Today on the Local Government News Roundup:
- Hepburn Shire’s CEO resigns
- Pyrenees Shire chooses an interim, as its CEO prepares to retire
- Tributes flow after the passing of one the sector’s long serving community champions
- A win in the Blue Mountains over a contentious data centre proposal
- A boundary change set to take effect for two NSW councils
- Deadlines approach for tough budget decisions in Queensland
- A South Australian council challenges a tribunal ruling on CEO pay
Plus — a Whittlesea councillor who took an idea all the way from Melbourne’s growth corridor to a TEDx stage in Houston, Texas.
Listen to this episode now:
Victoria
Hepburn Shire Council CEO Bradley Thomas has resigned, effective 21 August.
Mr Thomas has been with the council since 2019 and has served as CEO since 2021. He was reappointed on a new contract by the Council last year.
Mayor Cr Tony Clark thanked Mr Thomas for his leadership, including his work on the council’s financial sustainability program.
Council says it will announce interim C-E-O arrangements and a recruitment timeline in the coming weeks.
Mr Thomas has not revealed any future career plans beyond leaving Hepburn Shire in August.
His tenure with the council has not been without difficulty.
In March, a community member was fined and placed on a good behaviour bond in the Ballarat Magistrates Court after throwing coffee at Mr Thomas — a case the council used to publicly advocate for stronger workplace protections for local government staff and elected officials.
That same month, Mr Thomas and Councillor Don Henderson were served with private criminal charges initiated by local businessman David Penman — not by Victoria Police or any public prosecutorial authority.
The council expressed full support for both men and stated it would uphold any outcome handed down by the courts. Unlike Cr Henderson, Mr Thomas was not required to stand down during that process and continued in his role throughout.
The private prosecution are ongoing, and due back in court in August.
Pyrenees Shire Council has appointed former Central Goldfields and current Baw Baw Shire interim CEO Sally Jones for a period of up to six months.
She succeeds retiring CEO Jim Nolan, who finishes on 10th July. Council director Douglas Gowans will step up as acting CEO until Ms Jones’ arrival on 3rd August.
The council says it will initiate a rigorous recruitment process for a permanent chief executive in the coming weeks.
Tributes are flowing after the passing Chris Meddows-Taylor, a dedicated local government servant – a former long-serving councillor and six-time Mayor of Central Goldfields Shire Council.
First elected in 2005, Chris served twelve years on Council — including a remarkable return after the Shire’s 2017 dismissal and period of administration.
He concluded his sixth term as Mayor in November 2022.
Current Central Goldfields Mayor Ben Green praised Mr Meddows-Taylor as a true gentleman and a tireless champion for community advocacy.
He was a driving force behind the Victorian Goldfields World Heritage Listing bid and was awarded the Mayor Emeritus honour by the Municipal Association of Victoria.
I had the personal pleasure of working with Chris over the years, and always found him to be a decent and thoughtful person, strongly dedicated to his community.
My sincere condolences to his family, friends, and all who served alongside him.
Vale Chris Meddows-Taylor.
NSW
Blue Mountains City Council has welcomed the withdrawal of a contentious data centre proposal for Barton Street in Katoomba.
Mayor Mark Greenhill stated the intensive development was the wrong proposal for the location, citing significant water and power demands, alongside risks to local amenity and its proximity to residential homes and a public school.
An ongoing New South Wales parliamentary inquiry continues to investigate the broader impacts of data centres across the state.
Warrumbungle Shire Council and NSW Police have seized more than one hundred thousand dollars’ worth of illegal tobacco products in a joint operation in Coonabarabran.
Officers searched a Dalgarno Street business last week, allegedly finding cigarettes, vapes, loose “chop-chop” tobacco, nicotine pouches and drug paraphernalia.
An emergency cease-use order has been issued, with charges expected.
The New South Wales Electoral Commission has set the twenty-second of August as the date for a by-election at Kiama Municipal Council, following the resignation of Councillor Mike Cains earlier this month.
Mr Cains, who was elected as an independent in twenty-twenty-four, stood down earlier this month for personal reasons.
Nominations close on the twenty-second of July, with pre-polling opening on the fifteenth of August.
Cabonne Council says a boundary change bringing North Yeoval into the Cabonne local government area is now final, taking effect from July 1, 2026.
The move follows joint work with Dubbo Regional Council and community consultation.
Cabonne’s Mayor Kevin Beatty said the change was a “positive, community-driven outcome,” while Dubbo mayor Josh Black described is a decision that made sense for everyone.
A funding agreement covers local projects including a shared pathway and new signage.
Gilgandra Shire Council has backed away from a proposal to introduce new household rubbish and green waste disposal fees for the upcoming financial year.
Following a six-week community consultation that drew over 100 formal submissions, councillors voted down the user-pay charges, citing local cost-of-living concerns.
However, a new five-dollar fee per timber pallet has been adopted. Council is now finalising its ten-year waste strategy ahead of a broader review to inform its 2027/28 budget.
Queensland
North Burnett Regional Council will vote tonight on a proposed 12.5% average rates increase as part of 2026-27 budget.
The increase has been scaled back from an initial 17% forecast due to community cost-of-living pressures.
Even so, the council anticipates a $9.31 million operating loss for the financial year, driven by rising material costs and significant damage from recent severe weather. More from the Cairns Post.
Redland City Council Acting Mayor Julie Talty says the council is confronting difficult choices ahead of its Special Budget Meeting today.
Cr Talty says rising core costs have prompted reviews into service frequencies and potential user-pays models, though essential infrastructure remains prioritised.
The council also claims to have found millions of dollars in efficiencies, identified following an external operational review.
Two Sunshine Coast councillors say they’ll donate their 3.25 per cent pay rises to local community and charity groups, after council handed down a tough budget featuring higher rates and cuts.
Christian Dickson says he’ll redirect the increase to Bloomhill Cancer Care and the Sunshine Coast Animal Refuge.
Taylor Bunnag says his first donation will be 13-hundred dollars to Maroochy Little Athletics, with more local groups to follow. More from Sunshine Coast News.
Noosa Shire Council is continuing its targeted crackdown on illegal camping across local hotspots. Working alongside Queensland Police, recent early-morning patrols yielded 37 infringement notices and one caution.
Council officials say the operations focus strictly on visitors misusing public spaces, rather than individuals experiencing homelessness.
The shire is also preparing to trial mobile Licence Plate Recognition technology to further deter illegal overnight stays.
South Australia
Burnside Council in South Australia is appealing a decision by the State Remuneration Tribunal that slashed its chief executive’s maximum allowable salary to roughly $321,000.
*The Advertiser reported* that the council’s submission highlights complex governance challenges, including extensive statutory and legal reviews driven by highly engaged residents, alongside a history of internal elected member friction.
The tribunal’s previous indexing decision was tied to the council falling just short of a $56 million operating income threshold following a pandemic-era rates freeze.
Western Australia
The Shire of Derby West Kimberley is demanding an immediate review of Department of Justice court processes across the region.
Shire President Peter McCumstie says extensive travel distances and severe delays are creating unsustainable barriers for residents and families trying to meet legal obligations.
The Shire is calling for urgent interim funding to resolve the backlog, ahead of a wider structural review to ensure a fairer, more accessible regional justice system.
The Town of Port Hedland will remove the historically significant Black Rock Stakes Sculpture after inspections found the artwork has become an unacceptable safety risk.
Councillors voted to dismantle it, with the mayor Jacinta Behrend saying public safety must come first while the town works to preserve local history.
The sculpture commemorates the Black Rock Stakes wheelbarrow race held from 1971 to 2010, and the town is asking the community for help to identify the original artist.
International
UK:
The Chief Executive of Norfolk County Council, Tom McCabe, has resigned, after reportedly being placed in an untenable position by council leadership.
His decision follows a directive from the newly elected Reform UK administration to halt work on a proposed local government reorganisation.
BBC News reported that the authority is also launching a legal challenge against government plans to replace the council with three unitary authorities next year.
The council is looking internally to appoint an acting chief executive while permanent recruitment begins.
A London local government authority is facing scrutiny over changes to its flag-flying protocols.
Yahoo News reported that Enfield Council‘s new administration has defended its decision not to fly the Pride flag outside its civic centre this month.
The leadership said that its revised policy restricts standard displays to traditional civic and national flags, arguing they represent all residents equally.
Opposition councillors have criticised the move, calling it “a slap in the face” to the LGBT community.
A Leicestershire Council councillor has apologised after publicly criticising a staff member for wearing a trans-flag-coloured lanyard.
A member conduct panel determined the social media post negatively impacted staff and council reputation, prompting an unreserved apology from the cabinet member.
BBC News has more on that story.
USA:
California has launched what its government says is the nation’s first public dashboard tracking A-I-related job losses.
The California A-I Unemployment Tracker cross-references unemployment insurance claims with data on how exposed each occupation is to artificial intelligence — and will be updated monthly.
CBS News reports that Initial findings show no mass displacement, though elevated claims have been flagged among college-educated workers in high-exposure roles, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area.
CANADA:
Canada’s Federation of Municipalities has launched a new Defence Task Force — marking the first time the organisation has formally engaged with national defence policy in its history.
The task force is designed to strengthen collaboration between local governments and the federal government as Canada significantly increases its military spending.
It will focus on dual-use infrastructure, housing, transport, water, and energy systems that serve both communities and national security needs.
Co-chair Cr Will Cole-Hamilton from Comox, British Columbia, said the F-C-M had not previously had a single line of policy or formal relationship with the Department of National Defence.
INTERVIEW:
Cr Christine Stow represents North Ward at the City of Whittlesea in Melbourne.
As the full-time carer for her daughter Imyjen, who lives with a rare muscle condition, Cr Stow has spent years working across government, community and the disability sector to change not just services — but the systems that deliver them.
Earlier this year she was selected from nearly eight hundred applicants to speak at TEDxThirdWard in Houston, Texas, making the case that scaling broken systems only creates bigger problems — and that real change starts with questioning the assumptions we’ve stopped noticing.
Christine speaks with Chris on the Local Government News Roundup about her TEDx experience, and how she hopes decision makers will be inspired by her message.
Teaser: https://youtube.com/shorts/WpYhnoFDuTM?si=54tvXu1Cr7DOs5O6