Reforming Local Government

Consultation Process

Now Closed

This online engagement was hosted on YourSAy from 5 August to 1 November 2019. Below is a record of the engagement.

Have your say on how our local councils can become more effective, efficient and deliver better outcomes for their communities. We are now seeking your feedback on the Local Government Reform Discussion Paper.

What is being decided?

Councils play an important role in our community. They manage local assets such as roads and footpaths, community buildings and land, recreational facilities, parks and gardens and they provide critical services such as waste management, library, social, environmental and health services.

Local councils operate within a legislative framework which includes the Local Government Act 1999 and Local Government (Elections) Act 1999. We are currently reviewing this legislation to ensure all our local councils are productive and operating well.

Following our consultation in March 2019, we have reviewed your feedback and collated your ideas for improving the way councils operate. Your ideas have contributed towards developing a discussion paper that will help decide what should be included in the legislation for Local Government.

The discussion paper outlines key issues and puts forward a range of models and proposed solutions for each reform area. Click on the links below to watch a short video on each reform area:

• Council membership and conduct
• Financial accountability
• Voting and election procedures
• Statutory requirements

We are seeking your feedback on the proposals in each of the four reform areas and invite suggestions for any new ideas and alternative proposals that address key issues.

Get involved

• Join the online discussion
• Email: DPTI.LocalGovernmentReform@sa.gov.au
• Complete the survey
• Submit your written feedback to:

Office for Local Government 
GPO Box 1533
Adelaide SA 5001

How will your input be used?

Your feedback will help us to determine what models and solutions should be included in reform legislation for Local Government which will be introduced into Parliament in the first quarter of 2020.

A summary of all feedback received will be shared on the Local Government Reform website

Closing date: 5pm Friday 1 November 2019.

Background 

Now Closed

This online engagement was hosted on YourSAy from 5 August to 1 November 2019. Below is a record of the engagement.

The Local Government Act creates councils as government bodies elected by their communities to make decisions about the services that need to be delivered for their local area. Councils have serious responsibilities. The services they provide—roads, footpaths, ovals, parks, sporting grounds, waste management, libraries, community centres and community support services to name just a few—are what makes our local communities work.

The State Government has a responsibility to ensure that the legislative framework around councils work to enable them to act, make decisions, and provide services in the way in which their communities expect. It ‘sets the rules’ for how councils are elected, what their roles and responsibilities are, how they can raise revenue, how they make decisions, and how they inform and engage their communities.

The four reform areas put forward by the Government recognise that there are areas in this legislative framework that currently aren’t working as well as they should, and need to be reviewed. In March 2019, a call for ideas was undertaken, seeking feedback and ideas to improve the way councils operate. Overall, 80 written submissions were received and 170 surveys were completed. This resulted in over 700 ideas to improve council operations.