beneath state and territorial governments. Aside from very sparsely populated areas and a few other special cases, almost all of Australia

2124-496: The government (though they generally receive government funding). They do not have the power to change laws or policies, and their role is limited to advising government. They are effectively residents' associations . New South Wales has three unincorporated areas: In the Northern Territory , 1.47% of the total area and 3.0% of the population are in unincorporated areas. These include the Cox-Daly and Marrakai-Douglas Daly areas in

2183-533: The government, ending in the 1830s when the issue was placed on the agenda once again. In 1835, the British parliament passed the Municipal Corporations Act , which specified how municipalities were to function and be elected. The ideas from this law were transferred to Canada by Lord Durham, who submitted a report to then- Governor General , Lord Sydenham . In late 1840 to early 1841, the governments of what

2242-608: The local legislation, as with Victoria 's 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 1.5 km (0.58 sq mi) for the Shire of Peppermint Grove in the Perth metropolitan region , to as big as 624,339 km (241,059 sq mi) for

2301-540: The mayor is elected by the board of fellow councillors . The powers of mayors vary as well; for example, mayors in Queensland have broad executive functions, whereas mayors in New South Wales are essentially ceremonial figureheads who can only exercise power at the discretion of the council. Most of the capital city LGAs administer only the central business districts and nearby central suburbs . A notable exception

2360-618: The names of LGAs, and today the stylised titles of " town ", " borough ", " municipality ", " district ", " region ", "community government", " Aboriginal council/shire" and "island" are used in addition. The word "municipality" occurs in some states with differing meanings: in New South Wales it is typically used for older urban areas, and the word is used for some rural towns in South Australia . Larger towns and small metropolitan exurban centres in Queensland and Western Australia simply use

2419-649: The number of local governments while Western Australia and New South Wales rejected compulsory mergers. New South Wales eventually forced the merging of some councils. The main purpose of amalgamating councils was for greater efficiency and to improve operations, but forced amalgamation of councils is sometimes seen as a dilution of representative democracy . An increase in the range of services offered by councils, but only minor cost savings of less than 10% have been noted by academics as outcomes after mergers. The council mergers have resulted in widespread job losses and lingering resentment from some whose roles have experienced

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2478-597: The part of local governments. There is no mention of local government in the Constitution of Australia , though it is mentioned several times in the Annotated Constitution of Australia. "Municipal institutions and local government" appears in Annotation 447, and "Power of the Parliament of a Colony" appears under "Residuary Legislative Powers" on pages 935 and 936. The first official local government in Australia

2537-812: The population, the population density and the proportion of the population that is classified as being urban for the council. The classification, at the two-digit level, is: All local governments are approximately equal in their theoretical powers, although LGAs that encompass large cities such as Brisbane and the Gold Coast command more resources due to their larger population base. Unlike local governments in many other countries, services such as police, fire protection and schools are provided by respective state or territory governments rather than by local councils. However, local governments still maintain some responsibility for fire service functions within Queensland and Western Australia. The councils' chief responsibility in

2596-414: The power to independently enact their own local subsidiary legislation , in contrast to the previous system of by-laws . Councils also have organised their own representative structures such as Local Government Associations and Regional Organisations of Councils . Doctrines of New Public Management have shaped state government legislation towards increased freedoms aiming to allow greater flexibility on

2655-511: The provinces from unintentionally guaranteeing their municipal governments' debts. The majority of funding for Canadian municipal governments comes from property taxes . Additional funding sources include the sale of goods and services, fines and tax transfers from the provincial government. Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unlike most provincial elections, municipal elections are usually held on

2714-438: The provincial legislature occurred, and the municipal governments were compared with a board of directors – this form of government was not for advancing a certain political party's view, it was for sitting down and running it 'like a business'. As such, the idea that a larger municipality should have more councillors was the same as having a large board of directors for a larger company, i.e., not functionally possible. Between

2773-526: The purpose of raising money to build roads in rural and outer-urban regions. Council representatives attended conventions before Federation , however local government was unquestionably regarded as outside the Constitutional realm. In the 1970s, the Whitlam government expanded the level of funding to local governments in Australia beyond grants for road construction. General purpose grants become available for

2832-624: The result of the introduction of a railway line into South Brisbane. On 7 January 1888, the Borough of South Brisbane was proclaimed a separate Municipal Institution. It combined the areas formerly part of the Division of Woolloongabba and the South Ward of the Municipality of Brisbane. However, the ward of Kangaroo Point remained part of the Town of Brisbane . In 1891, work commenced on the construction of

2891-408: The same administrative functions and similar political structures, regardless of their naming, and retain a particular designation ("shire", "borough", "town", "city") for historical reasons only. They will typically have an elected council and usually a mayor or shire president responsible for chairing meetings of the council. In some councils, the mayor is a directly elected figure, but in most cases

2950-549: The same functions. The general hierarchy was established in 1849 with the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act in United Canada . The largest municipalities are usually called cities , and their governments, city councils. Smaller governments are commonly called towns , villages , parishes , rural municipalities , townships or hamlets . Some may also be directly designated as municipalities rather than as

3009-604: The same. Functions of municipal governments can include: Most local governments are formed by a charter or act granted by the province or territory . Local governments are not mentioned in the Canadian Constitution other than to say they are the responsibility of the provinces. Consequently, municipalities can be created, amalgamated , or disbanded by the provincial government. Mayors frequently interact with their federal and provincial counterparts over areas of shared responsibility. The federal government does fund quite

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3068-493: The state and Commonwealth governments. They are caricatured as being concerned only with the "three Rs": Rates, Roads and Rubbish. However, the roles of local government areas in Australia have recently expanded as higher levels of government have devolved activities to the third tier. Examples include the provision of community health services, regional airports and pollution control as well as community safety and accessible transport. The changes in services has been described as

3127-557: The term "town", while in Victoria they are designated as "rural city". Historically, the word "borough" was common for small towns and suburban centers in Victoria, but nowadays only the Borough of Queenscliffe remains as the one and only borough in the entire country. New South Wales and Queensland have also introduced a new term "region" for outback LGAs formed by the amalgamation of smaller shires and rural cities. In New South Wales, where

3186-745: The two-tier local government system in Canada or the United States , there is only one tier of local government in each Australian state/territory, with no distinction between counties and cities . The Australian local government is generally run by a 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 or localities (roughly equivalent to neighborhoods) often of different postcodes ; however, stylised terms such as "city", " borough ", " region " and " shire " also have

3245-501: The varying designations, whilst the local governing legislature itself is generally known as a council . In general, an urban / suburban LGA is called a " city ", as in the City of Melbourne , City of Canada Bay and City of Bunbury ; while an exurban / rural LGA covering a larger agricultural / natural area is usually called a " shire ", as in Shire of Mornington Peninsula , Shire of Banana and Lachlan Shire . Sometimes designations other than "city" or "shire" are used in

3304-476: The ward of Kangaroo Point and the ward of South Brisbane , the area between Vulture Street and the river. The Queensland Government passed the Divisional Boards Act of 1879 to establish a system of Divisional Boards for the purpose of providing local government for portions of the colony outside the boundaries of municipalities. The first Divisional Boards were proclaimed on 11 November 1879. Although

3363-557: Was Canada at the time enacted various acts which established municipal government in all areas of the country. In 1849, the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada approved a Canadian version of the Municipal Corporations Act, often referred to as the Baldwin Act in honour of its creator, Robert Baldwin . It delegated authority to the municipal governments so they could raise taxes and enact by-laws . It also established

3422-539: Was defeated. A 1988 referendum sought to explicitly insert mention of local government in the federal constitution but this was comprehensively defeated. A further referendum was proposed in 2013 , but was cancelled due to the change in the election date . Federal government interaction with local councils happens regularly through the provision of federal grants to help fund local government managed projects. Local government in Australia has very limited legislative powers and no judicial powers , and executive -wise

3481-600: Was the Perth Town Trust , established in 1838, only three years after British settlement. The Adelaide Corporation followed, created by the province of South Australia in October 1840. The City of Melbourne and the Sydney Corporation followed, both in 1842. All of these early forms failed; it was not until the 1860s and 1870s that the various colonies established widespread stable forms of local government, mainly for

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