Council's Local Laws

The Local Government Act 1995 enables Western Australian local governments to make local laws considered necessary for the good government of their districts. Laws can only be made when authorised by the Local Government Act 1995 or other written laws but cannot be inconsistent with any State or Federal law. The types of laws made by local governments cover areas such as car parking, activities on thoroughfares, public places and council and committee meetings.

Local laws are defined as subsidiary legislation which are capable of disallowance by either House of Parliament under section 42 of the Interpretation Act 1984. Disallowance is the device by which the Parliament maintains control of the power to make subsidiary legislation that it has delegated, by primary legislation (Acts of Parliament), to local governments, State Departments and other agencies of Government. In the case of local governments, this power is granted by the Local Government Act 1995 and other particular Acts such as the Health Act 1911 and the Dog Act 1976.

Other accountability mechanisms impacting on local laws are:

• the local community, which under the Act is required to be consulted on proposed local laws;
• the Minister for Local Government, who is charged with administering the Department of Local Government which monitors local law making;
• the power of the Minister to request the Governor to make local laws that repeal or amend local laws or prevent certain local laws being made; and
• the courts, which can pronounce on the validity of local laws.

 

Local laws must be reviewed every eight years to ensure they remain current and suitable for their intended purpose.

 

PDF files are used on www.chittering.wa.gov.au for large documents and other resources. Where a document is not designed to be exclusively printed, an accessible alternative file (for example HTML, Rich Text) may be obtained by emailing chatter@chittering.wa.gov.au and request the publication by quoting the title of the document and your requested format.

  

AUSTRALIAN STANDARDS QUOTED IN LOCAL LAWS

Australian Standards (AS) are sometimes quoted in local laws to provide the basis for industry standards for the matter it relates to.

These may be inspected at the Shire of Chittering Administration Office, free of charge, during business hours.

 

Please note, these Standards are copyright to Standards Australia, and accordingly:

• They are able to be discussed with the relevant employee in person or on the telephone; and
• They can be inspected free of charge at the Administration Office
• If we don't hold a current copy of the relevant Standard, we will obtain it for you to view

 

Because of copyright, we will not:

• Email quotes of text taken from a Standard
• Permit photocopying of photos to be taken on a mobile phone etc.

 

Should you need a copy of the Standard, please contact Standards Australia.

 

See their contacts page for an online enquiry form or:

Telephone: 1800 035 822 (free call) or (o2) 9237 6000

Post: GPO Box 476, Sydney NSW, 2001.