Today on the Local Government News Roundup:

• New councillors elected as Victorian by-election outcomes confirmed
• Industrial action in Merri-bek, as West Wimmera locks in a four year deal
• Clarence Valley Council suspended by the Minister
• Next year’s rate pegs set for NSW councils
• A CEO appointed as the search for another gets underway in Queensland
• A call for candidates for next year’s South Australian council elections
• Two CEO appointments at WA Councils

and more news from the world of local government in Australia and beyond.

Also today, hear how Warrnambool City Council reduced its infringement review backlog to zero with the help of our sponsor, Symphony3.

Listen now wherever you listen to podcasts.

The Local Government News Roundup is brought to you by the Victorian Local Governance Association, the national broadcaster on all things local government; with support from Symphony3 – simple, connected customer experiences; and Rath Engineering Development – smarter local government systems built from real on-the-ground experience.

In this episode:

Victoria

Christine Leahy has been sworn in as Briars Ward Councillor at Mornington Peninsula Shire, after the Victorian Electoral Commission declared the by-election result.

The by-election filled the vacancy created by the resignation of former Councillor Anthony Marsh. Cr Leahy will serve until the term ends in October twenty twenty-eight.

Nicola Rooks has been officially declared as the new councillor for Beale Ward at Banyule City Council following a by-election conducted by the Victorian Electoral Commission, following the resignation of former councillor Elizabeth Nealy. She will be formally sworn into her role next Monday.

A by-election for Greater Bendigo Council‘s Lockwood Ward was also held on 3rd October. The VEC has declared David Thorpe as the successful candidate from a field of six. The vacancy was created due to the passing of Donna Nicholas in July.

The Victorian Greens have criticised a City of Melbourne decision to recognise January the twenty-sixth as Australia’s national day.

As previously reported, the council voted to end its advocacy for changing the date and to put a possible Australia Day parade back on the agenda.

The Greens say the decision reverses a position adopted after twenty twenty-two consultation, which they say found sixty per cent of residents supported a new date.

West Wimmera Shire Council employees have endorsed a new four-year Enterprise Agreement.

The council says it includes annual pay increases, enhanced parental leave and higher allowances. It notes that personal income protection insurance, raised during bargaining, is not included, after the Fair Work Commission found it was not an entitlement under the existing agreement.

The agreement now goes to the Fair Work Commission for approval. C-E-O David Bezuidenhout says it provides certainty for employees and the council.

Merri-bek City Council depot workers have taken twenty-four hours of strike action this week over a pay dispute.

According to Green Left, the Australian Services Union rejected an offer of two point seven five per cent from a group of eight councils. The union is seeking twenty-two per cent over four years.

Earlier in the week, the council said it was regrettable that the ASU’s industrial action has affected community and customers, and apologised for any disruption. 

It said it will continue to negotiate in good faith with all unions representing its staff.  

Murrindindi Shire Council and Emergency Management Victoria have agreed a pathway to replace Fawcett Hall Bridge, destroyed in the January bushfires. The replacement will restore access for a community that has had reduced access since the fires.

The new single-lane bridge will carry heavy freight, including B-doubles. Council expects to go to market in the coming weeks, targeting completion in twenty twenty-seven, subject to procurement and approvals.

Council will fund construction upfront and seek reimbursement through the D-R-F-A. Mayor Cr Damien Gallagher says the bridge will be “designed to withstand future extreme weather events.”

Fawcett Hall is the most advanced of nine fire-damaged bridge packages in Murrundindi. State assessors have confirmed eligibility for seven of them.

The Victorian Government has announced three million dollars in road safety grants for thirty-nine councils, through the T-A-C Local Government Grant Program.

The funding supports council-led projects focused on pedestrians and cyclists, including raised crossings, footpaths and shared paths, network safety plans, and radar-enabled variable message signs.

Projects include a raised crossing outside a school in Nhill, in Hindmarsh Shire, a wombat crossing at Armstrong Creek in Greater Geelong, and a school safety upgrade in Ballarat. A full list of recipients is on the T-A-C website.

Yarra City Council is seeking community feedback on a draft planning scheme amendment aimed at cutting red tape for small businesses and boosting rooftop solar.

The draft amendment would remove or wind back planning permit triggers for shopfronts, commercial buildings and business identification signage in areas covered by certain overlays. It would also allow solar panels on the front of heritage-overlay properties without a permit, if they sit flush against the roof and meet other conditions.

Submissions close on Sunday the fifteenth of November.

The City of Stonnington has unanimously adopted a new Civic Recognition Policy to standardise how community events and cultural celebrations are acknowledged across the municipality.

The framework establishes a formal calendar of recognised occasions and sets guidelines for flag displays at civic facilities.

Additionally, the initiative introduces a dedicated civic recognition garden in Malvern City Square to host temporary displays and community observances throughout the year.

The council has also adopted its Transport Strategy 2040, a long-term plan to manage growing pressure on roads, parking and kerbside space.

Three action plans cover road safety, sustainable transport and parking.

Mayor Cr Melina Sehr said creating more street space isn’t an option, so Council must be smarter about how it uses what it has.

Illegal dumping cost Mitchell Shire ratepayers more than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars last financial year.

Council collected four hundred and twenty-one tonnes of dumped waste.

Reports rose to one thousand and fifty-six, up from six hundred and seventeen two years earlier, with almost sixty per cent coming from Wallan and Beveridge.

Council issued sixty-one infringement notices, totalling eighty-five thousand dollars.

Southern Grampians Shire Council has approved a planning permit for a new ten million dollar D-E-E-C-A depot at Cavendish.

The facility on Darks Road will support D-E-E-C-A operations across the Grampians region, including emergency response and bushfire preparedness. The application received no objections.

Mildura Council is seeking three point two million dollars from the state government for a five million dollar adventure park at Jaycee Park, featuring a giant Murray cod play feature and a flying fox.

Council has earmarked one point eight million. According to media reports, Minister Michaela Settle has stopped short of committing funding to the project.

Are you a Mayor or Deputy Mayor?

The VLGA’s 2026 Mayoral Leadership Program is happening Friday, December 4 – and places are filling fast.

Hear from leading facilitators, strengthen your leadership skills and connect with Mayors and Deputy Mayors from across Victoria.

Places are limited, so book now through the VLGA website.

New South Wales

Clarence Valley Council in northern New South Wales has been suspended for three months, with an interim administrator appointed.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig announced the decision on Thursday night. He appointed experienced local government leader Mr John Rayner to exercise the functions of the governing body, saying he reasonably believed the appointment was necessary to restore the proper or effective functioning of the council.

The minister pointed to the council’s own unanimous resolution to seek an external investigation into a wide range of governance, administration and financial management matters.

The suspension follows a turbulent few weeks. In September, the council wrongly declared Cr Peter Johnstone mayor after a tied vote and a draw from a hat. Days later, councillors voted six to three to terminate the employment contract of General Manager Ms Laura Black.

In a letter to the minister, councillors had argued the legal threshold for intervention had not been met. Cr Johnstone has said he is disappointed with the decision.

The N-S-W pricing regulator has set rate pegs for the twenty twenty-seven to twenty-eight financial year.

I-P-A-R-T says core pegs for the state’s one hundred and twenty-eight councils range from three point seven to five point four per cent.

Some councils receive an additional population growth factor on top.

The pegs also factor in a cybersecurity adjustment of between zero point four and one point two per cent.

I-P-A-R-T Chair Anthony Wing stressed that each council now decides whether, and by how much, to lift rates.

The New South Wales Government has introduced legislation to ensure council workers employed through labour hire firms are paid no less than if councils employed them directly.

The Local Government Amendment Labour Hire Bill 2026 would require councils to be satisfied that workers will receive at least the same remuneration, including overtime and penalty rates, before entering or amending a labour hire contract.

It would also allow proceedings in the Land and Environment Court to prevent or remedy breaches. The bill is now before Parliament.

Dubbo Regional Council is seeking ten million dollars in damages in the N-S-W Supreme Court over smart water meters it says failed and reduced its revenue.

The Daily Liberal has reportedthat court documents show the council bought more than nineteen thousand five hundred meters from supplier Taggle Systems. The council alleges widespread failures from May twenty twenty-three.

Taggle has brought a cross-claim against the manufacturer, Elster Metering, and its parent company, Honeywell. Lawyers for the manufacturers indicate they will argue the meters are not defective, and that water quality may be a factor.

A directions hearing is set for October the twenty-third.

Cessnock City Council has condemned the alleged assault of a staff member who was reportedly attacked while mowing and collecting rubbish along Wine Country Drive.

As reported by 2HD, Mayor Cr Daniel Watton said in a social media statement that he was disgusted by the alleged attack, saying there was “absolutely no excuse” for such behaviour.

The report also cites a survey of one thousand N-S-W council workers, in which sixty-four per cent said they had felt threatened at work in the past year.

Sydney’s Ku-ring-gai Council has launched an education campaign aimed at e-bike riders on shared paths.

The Ride Safe Ku-ring-gai campaign uses advertising and signage across the area. Mayor Cr Kim Wheatley said e-bikes are fast and almost silent, and can surprise pedestrians, dogs and young children.

The message to riders is to slow down to walking pace around others, ring a bell, and share the path.

Police and Griffith City Council are cracking down on illegal e-scooter and e-skateboard use in public spaces, warning that riders face on-the-spot fines starting from $723.

The Council is urging parents and carers to ensure children understand that riding these devices on public roads and footpaths is strictly prohibited across New South Wales.

The Chairman of the Country Mayors Association of N-S-W will step down in November.

According to Inside Local Government, Mayor Cr Rick Firman of Temora Shire has announced he will not seek re-election at the association’s annual general meeting on November the thirteenth.

Mayor Cr Firman has served as Chairman for two years, after earlier terms as Acting Chairman and Deputy Chairman. He says he is proud of the work done for the association’s eighty-nine rural, remote and regional member councils, and will remain on the Board as immediate past Chairman.

Hunters Hill Council South Ward Councillor Marc Lane has resigned, effective immediately.

Cr Lane was elected in twenty twenty-four. Council will seek N-S-W Electoral Commission advice on filling the vacancy, with a report due at its October the twenty-sixth meeting.

Blue Mountains City Council is starting landslip stabilisation works at five sites this month, including Katoomba, Leura and Blackheath.

Council is managing one hundred and one landslip sites, with a further ninety million dollars of works planned under its disaster recovery program.

Blacktown City Council has voted to proceed with a selected partner to design and build a replacement for its Flushcombe Road civic centre building.

Council says it declined all tenders, won’t seek more, and will start direct negotiations. The partner will be named once respondents are advised, expected this month.

Queensland

Gold Coast City Council has begun advertising for a new C-E-O.

According to the Gold Coast Bulletin, recruitment firm KordaMentha is running the search for a leader to oversee more than twenty-five billion dollars in assets, a two point seven billion dollar budget and more than five thousand staff.

The advertisement points to organisational culture, value for money and legacy outcomes from the twenty thirty-two Games.

Mayor Cr Tom Tate is overseeing the process, with a start expected by mid-January.

Meanwhile, Gold Coast City Council workers have voted by more than ninety-seven per cent to authorise protected industrial action.

The Services Union says the council’s offer would leave almost one thousand staff without a pay rise until twenty thirty. The council says its offer of fourteen per cent over three years and eight months is fair and reasonable. The Gold Coast Bulletin reports further.

Balonne Shire Council has appointed Pauline Jacob as its new C-E-O.

Ms Jacob has more than twenty-five years’ experience in executive roles across government, infrastructure and natural resources. Most recently she was Deputy Director-General of Fisheries and Forestry at the Queensland Department of Primary Industries. The appointment follows a national recruitment process that drew fifty-one applications.

She starts on November the twenty-third, with a handover from Interim C-E-O David Burges, who departs on November the twenty-seventh.

Cairns Regional Council has defended a rise in its workforce over the past three years.

According to the Cairns Post, the council has one thousand two hundred and seventy-one staff, and employee costs account for almost a third of total expenses.

Mayor Cr Amy Eden said agency spending fell from ten point seven million dollars to seven point two million. She said the story is not simply that employee costs increased.

Brisbane City Council is exploring a pilot that would put licensed bars on some CityCat ferries.

According to the ABC, the plan would fit ten double-decker CityCats with bars. Cr Andrew Wines says it is at an early stage and would comply with liquor licensing laws, with details such as opening hours still being worked through. Lord Mayor Cr Adrian Schrinner would like a trial running next year.

Maritime unions have raised concerns about crew workload and passenger safety.

Four candidates have nominated for the Division One by-election at Tablelands Regional Council in Queensland.

In ballot paper order, they are Bernie Wilce, Mark Norvall, Kate Eden and Greg English.

The by-election is set for Saturday October the thirty-first and will be conducted by post only, with no polling places. Completed ballot papers must reach the Electoral Commission of Queensland by five pm on Tuesday November the tenth.

Logan City Council has endorsed an overhaul of its flood portal and property reports to make flood risk data clearer and more accessible for local residents.

Pending state approval, the new policies and mapping updates are expected to take effect in early 2027, eventually removing more than half of the city’s properties from the flood mapping overlay.

South Australia

The City of Adelaide has set out eight major concerns about the state government’s MotoGP street circuit in a letter to Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt.

According to InDaily, the twelve-page letter from acting C-E-O Anthony Spartalis was submitted to the Minister’s assessment of the project. It claims the project description misrepresents the scale of the work, and that consultation with park lands groups was lacking.

Separate council documents show the city wants the state to reimburse one hundred and eighty thousand dollars in lost parking fees, and capital works impacts of one point seven eight million dollars.

The Local Government Association of South Australia and the Electoral Commission of South Australia have launched a statewide campaign encouraging people to consider standing in the twenty twenty-seven council elections.

The Shape Your World campaign points to free online learning for prospective candidates. LGA President Mayor Cr Heather Holmes-Ross says now is the time to learn what serving on council involves.

Nominations open on January the twenty-sixth, and voting closes on April the seventh, after Parliament deferred the elections from November.

South Australian councils will share in five million dollars from the latest round of the State Bicycle Fund, for sixteen cycling infrastructure projects.

The Local Government Association of South Australia says grants of up to two hundred thousand dollars will fund new and upgraded shared-use paths, safer crossings and design work in metropolitan and regional areas.

Projects include a three-kilometre extension of the Amy Gillett Bikeway between Birdwood and Mount Pleasant, and new paths in Port Lincoln, Middleton and Streaky Bay.

Light Regional Council is mourning the death of long-serving Councillor Peter Kennelly.

First elected in November two thousand and six, Cr Kennelly represented the in community in two different wards over two decades. Council has extended its sympathies to his wife Josie and family.

Western Australia

The Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission has refused to halt a misconduct investigation into the C-E-O of the City of South Perth.

C-E-O Liz Ledger had sought interim orders alongside a stop-bullying application against the City, its Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

Commissioner Emmanuel found the Commission cannot regulate the employment conditions of officeholders whose pay is set under the Salaries and Allowances Act, and would have refused the orders anyway.

The Commissioner said her conclusions do not relate to the merits of the substantive matter, according to OnNotice – Australian Workplace News.

The bullying application will go to conciliation.

A City of Perth committee will consider a kerbside policy that would put cyclists, pedestrians, public transport and loading zones ahead of private vehicle parking.

According to PerthNow, the draft sets a hierarchy for on-street space, with walking and cycling given the highest priority.

It goes to the policy, legislation and governance committee on October the nineteenth, then to council.

The City of Perth has appointed Dr Garry Hunt as C-E-O for twelve months while recruitment for a permanent C-E-O progresses.

Dr Hunt previously led the City of Perth from nineteen ninety-four to two thousand and two, and also led the cities of Joondalup and Melville.

He starts on October the nineteenth. Lord Mayor Bruce Reynolds thanked Acting C-E-O Ms Maria Cooke for her leadership.

The Shire of Northampton has appointed Tralee Cable as its new C-E-O.

Ms Cable is currently C-E-O of the Shire of Mount Magnet in the Murchison region. Shire President Cr Liz Sudlow said council was unanimous in its decision.

Ms Cable starts on December the eighth. Mr Kenn Donohoe will remain Temporary C-E-O until then.

The 2026 VLGA Victorian Councillor Census is underway.

If you are a Victorian Councillor, you will have received your own unique link to complete the 15-minute confidential and anonymous survey.

Now in its third year, the Census gives Councillors a direct voice in shaping the future oflocal government.

If you’ve missed your link or need it resent, get in touch with the VLGA team and they’ll help you out. You have until the end of October to have your say.

International

USA:

New York City Council is expected to outlaw horse-drawn carriages from June 2028, with Mayor Zohran Mamdani also backing the ban, according to BBC News.

The bill, known as Romanch’s law, follows the death of an 18-year-old tourist who fell from a carriage in Central Park in June after the horse bolted. Council Speaker Julie Menin says it has majority support and will go to a vote on 22 October.

The latest version includes a transition framework for people in the industry, covering job placement, training, career counselling and financial compensation. The Transport Workers Union, which represents about 300 drivers and owners, has opposed the ban.

A candidate for a county council in Indiana has drawn wide attention in the United States after a televised candidate forum.

According to The Age, Democrat Jaime West, who is running for the Fayette County Council east of Indianapolis, gave rambling answers, said she would fire Republicans, and ended with the remark “we have guns too.” Clips have reportedly been viewed millions of times.

Voting is on November the third.

NZ:

In New Zealand, the Green Party has promised to give councils the power to set up a bed levy on visitor accommodation.

Co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick announced the policy on Wednesday, ahead of the November the seventh general election.

Councils would set the rate and design locally, could charge more on Airbnbs and other short-term rentals, and would be supported by a national register.

According to RNZ, National has ruled out a bed levy, and would instead reset how the International Visitor Levy is allocated.

Auckland Council reports encouraging results from a more proactive approach to dog management.

Its latest Animal Management Annual Report shows reported dog attacks down five per cent, and roaming dog complaints down nearly twenty-five per cent.

Officers carried out almost thirteen thousand seven hundred proactive activities, up sixty-six per cent.

Council links free desexing for two thousand, one hundred and thirty-four dogs to four hundred and thirty-eight fewer puppies impounded, and says direct adoptions rose seventy-two per cent. But Council’s G-M Animal Management, Mr Irvine, says the numbers are still too high.

Whangarei District Council in New Zealand’s Northland has appointed Bruce Howse as its new Chief Executive.

Mr Howse is currently Deputy C-E-O at Northland Regional Council. His appointment runs through to the twenty twenty-eight local government elections, and he starts on November the ninth.

UK:

In Scotland, councils now have a legal guarantee that decisions affecting communities will be made as close to them as possible.

According to LocalGov, the European Charter of Local Self-Government (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2026 has come into force. It protects councils’ right to manage local affairs, requires timely consultation, safeguards boundaries and calls for adequate funding.

COSLA Vice President Cr Steven Heddle says Scottish Ministers now have a legal duty to act compatibly with the Charter as public service reform proceeds.

In England, two county councils are taking legal action over the Government’s local government reorganisation plans.

According to LocalGov, East Sussex County Council has lodged a protective application for judicial review, to preserve its position on time limits.

Kent County Council is also proceeding with a challenge, saying ministers have not explained how they reached the preferred four-unitary model for Kent.

The Government paused the wider review in September, and says it will set out next steps in due course.

And finally, a west London council says it has had enough of fly tipping, and has begun sharing CCTV images of people allegedly caught dumping rubbish, reports BBC News.

Hillingdon Council says its first posts drew more than eight hundred and fifty thousand views and about two thousand five hundred comments, some with information on who the people might be.

Cr Adam Bennett says a certain evidential threshold must be met before individuals are identified online. The council issues one thousand pound fixed penalties, and last month seized and crushed a vehicle linked to fly tipping.