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Local Government Victoria works cooperatively with Victoria’s 79 local councils to ensure that Victorians enjoy world class responsive and accountable local government services. Through partnerships with councils and local government associations, Local Government Victoria encourages and supports best practice and continuous development in local governance and local government service delivery to all Victorian communities.

Council Elections - Saturday 29 November 2008

All 79 Victorian councils will conduct general elections in November this year. This will be the first time that elections for all councillors will take place at the same time.

Election Day is Saturday 29 November. For those councils running their election by attendance voting, voters will cast their votes at polling places on this day. For councils running their election totally by postal voting, voting closes at 6pm the day before Election Day.

Key dates leading up to the elections include:

3 October 2008 - Entitlement Day - the day the voters' roll for each election closes

28 October 2008 - Nominations close

Intending candidates should note important changes for 2008:

All nominations close at 12 noon on 28 October 2008.

All candidates must nominate in person and sign a declaration in the presence of a Returning Officer (or provide a statutory declaration containing prescribed information).

All candidates must lodge election campaign donation returns after the elections.

Contact the

Victorian Electoral Commission for a Candidate Handbook or read more about the council elections. A number of councils will have changes to their electoral structures for these elections, having undergone independent electoral representation reviews or subdivision reviews in 2007 and 2008. Changes may include altered internal ward boundaries and numbers, or increases or decreases in councillor numbers.

Ensuring Unbiased Democratic Council Decision Making

The recent decision of the Supreme Court of Victoria (Winky Pop Pty Ltd & Anor v Hobsons Bay City Council) has important ramifications to all councillors in highlighting their obligations to observe and comply with the common law rule of bias when making decisions affecting people’s rights, interests and legitimate expectations.

Local Government Victoria, with the assistance of the Municipal Association of Victoria, has produced a booklet Ensuring Unbiased Democratic Council Decision Making: Principles to Guide Good Practice (PDF 233 kb) and (Word 179kb) to assist councillors in understanding the rule of bias as it relates to their role as decision makers. The guide also provides advice on how to ensure that councillors' actions are free from bias, and offers suggestions on steps to take if bias may be relevant to a proposed decision

Councils Reforming Business

The Minister for Local Government, the Hon Richard Wynne MP, officially launched the 2008-09 Councils Reforming Business (CRB) initiatives on 16 September. These initiatives include:

Find out more about Councils Reforming Business.

New Allowance Package to better support Councillors

On 10 April 2008 the Minister for Local Government Richard Wynne announced the new policy Recognition and Support: the Victorian Government's Policy Statement on Local Government Mayoral and Councillor Allowances and Resources (PDF 142 kb). Read Minister Wynne's media release (PDF 79 kb).

The Local Government (Councillor Remuneration Review) Panel Report (PDF 273 kb) was completed on 25 January 2008. The Panel's recommendations were considered by Government and the majority of the recommendations were endorsed. Read the Government's Response to recommendations of the Local Government (Councillor Remuneration Review) Panel Report (PDF 53 kb).

The new package and policy will take effect immediately after the forthcoming 29 November 2008 Local Government general elections. Read more about the Councillor Remuneration Review.

Other news

Read more Local Government Victoria news.

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Web Site Updates

DPCD's websites are progressively being updated to reflect the changes following the establishment of the department. This means you will continue to see some references to the Department for Victorian Communities (DVC) as changes are being made.

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