Local Government Amendment Act 1980 (WA)
WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
No. 68 of 1980.
AN ACT to amend the Local Government Act 1960-1979 and for related purposes.
[Assented to 26 November 1980.]
BE it enacted by the Queen's Most ExcellentMajesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-
Short title
| 1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Local | and citation. |
Government Amendment Act 1980.
| (2) | In this Act the Local Government Act 1960- |
1979 is referred to as the principal Act.
| (3) | The principal Act as amended by this Act |
may be cited as the Local Government Act 1960-
| No. 68.] | Local Government. | [1980. |
Commence-
| ment. | 2. |
(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section
this Act shall come into operation on the day on
which it is assented to by the Governor.
(2) Section 3 and sections 14 to 26 (both inclusive) of this Act shall come into operation on a day to be fixed by proclamation.
Section 3
| amended. | 3. |
Section 3 of the principal Act is amended by
deleting the arrangement of Part XXVII and sub-
stituting the following
C' PART XXVII.—ACCOUNTS, INSPECTIONS AND
AUDIT, ss. 625 to 641.
Division 1.—Keeping and Audit of Accounts, ss. 625 to 634.
Division 2.—Appointment of Government In- spectors of Municipalities, s. 635.
Division 2a.—Appointment of Auditors, ss. 636
to 638.
Division 3.—Powers of Auditors and Inspectors, ss. 639 to 641. " .
| Section 10 | 4. | Section 10 of the principal Act is repealed and |
| repealed and | ||
| sections 10 |
| and 10A | the following sections substituted- |
| substituted. | |
| Number of |
| offices of | " 10. (1) In this section, and in subsection |
| councillor. | (4) of section twelve, "office of councillor", in relation to a municipality where the mode of election to the office of mayor or president is by the council, includes the office of the councillor so elected. |
| (2) Subject to subsection (7) of this section, the number of offices of councillor |
| (a) | of a municipality; or |
| (b) | for a ward of a municipality, |
is such number as is from time to time declared under this section in respect of that municipality or ward.
| 1980.] | Local Government. | [No. 68. |
(3) Subject to subsections (4) and (5) of this section the Governor may, by Order, declare the number of offices of councillor of a municipality.
Where the mode of election to the office of mayor or president of a municipality is by the electors of the municipality, the number of offices of councillor of the municipality shall
(4)
not be less than four.
(5) Where the mode of election to the office of mayor or president of a municipality is by the council, the number of offices of councillor of the municipality shall not be less than five.
Where the district of a municipality is divided into wards the Governor may, by Order, declare the number of offices of councillor for a ward.
(6)
If at the coming into operation of section four of the Local Government Amendment Act 1980 there is no declaration in force, by Order, in respect of a municipality as to the number of offices of councillor of that municipality, or the number of offices of councillor for a ward of that municipality, that number shall, until such an Order takes effect, be determined in accordance with the provisions of this section as enacted before the coming into operation of that section.
(7)
(8) Any declaration, by Order made before the coming into operation of section four of the Local Government Amendment Act 1980, as to the number of offices of councillor of a municipality, or the number of offices of councillor for a ward of a municipality, is hereby declared to be, and to have always been, valid and effectual according to its tenor and shall be deemed to be a declaration under this section.
| No. 68.] | Local Government. | [1980. |
(9) A reference in subsection (7) or (8) of this section to a declaration, by Order, as to the number of offices of councillor of a municipality or for a ward of a municipality includes a reference to any declaration to that effect whether or not the expression "offices of councillor" appears in the revelant Order.
Mode of
| election of | 10A. (1) Subject to this section |
| mayor or president. |
| (a) | the mode of election to the office of mayor of a city or town is by the electors of the municipality; |
| (b) | the mode of election to the office of president of a shire is by the council. |
(2) Where
| (a) | a petition is presented to the Governor praying that a municipality be declared a city, town or shire pursuant to paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (2) of section twelve; and |
| (b) | the mode of election to the office of mayor or president of the municipality that applies at the time of the presentation of the petition (in this subsection referred to as "the existing mode of election") is not the mode of election that would, by operation of subsection (1) of this section, apply to the election of the mayor or president of the municipality if the petition were granted; and |
| (c) | the petition prays that the existing mode of election be retained, |
the Governor may, if he makes an Order in exercise of the power referred to in paragraph (a) of this subsection, by the same Order authorize the municipality to continue to use the existing mode of election.
| 1980.] | Local Government. | [No. 68. |
(3) Where the Governor, by Order, exercises the power conferred by subsection (2) of this section in respect of a municipality, the mode of election authorized by the Order shall be the mode of election to the office of mayor or president of the municipality unless and until that mode of election is subsequently altered under or by operation of this section.
(4) Where it is proposed by
| (a) | a resolution passed by an absolute majority of the members of the council of a municipality; or |
| (b) | a petition signed by one-tenth of the electors of a municipality or fifty electors of the municipality, whichever is the greater, and delivered to the mayor or president of the municipality, |
that the mode of election to the office of mayor
or president of the municipality be
| (c) | by the council instead of by the electors of the municipality; or |
| (d) | by the electors of the municipality instead of by the council, |
the mayor or president shall, subject to sub- section (9) of this section, cause the question, whether or not the proposed alteration in the mode of election be effected, to be submitted to a poll of the electors of the municipality on a day appointed by him, being a day not less than forty-two days nor more than seventy days after the date on which the resolution was passed or the petition was delivered, as the case may be.
(5) The returning officer shall prepare for, conduct, and ascertain the result of the poll.
| No. 68.] | Local Government. | [1980. |
(6) The provisions of this Act relating to the taking of the poll for the election of persons to the offices of member of a council, including an elector voting in absence, that are appropriate and can be made applicable apply mutatis mutandis to the taking of the poll.
(7) Within twenty-one days after the result of the poll has been ascertained, the returning officer shall notify the Minister of
| (a) | the number of electors who were entitled to vote at the poll; |
| (b) | the number of electors who voted at the poll; and |
| (c) | the number of valid votes recorded for and against the proposed alteration. |
(8) If the electors who vote at the poll number not less than fifteen per centum of those entitled to vote thereat, and a majority of the valid votes cast at the poll are in favour of the proposed alteration,
| (a) | the Governor shall, by Order, declare that the new mode of election to the office of mayor or president of the municipality shall apply on and from a date specified in the Order; |
| (b) | there shall be a vacancy in the office of mayor or president of the munici- pality on the day so specified; and |
| (c) | the new mode of election to the office of mayor or president of the munici- pality shall apply in relation to that vacancy and each subsequent vacancy unless and until that mode of election is subsequently altered under or by operation of this section. |
| 1980.] | Local Government. | [No. 68. |
(9) Notwithstanding subsection (4) of this section, the mayor or president of a municipality shall not cause the question, whether or not a proposed alteration in the mode of election to his office be effected, to be submitted to a poll under that subsection if the resolution or petition proposing the alteration was passed or delivered, as the case may be, within a period of five years from
| (a) | the date of the coming into effect of an alteration in the mode of election to the office of mayor or president of the municipality made in consequence of a poll held under this section; or |
| (b) | the date of the holding of a poll under this section at which |
(1) the electors who voted numbered less than fifteen per centum of those entitled to vote thereat; or
(ii) not more than one-half of the valid votes taken were in favour of a proposed alteration in the mode of election to the office of mayor or president of the municipality.
(10) In paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (9) of this section a reference to "this section" includes a reference to section ten as enacted before the coming into operation of section four of the Local Government Amendment Act 1980.
(11) Where before the date of the coming into operation of section four of the Local Government Amendment Act 1980-
| (a) | the Governor has, by Order, under section twelve declared- |
(i) a municipality to be a city;
(ii) a shire to be a town; or
(iii) a town to be a shire,
| No. 68.] | Local Government. | [1980. |
and the municipality has continued to use the mode of election to the office of mayor or president of the municipality that applied to the municipality immediately before the Order became effective; or
| (b) | an alteration in the mode of election to the office of mayor or president of a municipality has been duly made under section ten as enacted before that date, |
the mode of election as so continued or altered shall be the mode of election to the office of mayor or president of the municipality on and after that date unless and until that mode of election is subsequently altered under or by operation of this section. " .
| Section 12 | 5. Section 12 of the principal Act is amended |
| amended. |
(a) in subsection (2)-
(i) by inserting after "shire;" in para- graph (b) the following-
" and a city to be a town or a shire; "; and
(ii) by deleting paragraph (j); and
(b) in subsection (4)-
(i) by deleting paragraph (a);
(ii) by deleting "the members of a council" in subparagraph (i) of paragraph (d) and substituting the following
offices of councillor of a muni- cipality or in the number of offices of councillor for a ward of a municipality "; and
(iii) by deleting subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (d).
| 1980 I | Local Government. | [No. 68. |
6. Section 15 of the principal Act is amended in 7,eardneE
paragraph (f) by deleting "council not withstanding that for the time being the number of councillors exceeds the maximum number provided by this Act." and substituting the following-
" council; " .
7. Section 16 of the principal Act is amended by amended?
deleting "according to the information then available to the Government Statistician and declared under paragraph (a) of subsection (4) of section twelve" and substituting the following-
" by the Government Statistician according to
the information then available to him " .
Section 18
| 8. Section 18 of the principal Act is amended by repealing subsection (4). | amended. |
| Section 19 | |
| 9. Section 19 of the principal Act is repealed and the following section is substituted- | repealed and |
| substituted. Effect of |
| " 19. Where an Order annexes portion of the | annexation of portion |
| State to a municipal district and the portion | of a |
| so annexed has been severed from another | district. |
| district, subsection (2) of section thirteen applies as if the district resulting from the annexation were that of a new muni- cipality. " . |
10. Section 22A of the principal Act is repealed. iSgiava2. 2A
11. Section 41 of the principal Act is amended gggat•
in subparagraph (v) of paragraph (c) of subsection
(2)-
| (a) | by deleting "paragraph (j) of subsection (2), or"; and |
| (b) | by deleting "nineteen" and substituting the following- |
" twenty " .
| No. 68.] | Local Government. | [1980. |
Section 533
Section 533 of the principal Act is amended
in paragraph (b) of subsection (10) by deleting
"which is a town".
| amended. | 12. |
Section 542
Section 548 of the principal Act is amended
by inserting after subsection (4) the following
subsections-
| amended. | 13. |
" (5) Where, pursuant to this Act, one system of valuation is used for rateable property in an area comprising a portion or portions of a district of a municipality and another system of valuation is used for rateable property in the area comprising the remaining portion or por- tions of the district, the council of the munici- pality shall impose, in respect of the rateable property in the respective areas, such rates as will distribute the burden of rates between the two areas in such manner as the council thinks fit and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, it is not, and has never been, necessary for a council to impose a rate in respect of rateable property in such an area by reference to the amount that would have been assessed by way of rates in respect of that rateable property if one system of valuation was used throughout the whole of the district.
(6) In subsection (5) of this section
"system of valuation" means valuation on unimproved value or gross rental value of rateable property, and, in relation to any time before the coming into operation of the Acts Amendment and Repeal (Valuation of Land) Act 1978, includes valuation on any other type of value of rateable property adopted under this Act. " .
| Heading | 14. |
The heading to Part XXVII of the principal Act is amended by inserting after "ACCOUNTS" the following
amended.
| Li | , INSPECTIONS " . |
| 1980.] | Local Government. | [No. 68. |
Section 625
| 15. Section 625 of the principal Act is amended | amended. |
| (a) | by deleting the interpretation "auditor" and substituting the following interpreta- tion |
"auditor", in relation to a municipality, means a person for the time being appointed by or under this Part to be the auditor of the municipality or to carry out the functions of auditor for the municipality; '; and
| (b) | by deleting "Act." and substituting the following- |
' Act;
"Inspector" means a Government Inspector of Municipalities ap- pointed under section six hundred and thirty-five. ' .
16. Section 632 of the principal Act is amended— =Aleg32
| (a) | in subsection (3), by deleting "shall direct the auditor as to whether the auditor shall or shall not" and substituting the follow- ing |
" may direct an Inspector to ";
| (b) | in subsections (5), (6) and (9), by deleting "the auditor" and substituting the follow- ing |
" an Inspector "; and
| (c) | in paragraph (b) of subsection (7) by deleting "auditor" and substituting the following- |
" Inspector " .
| No. 68.] | Local Government. | [1980. |
Beading
| amended. | 17. The heading to Division 2 of Part XXVII of the principal Act is amended by deleting "as Auditors". |
| Section 635 |
| repealed and | 18. Section 635 of the principal Act is repealed |
| substituted. | and the following section is substituted- |
| Government |
| Inspectors | " 635. (1) The Minister may from time to |
| of Munici- | |
| palities. | time appoint such persons as he thinks fit to the office of Government Inspector of Munici- palities. |
(2) The duties of an Inspector are-
(a) to inquire into-
(i) the conduct of polls and elections held under this Act;
(ii) the exercise or performance by a municipality, or the council of a municipality or its members or officers, of any powers, functions or duties conferred by this or any other Act;
(iii) the administration of local gov- ernment under this and other Acts by the councils of munici- palities;
| (b) | to make such report to the Minister as the Inspector considers necessary concerning any matter into which the Inspector has inquired pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection; |
| (c) | or report regarding any municipality as may be directed by the Minister; |
| (d) | to bring proceedings under section six hundred and thirty-two as directed by the Minister. " |
to make any other inquiry, inspection
| 1980.] | Local Government. | [No. 68. |
Heading
| 19. | After section 635 of the principal Act the | Inserted. |
following heading is inserted-
" Division 2a.—Appointment of Auditors. " .
20. Section 636 of the principal Act is repealed =Wad
| and the following section is substituted— | substituted. |
| Cf 636. (1) This section applies to— | Auditor General to carry out |
| (a) | pursuant to an Order made under paragraph (a) of subsection (6) of section six hundred and thirty-eight or section twenty, the municipality has as its auditor a person referred to in |
a municipality that is a shire unless, Efidtepat and thirty-eight;
| (b) | a municipality that is a city or town if, pursuant to an Order made under paragraph (b) of subsection (6) of section six hundred and thirty-eight or section twenty, the municipality does not have as its auditor a person referred to in subsection (1) of section six hundred and thirty-eight. |
(2) The Auditor General, or a person appointed by the Auditor General under subsection (3) of this section, shall carry out the functions of auditor for a municipality to which this section applies.
(3) The Auditor General may from time to time appoint any person he thinks fit to carry out the functions of auditor for
| (a) | municipalities to which this section applies, generally; or |
| (b) | one or more municipalities to which this section applies. |
| No. 68.] | Local Government. | [1980. |
(4) In addition to the powers conferred by Division 3 of this Part the Auditor General and any person appointed by the Auditor General under subsection (3) of this section has, in respect of the accounts of a municipality to which this section applies, all powers conferred on the Auditor General by any law for the time being in force relating to the audit of public accounts. " .
Section 637
| amended. | 21. Section 637 of the principal Act is amended |
| (a) | by repealing subsection (1) and substitut- ing the following subsection- |
" (1) The Auditor General shall from time to time assess the amount payable by each municipality to which section six hundred and thirty-six applies for the carrying out of the audit of its accounts. ";
| (b) | by repealing subsection (2) and substitut- ing the following subsection- |
" (2) Where the accounts audited are those of a shire, other than a shire specified in the Twenty-seventh Schedule, the amount so assessed shall be one-half of the amount that would otherwise be assessed. ";
in subsection (3)-
(i) by deleting "Subject to subsection (4) of this section the" and substituting the following-
" The "; and
(ii) by deleting "Minister" and sub- stituting the following-
" Treasurer of the State "; and
| 1980. | ] | Local Government. | [No. 68. |
(d) by repealing subsections (4) and (5).
Section 638
| 22. (1) Section 638 of the principal Act is | amended and |
| transitional |
| amended | Provisions. |
| (a) | in paragraph (a) of subsection (6) by deleting "Government Inspector of Munici- palities" and substituting the following- |
" Auditor General ";
| (b) | in paragraph (b) of subsection (6) by deleting "a Government Inspector of Municipalities" and substituting the following- |
" the Auditor General "; and
| (c) | in subsection (7), by deleting "a Govern- ment Inspector of Municipalities" and substituting the following- |
" the Auditor General " .
(2) Any Order in force under subsection (6) of section 638 of the principal Act immediately before the coming into operation of this section shall subsist and enure for the purposes of the principal Act as amended by this Act and a reference in such an Order to a Government Inspector of Municipali- ties shall be read and construed as a reference to the Auditor General.
(3) Subsection (2) of this section shall not be
construed as affecting the application to this Act of
the Interpretation Act 1918.
| 23. The heading to Division 3 of Part XXVII of | Heading |
| amended. |
the principal Act is amended by inserting after
"Auditors" the following-
" and Inspectors " .
| No. 68.] | Local Government. | [1980. |
Section 639
| amended. | 24. Section 639 of the principal Act is amended |
(a) in subsection (1)-
(i) by deleting ", the auditor—" and substituting the following
or making an inquiry pursuant to section six hundred and thirty-five, an auditor or Inspector, as the case may be,—"; and
(ii) by inserting after "audit" in para-
graph (b) the following-
" or inquiry "; and
(b) in subsection (2)-
(i) by inserting after "auditor" in both places where it occurs the following-
" or Inspector "; and
(ii) by inserting after "audit" the following-
" or inquiry " .
Section 690
| amended. | 25. Section 640 of the principal Act is amended in subsection (1) by deleting "An auditor has, for the purpose of an audit," and substituting the following- |
" For the purpose of an audit or inquiry, an auditor or Inspector, as the case may be, has " .
Section 691
| amended. | 26. Section 641 of the principal Act is amended |
by inserting after "auditor" where it occurs in
subsections (1) and (2) the following-
" or Inspector " .
Twenty-
| seventh | 27. The Twenty-seventh Schedule to the |
| Schedule |
| amended. | principal Act is amended by deleting "Armadale- Kelmscott." and "Belmont." . |
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