Local government in Victoria

There are 79 municipal districts in the Australian state of Victoria, often referred to as local government areas (LGAs). They are constituted as cities, shires, rural cities and, in one case, a borough. In addition to the LGAs, there are also a number of small unincorporated areas; including Mount Hotham and Falls Creek (surrounded by the Alpine Shire), Mount Buller (surrounded by Shire of Mansfield), French Island and Lady Julia Percy Island.

History
Victoria has had local government since before it separated from New South Wales, with the Town of Melbourne established by an act of the NSW Governor and legislative council in 1842 and the Borough of Geelong likewise established in 1849. Both later became cities. Under early local government legislation such as the Local Government Act 1874, shires could be established in territories that could financially support them, and boroughs could be established in areas not exceeding 9 mi2 with a population of at least 300. Promotion to town or city status was dependent on the gross revenue of the council. Such promotion was not automatic, but it was granted often and in 1992 there were sixty-five cities in Victoria—more than there were in England at the time despite a significantly lower population.

Local government has been referred to in the Victorian constitution since 1979 (sec. II A ), but it does not operate so as to make Victoria a federation or protect the borders or powers of local government from amendment by executive order or act of parliament. Today, the constitution recognises it "a distinct and essential tier of government" and prohibits a council being dismissed by executive order, but grants significant powers to the state parliament in respect of local government. The clauses have been amended many times by parliament, but since 2006 the Constitution Act has required a referendum to further alter them.

The current Local Government Act dates to 1989 and eliminated administrative distinctions between cities and shires, introduced the category of rural city and removed the possibility of declaring any further boroughs or towns (existing boroughs and towns were retained, although only one remains today). Under its terms, five shires became rural cities but were dissolved within five years.

The current local government structure in Victoria is a result of the reforms led by then State Premier Jeff Kennett from 1994. His reforms dissolved 210 councils and sacked 1600 elected councillors, with 78 new councils created through amalgamations: in suburban Melbourne 53 municipalities were reduced to 26. The new LGAs were headed by commissioners appointed by the State Government, democratically elected councils did not return until 1996. The current total of 79 LGAs arose when the Shire of Delatite split into the Rural City of Benalla and the Shire of Mansfield.

General characteristics
All local government areas (i.e. cities, rural cities, shires and boroughs) are governed in a similar fashion, with an elected council, one of whom is the mayor (in shires the mayor may use the title "president"; the City of Melbourne has the title "lord mayor"). The City of Melbourne has a directly elected lord mayor (currently Cr Robert Doyle), whereas other councils elect a mayor from one of their number. Some LGAs are divided into wards for the purpose of electing councillors; where a ward elects a single councillor, it is by preferential voting; and where it elects multiple councillors, it is by proportional voting using the Single Transferrable Vote. Voting is in all cases compulsory for enrolled voters and elections for all councils now happen on the same day every four years—on the last Saturday in November two years after state parliamentary elections.

The average area of a municipal district within the Melbourne metropolitan area is 285 km2; the average area of the remaining municipal districts is 4545 km2. Despite this area being comparable to the average area of a US or English county, there are no administrative subdivisions such as American towns and cities or English parishes; suburbs (a part of an urban area), towns and rural districts, although legally defined, have a purely geographical existence.

According to the Local Government Act 1989, the term "city", must be used for a municipal district which is predominantly urban in character; "rural city" must be used for a rural district which is partly urban and partly rural in character; and the term "shire" must be used for a municipal district which is predominantly rural. In practice, this is understood as referring to the population distribution between urban centres and rural areas. The term "borough", used of the Borough of Queenscliffe, is not defined by the act but has been retained for the single borough which survived the reforms of the 1990s. Under the repealed Local Government Act 1958, boroughs, towns and cities were defined on the basis of area, population and rateable property. In practice, boroughs were and are small towns.

Municipalities of Greater Melbourne
Thirty-one of the municipalities form the Melbourne metropolitan area. Although there is no local government for the whole area, they are often treated differently by state government legislation, for instance the Public Holidays Act permits non-metropolitan councils to replace Melbourne Cup Day with a local public holiday.

Unincorporated areas
Although there is only one tier of local government in Victoria, it contains a number of unincorporated areas. Many coastal islands, most significantly French Island, are not part of any local government and directly administered by the state.

Alpine resorts
As well as the standard elected local councils, six alpine resorts are excluded from the surrounding shires by declarations made under the Alpine Resorts Act 1983 and administered by alpine resort management boards established under the Alpine Resorts (Management) Act 1997. Unlike local councils, these boards are fully appointed by the state government but fulfil similar functions. The territories managed by them are considered to be municipal districts for the purposes of the Emergency Management Act 1986 and the Environment Protection Act 1970, but not generally. They are rarely included in lists of local government areas and are not considered to be LGAs by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, with their population included in the unincoporated areas section of such lists, but are occasionally listed alongside municipalities.