Local Government Reform 2023 » Shire of Donnybrook-Balingup

The State Government is reforming the Local Government Act 1995 (the Act).

The reforms are aimed at ensuring local governments better serve residents and ratepayers. The reforms have been crafted in consultation with the local government sector. They are the most significant reforms to the sector in 25 years.

To ensure key election related reforms were in place before the 2023 local government elections, the amendments to the Act were divided into 2 tranches. The first tranche, which was passed by Parliament on 11 May 2023 focuses on electoral reform, which will strengthen local democracy and provide greater transparency and accountability.

The key electoral reforms that will be implemented for the October 2023 elections are:

introducing optional preferential voting, bringing local government elections back in line with State and Federal elections and restoring the right of electors to express preferences
requiring public election of the mayor or president for all larger councils
changes in representation including aligning the size of councils with the size of the population of each local government area.

Need more details?

The DLGSC will be holding a series of webinars on the details of reforms for the local government sector. The first webinar was held on March 9 and provided a general overview of the reforms.

Webinar 1 - 9 March 2023 Webinar 2 - 27 April 2023 Webinar 3 - 1 June 2023

Webinars will be held monthly focusing on a particular element of proposed changes to the Local Government Act 1995.

If you can’t wait for the next webinar we have put together a comprehensive suite of information.

Still have questions?

If you still have questions regarding the bill and local government reform email us at actreview@dlgsc.wa.gov.au or you can even speak to a real person at 1300 762 511.

Alternatively, you can register your email to be included in regular communications. The DLGSC will also issue regular alerts directly to all WA local governments