Today on the Local Government News Roundup:

• Victorian Councils welcome a pledge to reinstate country roads and bridges funding
• Another mayor to step aside ahead of the state election
• A NSW council to remove indigenous references from gateway signage
• Accusations of political theatre in northern Queensland
• A deferred vote on removing Welcome to Country from a council’s meetings
• A surge in racist abuse as Tasmania’s council elections approach
• And a public censure for a Western Australian councillor

and more local government news from across Australia and beyond.

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 today’s episode:

Victoria

Election-year funding pledges are landing thick and fast in Victoria, alongside some notable governance and community initiatives.

The Liberals and Nationals have pledged two hundred and eighty-eight million dollars to reinstate the Country Roads and Bridges program, promising each of Victoria’s forty-eight rural and regional councils one-point-five million dollars a year for four years in untied funding for local roads and bridges.

Shadow Minister for Local Government Bev McArthur announced the commitment at the Rural Councils Victoria forum in Swan Hill, saying it would restore the funding certainty scrapped by Labor in twenty-fifteen.

Nationals Leader Danny O’Brien said the program would ease pressure on council rates.

Regional Cities Victoria welcomed the pledge, saying it trusts councils to identify and fix local problems.

The commitment sits alongside Labor’s three hundred and fifty-two million dollar pothole-repair pledge, with roads emerging as a key contest ahead of November’s state election.

Staying with that election, Greater Shepparton City Council Mayor Cr Shane Sali has secured Nationals preselection for the seat of Shepparton and will take an immediate leave of absence from council to contest the poll.

Cr Sali defeated fellow candidate Alexander Lew at Saturday’s preselection vote.

Deputy Mayor Cr Geoff Akers will assume mayoral duties during the leave of absence, with Cr Sali’s term due to expire in late October regardless.

Glen Eira City Council has become the first Victorian council to adopt a dedicated Antisemitism Strategy, following extensive engagement with more than four hundred Jewish residents and community members.

The municipality recorded forty-three per cent of all antisemitic incidents reported across Victoria in 2025.

Mayor Cr Dr Simone Zmood said the strategy gave council a practical framework to prevent antisemitism and support those affected, while Jewish Community Council of Victoria Chief Executive Ms Naomi Levin welcomed council taking the lead on the issue.

Latrobe City Council is lobbying Premier Ben Carroll to secure one of three regional locations under the state’s proposed network of ten free dental clinics.

Mayor Cr Sharon Gibson said regional Victorians deserved the same access to essential health services as those in metropolitan Melbourne, and called on all parties to commit to a fair share of election investment for the region.

The new West Tarneit railway station, opening September the thirteenth with just four hundred car parks, has been criticised as inadequate for a suburb projected to grow from around nineteen thousand five hundred residents to more than fifty-six thousand by twenty forty-six, according to the Herald Sun.

Meanwhile, Wyndham City Council is considering a residential parking permit scheme after residents near Wyndham Vale station reported years of fines from commuter overflow parking, with Councillor Peter Maynard saying residents should be able to park outside their own homes.

Melbourne’s inner-city mayors have warned they may withdraw support for the state’s plan to house an extra one million residents in the inner city unless they receive close to a billion dollars a year in additional infrastructure funding.

The nine-council M-9 alliance — including Melbourne, Yarra, Port Phillip and Merri-bek — cites new modelling from S-G-S Economics showing a funding gap of around eight hundred million dollars every five years, according to The Age.

Lord Mayor Cr Nick Reece said the inner city should be treated as a designated growth area with the same access to state and Commonwealth funding as the outer suburbs.

Two more growth-area councils have welcomed election-year road commitments from the Labor Party.

Hume City Council says a four hundred and ninety-four million dollar pledge to duplicate Somerton Road answers fifteen years of advocacy, with Mayor Cr Carly Moore calling on the Coalition to match the funding.

The City of Whittlesea similarly welcomed a two hundred and seventy million dollar commitment to upgrade Findon Road, with Mayor Cr Lawrie Cox saying the investment would ease congestion on a route expected to carry thirty-five thousand vehicles a day by twenty thirty-one. Both projects remain contingent on the outcome of November’s poll.

Kingston City Council has launched a Transparency and Integrity Hub, consolidating councillor expenses, gift registers, meeting attendance and budget information in one online location.

The initiative follows a Notice of Motion from Mayor Cr Georgina Oxley, who said the hub reflected a default-to-open approach to accountability.

A forty-five member community panel will help shape a second stage of the hub from early next year.

And finally, the City of Melbourne is restoring Princes Bridge, brick by brick.

Stonemasons, engineers and heritage conservators are working to repair the historic Yarra River crossing using traditional techniques, preserving its character while keeping it safe for the thousands who cross it every day.

The Roundup is supported by Symphony3, whose new whitepaper, “Governing in the Age of Disruption,” is out now.

Produced with L-G-Pro and supported by A-W-S, the paper is aimed squarely at council C-E-Os. It examines six forces reshaping the sector — political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal — and sets out what’s likely to change by twenty-thirty-six, and what won’t.

It draws on L-G-Pro’s first sector-wide baseline of A-I adoption, surveying two-thousand-five-hundred staff across twenty-two Victorian councils, alongside research from Deloitte, K-P-M-G, and the World Economic Forum. There’s a C-E-O playbook, fourteen “what if” scenarios, and contributions from L-G-Pro C-E-O Jill Brown and Professor Ronan McDonald from the University of Melbourne.

Download it now at https://www.symphony3.com/insights/whitepaper-governing-age-disruption.

New South Wales

Strathfield Council in Sydney’s inner west has voted to remove Indigenous references from its gateway signage, including the phrase Always Was Always Will Be and the words Wangal Country.

A motion from Liberal Councillor John Paul Baladi passed five votes to nil at the council’s August twenty-five meeting, with two Labor councillors absent, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Council staff have taped over the wording on six sandstone signs installed in 2024 at a cost of $400k. A report on replacement designs is due in early 2027, with construction not expected before January 2028.

Local Government New South Wales and the state’s Water Directorate have launched a six-point action plan to secure water and sewerage services for regional New South Wales, warning that service delivery to nearly two million people is at risk without urgent action.

The plan calls for five-billion dollars in capital grant funding over ten years.

L-G-N-S-W President Mayor Darcy Byrne said too many councils were being asked to maintain ageing infrastructure without long-term funding certainty.

The plan has the backing of regional mayors including MidCoast‘s Claire Pontin and Ballina‘s Sharon Cadwallader.

Temora Shire Council will investigate the implications of reducing its Councillor numbers from nine to seven, after a Notice of Motion from Mayor Rick Firman was carried at the August meeting, with two councillors opposed.

The resulting report will examine financial savings, electoral quotas, quorum requirements and community representation.

General Manager Melissa Boxall confirmed any change would require a referendum, which could not take effect until after the 2028 election. A similar motion was defeated in April.

And the council’s community consultation on a proposed Special Rate Variation has closed, with the majority of respondents opposed to the scenarios put forward.

The Council’s formal survey drew 382 responses, with 65 per cent against an S-R-V at the levels proposed.

Mayor Rick Firman said the feedback would be considered alongside Council’s financial position ahead of a decision expected at the November meeting.

Lithgow Mayor Cassandra Coleman is calling on the Federal Government to extend battery subsidies to regional councils, so council-owned facilities such as sporting grounds and halls can reduce power costs.

Current household and small business battery incentives, worth up to fifteen-hundred dollars through the Virtual Power Plant scheme, are not available to councils.

Mayor Coleman said some local sporting clubs were reconsidering night games due to rising lighting costs, and called for power-generating regions like Lithgow to share in renewable energy benefits.

Cessnock City Council has received E-P-A approval and completed Stage One of a four-stage landfill extension at its Waste Management Centre, delivered ahead of schedule and under budget.

The new engineered landfill cell, located four-hundred metres from the existing site, is expected to provide about twenty years of waste capacity once all stages are complete.

Mayor Dan Watton said the project had turned a disused mine and quarry into a productive community resource.

Muswellbrook Shire Council is seeking expressions of interest from developers and operators to provide temporary workforce accommodation across the Shire, ahead of anticipated demand from major regional projects.

The non-binding market sounding follows Council’s Temporary Workforce Accommodation Policy, adopted last September, which favours accommodation located within or near existing towns.

Mayor Jeff Drayton said the aim was for workers to integrate into and benefit local communities. Submissions close on 18 September.

Inner West Council has re-elected Cr Darcy Byrne as Mayor and elected Cr Philippa Scott as Deputy Mayor for a second term, with Scott to continue leading Council’s infrastructure and budget portfolios.

Canterbury-Bankstown Mayor Bilal El-Hayek has hosted the city’s largest Mayor’s Lights-Out Sleepout at Belmore Sports Ground, with around one hundred people joining him overnight. This year’s event raised a record eighty-two thousand dollars, well above its thirty-thousand-dollar target, supporting frontline homelessness charities.

Clarence Valley Council has unveiled New South Wales’ first two Green Seats, at Grafton and Yamba, to raise awareness of missing persons, following community deputations sharing lived experience of having a missing loved one.

A new report from the Powering Skills Organisation warns Australia faces a shortfall of seventy-two-thousand electricians, technicians and trades workers by 2030, as data centre construction competes with housing and renewable energy targets for the same workforce.

Data centre construction alone is expected to require a further thirteen-thousand energy trades workers.

Chief executive Anthea Middleton says multiple national priorities are now competing for the same skilled trades.

Industry figures are calling for quotas on major projects, warning the shortage could also slow delivery of the Housing Accord’s one-point-two million home target.

Queensland

Now to Queensland, where tensions have flared at Cairns Regional Council, a departing chief executive’s travel bill has been laid bare on the Gold Coast, and the Tablelands region has a new Mayor.

We start in Cairns, where Mayor Cr Amy Eden has accused fellow councillors of “political theatre” over the council’s new senior executive recruitment policy.

According to the Cairns Post, the stoush follows changes to the Local Government Act that now require a selection panel — including the Mayor, C-E-O, and in some cases the Deputy Mayor — to sign off on senior executive appointments.

Cr Brett Moller, Cr Rob Pyne and Deputy Mayor Cr Brett Olds say they support the policy but argue elected members should stay out of operational matters.

They point to the council’s own submission on the reform, which had proposed a different, less prescriptive panel structure.

To the Gold Coast, where the full cost of outgoing chief executive Mr Tim Baker’s US trip has been revealed.

According to the Gold Coast Bulletin, the February trip to G’Day USA and L-A Film Week cost close to thirty thousand dollars, including flights of nearly twenty-two thousand dollars.

It’s part of more than one hundred thousand dollars in overseas travel expenses incurred by Mr Baker over twelve months — a figure that prompted a review after Bulletin reporting, and an overhaul of council travel policy.

Mr Baker resigned in late July and remains on leave until December the first; he’s not expected to return to the building. Overall staff travel costs have more than halved compared with the same period last year, falling to around one hundred and thirty-eight thousand dollars.

Cassowary Coast Regional Council has deferred a motion to remove the Welcome to Country and opening prayer from its official meeting procedures, with a revote scheduled for the next council meeting according to a report by The Cairns Post.

The alternative motion moved by Mayor Teresa Millwood aims to remove the requirement from standard orders while leaving the practice optional, supported by the chair of the council’s First Nations Advisory Committee.

Opposing councillors argue that the current standing orders align with best practice and maintain strong ongoing connections with local Traditional Owners.

Some better news out of Gympie, where the Civic Centre renewal project has received an eleven-million-dollar boost from the Federal Government, announced by Regional Development Minister Kristy McBain.

Mayor Cr Glen Hartwig says the funding will cut council’s own contribution from twenty-one-point-seven million dollars to around ten-point-seven million.

The centre has been closed since flooding in twenty twenty-two caused mould damage through the air-conditioning system. Demolition is underway, with the Civic Centre due to reopen in mid twenty twenty-seven.

And in the Tablelands, Cr Kevin Cardew has been sworn in as the region’s new Mayor, following a by-election triggered by the resignation of former Mayor Rod Marti for health reasons.

Mayor Cr Cardew signed his Declaration of Office last week, thanking his family and supporters before turning to the job at hand.

The Queensland Electoral Commission is yet to announce dates for a further by-election, to fill Mayor Cardew’s now-vacant Division One seat.

Tasmania

Turning now to Tasmania, where the countdown to October’s council elections is well and truly underway.

In Hobart, councillor John Kelly has confirmed he’ll contest the lord mayoralty, arguing the council has “lost its way” under the current term. Cr Kelly, first elected in twenty twenty-two, finished narrowly behind outgoing Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds at the last election, with just under forty-seven per cent of the vote after preferences.

He’s campaigning on rates relief — pointing out Hobart’s rates sit sixty-six per cent higher than Launceston’s — along with housing, traffic congestion and what he calls a loss of public trust in the council.

Cr Kelly joins a crowded field, with eight candidates now declared for the top job, including sitting councillors Louise Bloomfield, Mike Dutta, Bill Harvey, Ryan Posselt and Marti Zucco. (Source: The Mercury)

That crowded Hobart field is also at the centre of a troubling story. The Mercury reports that candidates from multicultural backgrounds are facing a surge in racist online abuse as the election approaches.

Glenorchy deputy mayoral candidate Imadul Rahat says the abuse has become a constant distraction from campaigning on cost-of-living and community safety.

Hobart lord mayoral candidate Rifatul Bari says the volume of racist comments has forced his campaign to hire a full-time moderator.

Sector figures are warning the abuse risks discouraging diverse candidates from standing at all, at a time when councils are being urged to better reflect their communities. (Source: The Mercury)

Meander Valley Council is considering a plan to place A1 advertising panels on 17 rubbish bins in central Deloraine, saying the move would help financially support the North & Coast Post newspaper and give local businesses and community groups a place to promote notices.

The proposal has drawn objections from most submitters over concerns it would clutter the heritage streetscape and open the door to commercial and even political advertising, but planners are recommending approval ahead of Tuesday’s council meeting, according to Pulse Tasmania.

In the state’s north, City of Launceston councillors have scrapped a hydraulic orchestra pit from the forty-three million dollar Princess Theatre and Earl Arts Centre redevelopment, after its cost blew out from an original estimate of one point six million dollars to three and a half million dollars before GST.

The blowout was traced to unexpected foundation works rather than the pit itself. Councillor Ross Marsden said it was disappointing the pit had dropped out of the original project scope, while Mayor Matthew Garwood defended the decision as sound financial management.

All councillors except Joe Pentridge voted to scrap the pit, which was intended to improve stage access for people with disability.

Council will now consider a manual alternative similar to the system used at Melbourne’s Palais Theatre. (Source: The Examiner)

And staying in Launceston, councillors have unanimously backed a five million dollar contribution toward the Lindsay Street Wharf redevelopment and convention centre.

The funding is contingent on the developer securing ten million dollars from the Tasmanian Government.

The project would deliver a new convention facility, restored riverbank and improved pedestrian links between Invermay, the Seaport and the CBD, with ownership of the Crown land site to transfer to council as part of the deal. (Source: Inside Local Government)

South Australia

Turning now to South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

An unnamed South Australian council has been found to have mismanaged debt recovery, causing what the state Ombudsman describes as undue stress to struggling ratepayers.

Ombudsman Emily Strickland’s report — sparked by seven complaints from financial counsellors — found the council, not named in the report, threatened to sell homes, ignored hardship applications, and pursued debt collection despite reasonable payment proposals.

Adelaide Now reports that the council has acknowledged the errors, paused recovery action for the seven ratepayers, and committed to reviewing its hardship policies.

Norwood Payneham & St Peters Council has engaged a debt collector to recover unpaid legal fees from one of its own councillors, Scott Sims, according to a report by The Advertiser.

The debt, estimated to exceed $2,000, stems from unauthorised legal advice sought by Cr Sims in 2022 regarding council governance matters.

Mayor Robert Bria broke a tied vote to release the confidential meeting minutes publicly, stating it was firmly in the public interest to maintain accountability within the administration.

Northern Territory

In the Northern Territory, the Milngin Ward by-election for Victoria Daly Regional Council has stalled at the first hurdle, with no nominations received before nominations closed on August twenty-one.

Under the Local Government Electoral Regulations, the N-T-E-C will now set a new election date to fill the vacancy.

Western Australia

A City of Cockburn councillor has been publicly censured after a Western Australia local government adjudicator found she made improper use of her office.

Deputy Adjudicator Lee McIntosh found Councillor Chontelle Stone breached Regulation eighteen of the Model Code of Conduct, for passing negative information about a community member to a uniformed officer of the South Coogee Bush Fire Brigade in January last year.

Cr Stone has been ordered to be publicly censured and to apologise to the Brigade at the City’s next meeting. Two related allegations, including use of a Council insurance policy, were not upheld.

The Town of Mosman Park has secured its first illegal dumping prosecution since rolling out mobile C-C-T-V units to hotspots this year.

Council footage caught a non-resident dumping furniture on Stirling Highway using an unregistered vehicle.

Mayor Paul Shaw says the fine sends a clear message, with the Town crediting the cameras and a community education campaign for a drop in dumping incidents.

Perth councils are pushing to make supermarkets pay for abandoned shopping trolleys, with the City of Stirling‘s tougher local law now facing disallowance in state parliament, reports WA Today.

Stirling Mayor Mark Irwin, also W-A-L-G-A president, says three hundred and forty-three trolleys were reported in his city this year, with no enforcement possible while the motion stands.

The City of Canning is lobbying W-A-L-G-A for state-wide reform, including mandatory containment systems. The disallowance motion is due before parliament in October.

The Town of East Fremantle is looking to make bird flu information easier to find, after Cr Jenny Harrington’s motion to lift the profile of avian influenza messaging passed unanimously in August.

The motion also flags future consideration of cat containment and on-leash requirements near beaches and waterways, reports PerthNow.

Chief executive Jonathan Throssell stressed no new pet restrictions have been introduced, with any changes to require a separate council decision. W-A has recorded ten positive bird flu cases since June nineteen.

And the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder has opened recruitment for its next Chief Executive Officer, one of Western Australia’s major regional local governments.

The search is being run by recruitment firm Beilby Downing Teal.

International

Now to our look beyond Australia, with governance stories from the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Pakistan.

UK — Birmingham bin strike

In the United Kingdom, the leader of Birmingham City Council says a deal to end the city’s long-running bin strike could be signed off within weeks. Liberal Democrat leader Cr Roger Harmer told BBC Radio that the council and the Unite union have agreed a proposal, but it still needs to clear cabinet and union approval before a deal is finalised, possibly by late September or early October. The dispute, running for more than eighteen months, stemmed from the council’s removal of Waste Recycling and Collection Officer roles. [Source: BBC]

Canada — Calgary budget leak

In Calgary, a councillor has publicly claimed responsibility for leaking confidential budget documents. Ward Fourteen Cr Landon Johnston says he shared preliminary figures showing municipal property tax could rise by as much as twenty per cent next year if all department funding requests were approved. Mayor Jeromy Farkas says the numbers are unapproved and represent an early wish-list, and warned that breaching confidentiality obligations under the Municipal Government Act could expose individuals to financial penalties. Council has called a special meeting to seek legal advice on the disclosure. [Sources: CTV News, CBC News]

New Zealand — Mt Maunganui landslide legal costs

In New Zealand, Tauranga City Council has confirmed ratepayers are covering a legal bill exceeding one-point-one million dollars following the fatal Mount Maunganui landslide, which killed six people in January. The council appointed law firm Meredith Connell within days of the event without a formal tender process, citing the firm’s national capability and an existing relationship with the council. The firm has provided discounts of close to one-hundred-and-seventy-four thousand dollars on its invoices to date. [Source: RNZ]

New Zealand — Wellington councillor dispute

Also in New Zealand, the dispute between Wellington Cr Ray Chung and police continues, months after he lost his committee chair role over his involvement in a search for a missing person later found dead. Cr Chung disputes police claims he interfered with the search and spread misinformation, and says he has been unable to obtain full details of what was told to Mayor Andrew Little. Wellington District Commander Penelope Gifford maintains her earlier statements stand. [Source: The Post]

New Zealand — Rotorua staff wellbeing report

Rotorua Lakes Council‘s audit and risk committee has reviewed a health and safety report flagging staff burnout, fatigue and public aggression as key workplace risks. Violence and aggression accounted for sixteen per cent of reported risk events over the year. Mayor Tania Tapsell and chief executive Andrew Moraes both said workforce wellbeing remained a priority, with a wellbeing roadmap due before the committee in November. The council also reported an eighty-eight per cent drop in high-range vehicle speeding incidents following a new monitoring policy. [Source: Te Ao Māori News, LDR]

Pakistan — Islamabad local government reform

And in Pakistan, the federal cabinet has approved a new local government system for Islamabad, dividing the capital into three separate councils, each with its own mayor and twenty-one members. The bill guarantees representation for women and minorities and now moves to a National Assembly standing committee before going to the Senate and National Assembly for passage. [Source: Dunya News]