Local government in Australia
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Australia has two tiers of subnational government: state (or territory) government and local government. This article deals with local government. See Australian States and Territories for information on state government.
Types of local government
Local governments are subdivisions of the states and the Northern Territory. The capital, Canberra, has no local government; all functions are performed by the territorial government of the Australian Capital Territory. Unlike some other countries such as the United States and United Kingdom, there is only one tier of local government in Australia. In contrast to the UK, where a Shire is a County, in Australia a County is a non-functional administrative unit used solely for the purposes of registration of land titles. Although most states of Australia have geographical divisions called Counties, very few have ever had county governments, they are practically irrelevant, and few people are even aware they exist. In this way, Australian local government is closest to the New England town model, especially as one rural Australian shire may include several distinct towns or villages.
All local governments are approximately equal in their theoretical powers, although large cities such as Brisbane command more resources given their population base. Unlike local governments in many other countries, Australian local governments have little role in providing services such as police and fire protection and schools (which are all the responsibility of the state or territory government). Their chief responsibilities are usually provision of community facilities like libraries and parks, maintenance of local roads, planning, and local services like waste disposal. They are caricatured as being concerned only with the 'three Rs', or Rates, Roads and Rubbish. Local governments are also comparatively subservient to their respective state governments due to their limited powers. For this reason local government in Australia is often criticized as being petty and even redundant.
Local Governments, although they are all essentially identical in function, have a variety of titles. Local Government Areas (LGAs) are the official unit of local government. Most LGAs are called Shires (in rural areas) or Cities (in urban and suburban areas), but other titles exist. Municipalities are typically older inner city areas in New South Wales, but resemble standard shires in rural Tasmania, and several rural towns in South Australia are also municipalities. Other rural areas in South Australia are known as District Councils. Queensland and Western Australia both use the moniker Town for smaller rural towns. New South Wales has introduced a new term, Regional Council, for LGAs formed by the amalgamation of smaller shires and rural cities or municipalities. Many New South Wales local governments now choose not to use a classifier such as "city" or "shire", and refer to themselves simply as "councils", e.g. Hastings Council, Pittwater Council. ("Council" in Australian English can refer to the geographical jurisdiction of a local government, and not just the elected board that governs local affairs.)
Most LGAs retain a particular designation for historical reasons only; all types function very similarly, with an elected council (and usually a Mayor) responsible for running of the LGA. Mayors in some local governments are popularly elected; others are elected by their fellow councillors from among themselves. In some states such as Queensland Mayors have broad executive functions; in states such as New South Wales Mayors are essentially ceremonial figureheads who can only exercise power at the discretion of the council.