The Local Government (Elections) (Periodic Elections) Amendment Act 2026 (the Act)

29 June 2026

The Act completed its Parliamentary processes on Thursday last week, 25 June 2026.

The key issues arising from the Act are:

• the November 2026 periodic elections are cancelled;
• instead, the periodic elections will be held in April 2027;
• any reference within any Act or regulation to the cancelled 2026 periodic elections will now be taken to mean the 2027 periodic elections;
• voting will close at 5:00pm on the third-to-last business day before the second Saturday of April 2027 (i.e 5:00pm Wednesday 7 April 2027);
• the periodic elections thereafter will revert to the usual November cycle commencing November 2031 and four yearly thereafter;
• the voters roll expired on 1 January 2026 – it does not expire again on 1 January 2027;
• all other steps taken for the 2026 periodic elections are void;
• if a council has a caretaker policy that has already triggered the caretaker period (to my knowledge none have) that caretaker period ends upon commencement of the Act;
• despite any provision of a caretaker policy that might cause any decision to adopt the ABP and budget and to declare rates for 2027/28 as a prohibited or significant or (by extension) designated decision, that provision is set aside and councils are expressly permitted to do those things. This is an unusual if not irrelevant provision of the Act because section 123(8) of the LG Act explicitly prevents an ABP and budget being adopted until after 31 May for the following financial year and section 153(5) of the LG Act explicitly prevents rates being declared until after the adoption of the ABP and budget;
• current elected members continue in office until the conclusion of the 2027 elections;
• there will not be any supplementary elections for casual vacancies occurring between late November 2025 and 12 months before polling day in April 2027. Of course, any casual vacancies between November 2026 and April 2027 will not, in any event, be subject to a supplementary election;
• the Remuneration Tribunal may review elected member allowances to account for the extended term of the office – including for CPI adjustments;
• appointments to office, including appointments to the office of Mayor and other representative appointments to committees, boards or panels, are not affected by the change of election date; and
• provision is made for regulations of a transitional nature to be promulgated.

Otherwise, as with the RPSA Voters Roll Manual that we prepared, we are closely liaising with the ECSA about the revised key dates for the 2027 Local Government Periodic Elections. We will provide you with the updated Table of Key Dates as soon as the Acting ECSA signs off on them.

If you have any questions, please contact:
Michael Kelledy on 8113 7103 or mkelledy@kelledyjones.com.au;
Tracy Riddle on 8113 7106 or triddle@kelledyjones.com.au;
Cimon Burke on 8113 7105 or cburke@kelledyjones.com.au or
Charlotte Oldfield on 8113 7112 or coldfield@kelledyjones.com.au