Omnibus Bill Passed

Virtual Council meetings from 1 May

Amendments contained in the COVID-19 Omnibus (Emergency Measures) Bill 2020 relating to the Local Government Act 2020 enable, from 1 May until 1 November 2020,  Council meetings, special committees and RLC Board meetings to be conducted by electronic means.  Councillors will be able to electronically attend council meetings and the requirement that Council meetings be open to the public will be satisfied where the meeting is live streamed.  

Online Consultations Commence

Local Government Victoria has consulted with its Project Control Board (PCB) and announced the next phase of consultation associated with the introduction of the Local Government Act 2020 (Act 2020). The PCB was established in late 2019 to guide implementation of the Act and membership includes representatives from the VLGA, MAV, LGPro, and Rural Councils Victoria.

Ream more here.

Changes to Council Electoral Structures

The Minister for Local Government, the Hon Adem Somyurek MP, has announced details of how and when the new framework on electoral representation will be implemented for all Victorian councils, as result of significant changes to these arrangements introduced in the Local Government Act 2020.

In summary:

• Ten councils will change electoral structures for the next general elections scheduled for October 2020. Bayside, Greater Dandenong, Cardinia, Darebin, Kingston, Manningham, Maroondah and Whitehorse councils will change to single-member ward structures. Swan Hill and Mansfield councils will become unsubdivided municipalities.
• All councils will have electoral structures compliant with the new electoral representation framework by the 2024 local government general elections.
• The Minister has determined that a number of rural councils may be able to be constituted as unsubdivided or uniform multi-member ward municipalities, in addition to the default single-member ward structure which applies to all councils.

The Minister has written to the mayors of the 31 councils which had electoral representation reviews conducted in 2019 and 2020 advising those councils of the outcome of the reviews. See the ward structure here.

Further details on the implementation of the new electoral representation arrangements can be found on the Local Government Victoria website: https://www.localgovernment.vic.gov.au/our-programs/local-government-act-2020