The Local Government and Shires Associations of NSW (LGSA) have praised the NSW Government for meeting its election promise to remove the concept of a 'body politic' from the Local Government Act (NSW) 1993.

 

The Minister for Local Government, the Hon. Don Page MP, introduced the Local Government Amendment Bill 2011 into Parliament on 12 October to reinstate councils as a body corporate. 

 

President of the Local Government Association of NSW, Cr Keith Rhoades AFSM, said the LGSA sought the removal of 'body politic' as part of the LGSA's NSW Elections Priorities 2011 campaign.

"We're very pleased that the State Government and the Minister for Local Government have followed through on their election promise to reinstate councils as a body corporate," said Cr Rhoades.

"Recent reports in the media claiming that changing the status of councils to body corporate would affect the pay and conditions of council employees are incorrect," he said.

"The former State Government amended councils' legal status from a body corporate to a 'body politic of the State' in November 2008, to ensure councils remained a part of the NSW State industrial relations system instead of falling under Work Choices."

"In late 2009, the Australian Government and the NSW Government implemented a suite of legislative changes that enabled the NSW Minister for Industrial Relations to declare that NSW councils were not national system employers."

"As a consequence, the legal status of NSW councils can now be restored to bodies corporate without impacting upon whether they belong under the State or Federal industrial relations system."

President of the Shires Association of NSW, Cr Ray Donald, said the proposed amendment by the current State Government would restore certainty as to NSW councils' legal status.

"In 2008, the LGSA received legal advice identifying potential legal and practical problems for councils in relation the changed status to body politic," said Cr Donald.

"Problems identified included taxation, due to the different treatment of corporations and individuals under federal taxation law and access to funding," he said.

"Some councils were excluded from tendering for construction work on federally funded projects because they weren't covered by a federal industrial instrument. They were therefore unable to comply with the National Code of Practice for the Building and Construction Industry and the associated guidelines."