Census Collection District (CD)
See chapter 2, The spatial units.
Statistical Local Area (SLA)
See chapter 2, The spatial units.
Local Government Area (LGA)
The LGA is a spatial unit which represents the whole, undivided geographical area of responsibility of either an incorporated Local Government Council, or an incorporated CGC of sufficient size and statistical significance in the Northern Territory.
An LGA consists of one or more SLAs. LGAs aggregate directly to form the incorporated areas of S/Ts (see diagram 3, chapter 1). In this edition of the ASGC, there are 627 LGAs. The major unincorporated areas, not covered by LGAs, are the large northern parts of South Australia, most of the Northern Territory, all of the Australian Capital Territory and the Other Territories.
Delimitation of LGAs
The number of LGAs and their boundaries vary over time. Their creation and delimitation is the responsibility of the respective State/Territory Governments and is governed by the provision of the Local Government Acts within the particular State/Territory.
Traditionally, local governments have developed around communities. The boundaries to these areas have occurred for physical reasons (i.e. rivers or roads), for socioeconomic reasons (e.g. focused around an industry) or because the government has provided infrastructure as an incentive to attract population.
More recently, with the aim of administrative efficiency, the Victorian and South Australian Governments have amalgamated local governments and other States are reviewing their local government structures.
LGA types
In all States and the Northern Territory each incorporated area has an official status. In this ASGC edition, the various LGA status types currently in use are:
- New South Wales: Cities (C) and Areas (A)
- Victoria: Cities (C), Rural Cities (RC), Boroughs (B) and Shires (S)
- Queensland: Cities (C), Shires (S) and Towns (T)
- South Australia: Cities (C), Rural Cities (RC), Municipalities/Municipal Councils (M) and District Councils (DC)
- Western Australia: Cities (C), Towns (T) and Shires (S)
- Tasmania: Cities (C) and Municipalities (M)
- Northern Territory: Cities (C), Towns (T), Community Government Councils (CGC) and Shires (S)
LGA name
The naming conventions for LGAs in the ASGC are as follows:
- LGA names include a suffix which identifies the LGA’s status.
| Example: | |
| Albury (C)
Copper Coast (DC) | |
- With one exception, LGA names are unique across States and Territories. The LGA name Campbelltown (C) is duplicated between New South Wales and South Australia. This LGA name will become unique only when used in conjunction with its LGA code or respective State code.
LGA code
LGAs are identified by four-digit codes as follows:
- Codes are unique only within an S/T. For unique Australia-wide LGA code identification, the four-digit code must be preceded by a unique one-digit S/T code. All LGA codes end with the digit 0.
- Where an LGA corresponds to an SLA, the LGA code and the SLA code are identical.
- Where an LGA consists of more than one SLA the first three digits of the LGA code and the SLA code are, in most cases, identical. The 13 exceptions to this general rule are explained in Special case LGA codes, below
Special case LGA codes
When an LGA consists of many component SLAs, it becomes impossible to maintain a three-digit link between the LGA code and the SLA codes. This occurs for the LGAs of: Queensland—Brisbane (C), Gold Coast (C), Logan (C), Pine Rivers (S), Redland (S), Caboolture (S), Maroochy (S), Ipswich (C), Cairns (C), Thuringowa (C) and Townsville (C); and for the Northern Territory—Darwin (C) and Palmerston (T).
State/Territory (S/T)
See chapter 2, The spatial units.