On Wednesday 25 June 2024, the Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Act 2024 (the Amendment Act) was given Royal Assent. The Amendment Act includes reforms to strengthen council leadership, capability and councillor conduct, improve early intervention and effective dispute resolution and strengthen oversight mechanisms.
The Amendment Act makes a range of changes to the Local Government Act 2020.
The following changes came into operation on 26 June 2024:
- The close of the roll for the October 2024 council elections has been brought forward to provide more time for councils and the VEC to compile voters’ rolls, and to accommodate other timeline changes through amendment regulations
- The Governor in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister, has the power to suspend an individual councillor or disqualify a person who has been dismissed from taking office if they have been found by a municipal monitor or Commission of Inquiry to have created a serious risk to health and safety or prevented the council from performing its functions.
- The Chief Municipal Inspector will have new powers, including the power to table reports in Parliament and issue infringements for minor offences.
The following changes will come into operation on 26 October 2024:
- ongoing mandated training for mayors and councillors will be introduced to expand the existing induction training requirements for councillors
- improvements to the councillor conduct framework including the power to establish in regulations a model councillor code of conduct and increased severity of sanctions available for councillor misconduct, and
- improve the operation of provisions relating to the councillor conduct framework.
The Amendment Act is available on the Victorian Legislation website:
Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Act 2024
A Fact Sheet detailing the reforms is available here:
Fact Sheet - Local Government Amendment (Governance & Integrity) Bill 2024 [PDF]
Fact Sheet - Local Government Amendment (Governance & Integrity) Bill 2024 [Doc]
Implementation next steps
Local Government Victoria has commenced work with the sector Steering Committee to develop the Regulations for the Model Councillor Code of Conduct and for Mayoral and councillor training.
Public consultations on what should be included in these are now open on EngageVic.
Two stages of consultation will be held to ensure the Model Councillor Code of Conduct reflects the conduct expected of councillors as public officials and that the topics that must be covered in the training include the knowledge and skills that councillors need to perform the role.
The first stage is a survey intended to seek input from all stakeholders regarding the scope of the Model Councillor Code of Conduct and training syllabus to inform the drafting of the Regulations.
Based on this feedback, Local Government Victoria will prepare a draft Model Councillor Code of Conduct and training outline with input from the Steering Committee. This will be released for a second stage of feedback and submissions will be invited.
Election timelines
The Local Government (Electoral) Amendment Regulations 2024 and City of Melbourne (Electoral) Amendment Regulations 2024 were made on 25 June 2024. These regulations bring into effect changes to key dates relating to the conduct of elections, including the nomination day and the lodgement date for candidate statements and questionnaires.
With these regulations confirmed, the election period for the 2024 general elections will begin at 12 noon on Tuesday, 17 September 2024 and end at 6.00pm on Saturday, 26 October 2024.
Previous Consultation
The reforms have been informed by independent reports and recommendations and will give effect to a number of recommendations in the IBAC Operation Sandon Special Report to strengthen council governance.
The reforms have also been informed by the Local Government Culture Project through which broad consultation with the sector and community demonstrated the need for stronger processes and powers to resolve conduct issues and the capacity of councillors to be strengthened.
In January 2024, further consultations were carried out with councils and peak bodies to get feedback on the proposed reforms during the development of the Bill.
The feedback received during this consultation period informed the finalisations of the reforms and has been captured in a consultation feedback report.