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The Australian Classification of Local Governments (ACLG) was first published
in September 1994 and has proved a useful way to categorise Local Governments
across Australia.
The Local Governments included in the classification system are those that
receive general purpose financial assistance grants as defined under the Local
Government (Financial Assistance) Act 1995. Therefore, bodies declared by
the Commonwealth Minister on the advice of the State Minister to be local governing
bodies for the purposes of the Act are included in the ACLG. These include community
councils. However, county councils, voluntary regional organisations of councils
(VROCs) and the Australian Capital Territory are excluded.
The classification system involves three steps. Each step allocates a prefix
(letter/s of the alphabet) to develop a three-letter identifier for each class
of Local Government (there are 22 categories). So, for example, a medium-sized
council in a rural agricultural area would be classified as RAM - rural, agricultural,
medium. If it was remote, however, it would be classified as RTM. Table F.1 provides information
on the structure of the classification system.
Table F.2 provides details of
the number of councils in existence during 2001-02, by ACLG category and by
State and table F.3 provides a full listing
of all councils by classification group. As there were no changes to the ACLG
reported for councils in 2001-02, there is no table in this year's report giving
changes to council classifications.
Local Government grants commissions do not take the ACLG classification of
a council into account when determining the level of general purpose grant.
Councils are, however, grouped by ACLG in the National Report (see appendixes D and E) to help compare grant outcomes with
other similarly classified councils.
Background
Developers of the system recognised that, with so many different types of Local
Government in Australia, and with changing population distribution patterns,
there will be occasions where a council's profile does not fully match the characteristics
of the class into which it has been placed. When this occurs, a Local Government
may be reallocated to a classification that more accurately reflects its circumstances.
In the event, less than a dozen councils have been reallocated over the period
since 1994 and some of those, such as Surf Coast in Victoria, were in transition
to being reallocated to a new classification because of population growth.
A review of ACLG commenced in April 2001 but is currently stalled. This review
will be re-established when additional resources become available.
Further details of the classification system can be found in the original report
on the ACLG (Department of Housing and Regional Development 1994).
Table F1 - Structure of the classification system
| Step 1 |
Step 2 |
Step 3 |
Identifiers |
Category |
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Table F2 - Number of councils by ACLG by category and by State, 2001-02
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State
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NSW
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Vic
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Qld
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WA
|
SA
|
Tas
|
NT1
|
Total
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Note: 1 excludes Northern Territory Trust Account
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Table F3 - ACLG category listing of Local Governments by State, 2002
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