Local government boundary reviews
The Local Government Change Commission (Change Commission) is the independent body responsible for assessing proposed changes to Queensland councils.
Before this can happen, change proposals must first be provided to the Minister responsible for Local Government (the Minister) for consideration. Initial enquiries about proposing a change to the Minister should be directed to the relevant regional advisor from the Department of Housing, Local Government, Planning and Public Works. The department has prepared a guide about local government change proposals here.
Once a change request is received, the Minister decides whether to refer the proposal to the Change Commission for a detailed assessment.
The types of assessments that can be done by the Change Commission include:
- Divisional boundary reviews - assessing the internal boundaries of a divided council (known as divisions or wards).
- External boundary reviews - assessing the common boundaries between councils.
- Electoral arrangement reviews - assessing whether a council is divided, undivided, the number of councillors, council name or classification (city, shire, region, town) and other such changes.
Once the Change Commission finalises an assessment, it must provide its recommendation to the Minister and publicly release its report.
The Minister will consider whether any changes recommended by the Change Commission should be recommended to the Governor in Council to implement under a regulation. The regulation may provide for anything that is necessary or convenient to facilitate the change.
Find out more about current Change Commission reviews:
Fact sheets
- Fact Sheet 1: An overview of the Change Commission PDF (0.03 MB)
- Fact Sheet 2: Divisional (Ward) Boundary Reviews PDF (0.03 MB)
- Fact Sheet 3: External Boundary Reviews PDF (0.03 MB)
- Fact Sheet 4: Electoral Arrangement Reviews PDF (0.03 MB)
Legislative requirements
Assessments will be based on the following legislation (and subordinate regulations):
Brisbane City Council
All other Queensland local government areas
Spatial data
Spatial data relating to local government divisional and area boundaries are available to download from QSpatial.
Contact us
For further information, please phone 1300 881 665 or email LGboundaries@ecq.qld.gov.au.