The Queensland Government is supporting effective, efficient, sustainable local governments through modern legislation and providing advise, expertise and tools to councils to build their capacity and capability.

Delivering a stronger, more efficient and more modern local government system that has a greater ability to deliver services and infrastructure for all Queenslanders is a key objective of the department.

One of the ways the Queensland Government is achieving this is with legislative reform for local government - with the implementation of the Local Government Act 2009 from 1 July 2010.

The Act provides:

• a simpler, principles-based approach to legislation
• emphasis on sustainable, accountable government that uses input from the community
• greater flexibility and easier customisation for the specific needs of different communities with less legislative burden
• clearer roles and responsibilities for councillors.

Find out more about how local government reform came about.