Local government boundary reviews

The Local Government Change Commission (Change Commission) is the independent body responsible for assessing proposed changes to Queensland councils.

Before this can happen, change proposals must first be given to the Minister responsible for Local Government (the Minister) for consideration. Initial enquiries about proposing a change to the Minister should be directed to the relevant regional advisor from the Department of State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning.

Once a change request is received, the Minister then decides whether to refer the proposal to the Change Commission for a detailed assessment.

The types of assessments that can be done by the Change Commission include:

• Divisional boundary reviews - assessing the internal boundaries of a divided council (known as divisions or wards).
• External boundary review - assessing the common boundaries between councils.
• Electoral arrangement review - assessing whether a council is divided, undivided, the number of councillors, council name or classification (city, shire, region, town) and other such changes.

Once the Change Commission finalises an assessment, it must provide the results to the public and to the Minister.

The Governor in Council may implement a recommendation made by the Change Commission under a regulation. The regulation may provide for anything that is necessary or convenient to facilitate the change.

Reviews

The Minister responsible for Local Government has referred the following change requests to the Change Commission for an independent assessment.

External boundary reviews

• Livingstone Shire Council and Rockhampton Regional Council
• Barcaldine Regional Council and adjoining councils

Fact sheets

• Fact Sheet 1: An overview of the Change Commission PDF (0.03 MB)
• Fact Sheet 2: Divisional (Ward) Boundary Reviews PDF (0.03 MB)
• Fact Sheet 3: External Boundary Reviews PDF (0.03 MB)
• Fact Sheet 4: Electoral Arrangement Reviews PDF (0.03 MB)

Legislative requirements

Assessments will be based on the following legislation (and subordinate regulations):

Brisbane City Council

• City of Brisbane Act 2010
• City of Brisbane Regulation 2012

All other Queensland local government areas

• Local Government Act 2009
• Local Government Regulation 2012

Spatial data

Spatial data relating to local government divisional and area boundaries are available to download from QSpatial.

Contact us

For further information, please phone 1300 881 665 or email LGboundaries@ecq.qld.gov.au.