LOCAL GOVERNMENT

News Roundup

Australia's No. 1 podcast for local government news and views

Weekly Poll

Latest News

Search all stories
Tablelands Regional Council Mayor Rod Marti resigns on health grounds

Tablelands Regional Council Mayor Rod Marti resigns on health grounds

Date: 25 June 2026 Tablelands Regional Council Mayor Rod Marti has tendered his resignation on health grounds, effective close of business Monday 29 June 2026. Mayor Marti was admitted to Atherton Hospital’s emergency department on 20 May 2026 after experiencing a severe headache, and was subsequently transported to Townsville University Hospital for urgent treatment. Following […]

Geelong housing dispute: council pushes back on state’s intervention claim

Geelong housing dispute: council pushes back on state’s intervention claim

Date: 25 June 2026 Updated: This story has been updated to include a response from the City of Greater Geelong. The City of Greater Geelong has rejected the Victorian Government’s characterisation of its housing planning performance, after the state announced it would bypass the council to fast-track four Precinct Structure Plans in Geelong’s north and […]

Rate rises pass in divided chambers at Ballarat and Moorabool

Rate rises pass in divided chambers at Ballarat and Moorabool

Date: 25 June 2026 Two regional Victorian councils have adopted their 2026–27 budgets this week, both landing on a 2.75 per cent rate rise after divided chamber votes that laid bare the tensions councils are navigating between financial sustainability and ratepayer affordability. At the City of Ballarat, the budget passed only on the casting vote […]

South Australia delays council elections to April 2027

South Australia delays council elections to April 2027

Date: 25 June 2026 South Australia’s local government elections will be held in April 2027 rather than November this year, after urgent legislation passed both houses of state parliament today. The upper house passed the bill with ten members in favour and seven against. Labor and the Greens supported the delay; the Liberal Party and […]

Murrindindi Council urges state to extend free bushfire waste disposal

Murrindindi Council urges state to extend free bushfire waste disposal

Date: 25 June 2026 Murrindindi Shire Council is calling on the Victorian Government to extend free bushfire waste disposal at council sites until 30 June 2027, warning that ending the current arrangement on 30 June 2026 would shift recovery costs directly onto fire-affected residents still working through the aftermath of January’s bushfires. Council expects to […]