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Local government in Victoria

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This article is about local government in Victoria. For a list of local government areas, see Local government areas of Victoria.

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Local government in the Australian state of Victoria consist of 79 local government areas (LGAs)[1] (also referred to as municipal districts), classified as cities (34), shires (38), rural cities (6) and borough (1). In general, an urban or suburban LGA is called a city and is governed by a City Council, while a rural LGA covering a larger rural area is usually called a shire and is governed by a Shire Council. Local councils have the same administrative functions and similar political structures, regardless of their classification. 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 the mayor is elected by their fellow councillors from among their own number. In addition, there are also 10 unincorporated areas, consisting of small islands or ski resorts, which are administered either by the state government or management boards.[2]

Council elections are held every four years on the fourth Saturday in October.[3] The last council elections were held on 22 October 2016.[4] Election was not held for the City of Greater Geelong, which was under administration until council elections were held on 27 October 2017.[5][6] 637 local councillors were elected in the 78 councils contested.[7]

History

Local government had existed in Victoria since before its separation from New South Wales in 1851. The Town of Melbourne was established by an Act of the NSW Governor and Legislative Council in 1842[8][9] and the Borough of Geelong was established in 1849.[10] Both bodies continued after the creation of Victoria as a separate colony, and both later became cities. Road districts were established under legislation passed in 1853. From 1862 many road districts became shires pursuant to the District Councils Bill 1862. To become a shire, the road district had to be over 100 square miles (260 km2) in size and have annual rate revenue of over £1000. There were 96 road districts or shires created by 1865.[11] The first Victorian general Act dealing with local government was the Local Government Act 1874, which empowered shires to be established in territories that could financially support them, and boroughs to be established in areas not exceeding 9 square miles (23 km2) with a population of at least 300. Promotion to town or city status was dependent on the gross revenue of the council. Such promotion was not automatic, but it was granted often.

Local government has been referred to in the Victorian constitution since 1979 (sec. IIA), but it does not operate so as to make Victoria a federation or protect the borders or powers of local government from amendment by executive order or act of parliament. Today, the constitution recognises it "a distinct and essential tier of government" and prohibits a council being dismissed by executive order, but grants significant powers to the state parliament in respect of local government. The clauses have been amended many times by parliament, but since 2006 the Constitution Act has required a referendum to further alter them.

The current Local Government Act dates to 1989 and eliminated administrative distinctions between cities and shires, introduced the category of rural city and removed the possibility of declaring any further boroughs or towns (existing boroughs and towns were retained, although only one, the Borough of Queenscliffe, remains today, the others being abolished with the 1994 restructure). Five shires became rural cities but were dissolved with the 1994 restructure.

In 1992, there were 65 cities in Victoria. In 1994, the Jeff Kennett government restructured local government in Victoria. His reforms dissolved 210 councils and sacked 1600 elected councillors, and created 78 new councils through amalgamations.[12] In suburban Melbourne 53 municipalities were reduced to 26. The new local government areas (LGAs) were headed by commissioners appointed by the State Government, democratically elected councils returned in 1996.[13] The 79th LGA was created in 2002 when the Shire of Delatite was split into the Rural City of Benalla and the Shire of Mansfield.[12] A new City of Sunbury was proposed to be created from part of the City of Hume after the 2016 council elections, but this was abandoned by the Victorian Government in October 2015.[14][15]

General characteristics

Different councils have different numbers of councillors

All local government areas (i.e. cities, rural cities, shires and boroughs) are governed in a similar fashion, with an elected council, one of whom is the mayor (in shires the mayor may use the title "president"; the City of Melbourne has the title "lord mayor"). The City of Melbourne and the City of Greater Geelong have a directly elected mayor, whereas other councils elect a mayor from one of their number. Some LGAs are divided into wards for the purpose of electing councillors; where a ward elects a single councillor, it is by preferential voting; and where it elects multiple councillors, it is by proportional voting using the Single Transferrable Vote. Voting is in all cases compulsory for enrolled voters and elections for all councils now happen on the same day every four years—on the last Saturday in November two years after state parliamentary elections.

The average area of a municipal district within the Melbourne metropolitan area is 285 square kilometres (110 sq mi); the average area of the remaining municipal districts is 4,545 square kilometres (1,755 sq mi). Despite this area being comparable to the average area of a US or English county, there are no administrative subdivisions such as American towns and cities or English parishes; suburbs (a part of an urban area), towns and rural districts, although legally defined, have a purely geographical existence.

According to the Local Government Act 1989, the term "city", must be used for a municipal district which is predominantly urban in character; "rural city" must be used for a rural district which is partly urban and partly rural in character; and the term "shire" must be used for a municipal district which is predominantly rural. In practice, this is understood as referring to the population distribution between urban centres and rural areas. The term "borough", used of the Borough of Queenscliffe, is not defined by the act but has been retained for the single borough which survived the reforms of the 1990s. Under the repealed Local Government Act 1958, boroughs, towns and cities were defined on the basis of area, population and rateable property. In practice, boroughs were and are small towns.

Political composition

In contrast to ones at federal and state levels, local government elections in Victoria are a generally non-partisan affair. Major political parties typically do not endorse candidates at the council level.[16] This has resulted in a situation where councillors may hold political party affiliation, but instead contest the election as an independent. These nominal independents have attracted controversy, with their affiliation being branded as insufficiently transparent.[17][18][19] As the VEC, unlike in jurisdictions such as New South Wales, provides no way for party affiliation to be listed for council elections, candidates appear without any party label on ballot papers.

As a result, the overwhelming majority of councillors in Victoria are independents. The prevalence of independent councillors is generally larger in regional and rural areas, with metropolitan LGAs having a greater number of party-affiliated councillors. Nonetheless, recent trends have seen greater party involvement within local government politics. This participation has been large among smaller parties such as the Greens, with the major political parties subsequently indicating a potential change to their approach to council elections.[20] Various residents' associations, community alliances and independent groups also sporadically contest elections.

The current political composition of Victorian LGAs is as follows:

Party Councillors
  Independent 502
  Labor 54
  Liberal 46
  Greens 28
  Team Doyle 4
  Socialists 2
  Port Phillip Community Alliance 2
  National 1
  Indigenous Voice on Council 1
  Justice 1
  Team Morgan 1
  Conservatives 1
  Together Melbourne 1
  Rise Up Australia 1
 Total 645

Municipalities of Greater Melbourne

Thirty-one of the municipalities form the Greater Melbourne area, each being wholly, or partly, within the Melbourne metropolitan or urban area. All Melbourne suburbs lie within these municipalities. The outer of these municipalities such as Cardinia Shire and Yarra Ranges Shire have much of their area outside Melbourne's urban area. Greater Melbourne and regional municipalities are sometimes treated differently by state government legislation, for instance the Public Holidays Act permits non-metropolitan councils to replace Melbourne Cup Day with a local public holiday.

See also: List of Town Halls in Melbourne

Unincorporated areas

In addition to the LGAs, there are also 10 small unincorporated areas within the state. These comprise coastal islands and several ski resorts. The coastal islands are:

  1. French Island and Sandstone Island incorporating Elizabeth Island[21]
  2. Gabo Island
  3. Lady Julia Percy Island.

These unincorporated areas are directly administered by the state.

Six alpine resorts are excised from the surrounding shires by declarations made under the Alpine Resorts Act 1983 and administered by alpine resort management boards established under the Alpine Resorts (Management) Act 1997. Unlike local councils, these boards are fully appointed by the state government but fulfil similar functions. The territories managed by them are considered to be municipal districts for the purposes of the Emergency Management Act 1986 and the Environment Protection Act 1970,[22] but not generally. The ski resorts are:

  1. Falls Creek Alpine Resort (surrounded by the Alpine Shire)
  2. Lake Mountain Alpine Resort
  3. Mount Baw Baw Alpine Resort
  4. Mount Buller Alpine Resort (surrounded by Shire of Mansfield)
  5. Mount Hotham Alpine Resort
  6. Mount Stirling Alpine Resort

They are rarely included in lists of local government areas and are not considered to be LGAs by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, with their population included in the unincorporated areas section of such lists,[23] but are occasionally listed alongside municipalities.[24]

See also

References

  1. ^ Local Government Act 1989 (Vic.)
  2. ^ "Local Government Areas and Statistical Local Areas – Alphabetic". Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC), Jul 2008. Australian Bureau of Statistics. 26 September 2008. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
  3. ^ Local Government Act 1989 (Vic.), s.31
  4. ^ Municipal Association of Victoria, Council elections
  5. ^ "Geelong Council officially sacked, elections to be held in 2017, as bill passes Parliament". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 14 April 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  6. ^ Local Government (Greater Geelong City Council) Act 2016
  7. ^ http://www.mav.asn.au/about-local-government/council-elections/Documents/Overall%20election%20trends%20fact%20sheet%202016.pdf
  8. ^ Act 6 Victoria No. 7 of the Governor and Legislative Council of New South Wales.
  9. ^ Victorian Municipal Directory. Brunswick: Arnall & Jackson. 1992. pp. 275–278. Accessed at State Library of Victoria, La Trobe Reading Room.
  10. ^ Geelong Incorporation Act (NSW), 13 Vic. No. 40.
  11. ^ The progress of Victoria: A statistical essay (Intercolonial Exhibition essays, 1866–67) by William Henry Archer. ASIN: B0008BRIUG
  12. ^ a b Royce Millar; Jason Dowling (25 April 2004). "Kennett's blitz a decade on". The Age. theage.com.au. Retrieved 24 July 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |lastauthoramp= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ "Municipal Government". eMelbourne – The Encyclopedia of Melbourne Online. www.emelbourne.net.au. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
  14. ^ "Overview of the Sunbury Hume Transition Audit". Sunbury Hume Transition Audit. State Government of Victoria. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 13 July 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ "Independent Sunbury Hume Advice Accepted". Premier of Victoria. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  16. ^ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-24/melbourne-council-elections-show-strong-result-for-greens/7960136
  17. ^ https://myaccount.news.com.au/sites/geelongadvertiser/subscribe.html?sourceCode=GAWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&mode=premium&dest=https://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/news/opinion/socalled-independent-candidates-running-thin-in-geelong/news-story/f46575a2074cd72e772266d3e2fb9e81&memtype=anonymous
  18. ^ https://www.matthrkac.com/archive/geelong2017/index.html
  19. ^ https://myaccount.news.com.au/sites/geelongadvertiser/subscribe.html?sourceCode=GAWEB_WRE170_a&mode=premium&dest=https://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/news/opinion/peter-moore-i-would-much-prefer-candidates-to-be-upfront-about-their-political-affiliations/news-story/4ade19b186c93246aabbe2d2ea004417&memtype=anonymous
  20. ^ >https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-24/melbourne-council-elections-show-strong-result-for-greens/7960136
  21. ^ Department of Planning and Community Development, Government of Victoria, Australia (19 April 2013). "French Island and Sandstone Island Planning Scheme Home Page and user's guide". Planningschemes.dpcd.vic.gov.au. Archived from the original on 10 April 2013. Retrieved 25 April 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  22. ^ Alpine Resorts (Management) Act, 1997
  23. ^ Australian Standard Geographical Classification, July 2010. 2010?OpenDocument Accessed 22 March 2011.
  24. ^ For example, VicNames database Archived 19 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine
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