The SA Government has provided guidance for councils considering changes to their by-laws.

The Legislative Review Committee (LRC) is a committee of Parliament which reviews council by-laws.

The LRC can disallow a council by-law if it considers the by-law impractical or imposes unreasonable constraints.

This year, the LRC has raised several concerns with individual council by-laws and has initiated a disallowance process for some of these.

The Local Government Association of South Australia says it has advocated directly with the LRC to minimise the impact on councils and to resolve concerns - noting that, in many cases, by-law provisions are consistent across multiple councils.

The LRC has requested councils note their preference for:

  • gender neutral language in by-laws

  • the text of council by-laws to explicitly require an opinion, request or direction of an authorised person

This is to avoid the LRC separately raising the same issues to councils when by-laws are received for review.

“If your council is considering a review of your by-laws, please consider the LRC preferences. This will help reduce the chance that your by-law is disallowed,” the LGA has told councils. 

“The LGA has also sent information from the LRC to law firms regularly engaged by councils to assist with the by-law review process to minimise the risk of the LRC raising concerns.”