The Local Government Amendment Bill 2024, which advances a range of major reforms including the new Local Government Inspector, has passed Western Australian Parliament.
The new bill delivers the second tranche of the Cook Labor Government’s landmark local government reforms – the biggest to the sector in more than 25 years according to Local Government minister Hannah Beazley.
“I am incredibly proud to have delivered these significant reforms on behalf of our Cook Labor Government – continuing the biggest reforms to the local government sector in more than 25 years,” the minister said.
“Modern, effective local government is so important to communities throughout WA and our Bill includes many provisions to support that.
“Education, collaboration and early intervention will be the focus of the new Local Government Inspector so issues within a local government are addressed at an early stage, to prevent the need for escalation and the costs associated with lengthy investigations.
“I acknowledge the significant contributions elected members and council administrators make to WA communities, the vast majority of whom are incredibly diligent, hardworking and motivated by a desire to deliver better outcomes for their communities and important services.
“It’s essential that public confidence in our local governments is maintained and through these reforms there will be stronger powers and greater penalties available if and when needed.“
She said a major component of the reforms was the new Local Government Inspector who will have greater powers to oversee local governments in WA, with a focus on early intervention.
Work has begun to establish the Office of the Inspector and progress the underpinning regulations.
Under the new system, the Inspector and specialised monitors will work proactively with local governments requiring assistance or closer scrutiny to resolve emerging issues before they escalate.
The Bill also overhauls the current system of complaints, providing a much wider range of tools to deal with complaints when a breach or contravention of the Local Government Act 1995 may have occurred.
These milestone reforms will also:
• clarify the roles and responsibilities of mayors and presidents, councillors and local government CEOs;
• require councils to adopt a rates and revenue policy to facilitate better financial planning and increase public transparency about rate increases;
• widen the scope of audit, risk and improvement committees and ensure these committees have an independent Chairperson who can be shared between smaller local governments;
• require councils to document the reasons for closing part of a meeting to the public while reducing unnecessary instances of closed meetings;
• facilitate the shared employment of local government CEOs and senior employees;
• prevent council members who fail to complete mandatory training from receiving their allowances;
• prevent inappropriate expenditure of ratepayer funds on council members’ personal legal expenses; and
• modernise several arrangements including enabling superannuation payments for council members and streamlining the making of local laws.
These reforms have been developed through extensive work and public consultation since 2017.
