LOCAL GOVERNMENT AMENDMENT 
(RESTRUCTURING) BILL 2013

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF THE NORTHERN TERRITORY

MINISTER FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Serial No. 60

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

GENERAL OUTLINE

This Bill amends the Local Government Act (the Act).

The main purpose of the Bill is to introduce restructuring orders in the Act to allow the Minister to make a range of orders which the Minister considers necessary or desirable to facilitate the restructuring of the local government system in the Northern Territory.

NOTES ON CLAUSES

Clause 1	 Short title

This is a formal clause which provides for the citation of the Bill. The Bill, when assented to, will be cited as the Local Government Amendment (Restructuring)
Act 2013.

As there is no commencement clause, the Amendment Act will commence when it receives the assent of the Administrator.

Clause 2	Act amended

This clause specifies that the Act being amended is the Local Government Act (the Act).

Clause 3	Section 10A and Part 2.2A inserted

This clause inserts new section 10A and Part 2.2A into the Act. 

New section 10A provides that where by-laws are applicable immediately before there are changes to a local government area by constitution of a new area, a change in boundaries, or a change in classification, the by-laws will continue. They will be taken to be by-laws of the council in which the area is now found and they will apply to the extent that they applied before the constitution, boundary change or change in classification of the local government area. The council which now has responsibility for the by-laws may amend or repeal them as if that council had made the by-laws itself.

This means that existing by-laws continue to operate for the specific place for which they were made, but the by-laws may be changed by the new council.

New Part 2.2A provides the Minister with powers to make restructuring orders.

New section 10B refers to section 10C for the definition of a restructuring order. Under section 10C, a restructuring order is one that the Minister considers necessary or desirable to facilitate the restructuring of the system of local government.

New section 10C provides that the Minister may make a restructuring order that he or she considers necessary or desirable to facilitate the restructuring of the system of local government. This includes a number of powers to make specified orders, but the powers are not limited to the making of those specified orders.

The powers include abolishing or constituting a council or a local government area, or establishing a body corporate as the prospective council for a local government area to be constituted. They also include suspending or terminating the term of office of a member, including a principal member of a council and, calling, cancelling, deferring or suspending an election, as well as excluding a council from the ambit of a general election.

The Minister may appoint a person to a vacancy in the membership of a council, including the office of the principal member. The Minister may also appoint a suitable person to manage the affairs of a council, assign a person to an office or position with a council or prospective council, and transfer an employee of a council (with the employee's consent) to employment with another council or a prospective council. 

The Minister may apportion or adjust, between councils or between a council and a prospective council, property, income or expenditure or rights and liabilities. Also, the Minister may order a council to dispose of property or rights and liabilities of the council.

The Minister can direct a council to take any action that the Minister considers appropriate within a period that the Minister may specify. Further, the Minister can use a restructuring order to do anything that the Minister can already do under section 9(2) or section 10(1) of the Act. 

Section 9(2) of the Act includes assigning a name to a council, creating and abolishing wards, determining the number of members for a council and changing the boundaries of a local government area. Section 10(1) of the Act allows the Minister to make any disposition of property or rights and liabilities that may be desirable in consequence of the constitution or abolition of a local government area or a change to the boundaries of a local government area.

The process for the Minister exercising powers under the existing sections 9(2) and 10(1) of the Act is by Gazette notice. While the process under the new Part 2.2A also requires a Gazette notice, it further requires that the orders are to be tabled in the Legislative Assembly and advertised in a newspaper. The Minister can use the restructuring order process in new Part 2.2A to exercise his powers under sections 9(2) and 10(1) of the Act so that all the orders in relation to restructuring, whether already existing in section 9(2), section 10(1) or new in Part 2.2A of the Act, can be processed in the same way.

New section 10D provides for the procedure in relation to the making of a restructuring order. The order must be gazetted and advertised in a newspaper circulating in the local government area affected by the order. A restructuring order must be tabled in the Legislative Assembly within 6 sitting days after it is made. The order takes effect on the date when it is gazetted, or a later date if that is specified in the order. 

New section 10E provides that a restructuring order operates regardless of any inconsistent provision in the Act. It also provides that if a manager is appointed to manage the affairs of a council, the manager assumes the council's functions and has all the powers of the council. Further, if property is transferred under a restructuring order, the transfer does not attract stamp duty. The Registrar-General must make appropriate entries in the land register if there is an application for registration of a disposition of an interest in land under a restructuring order.

A note for section 10E states that section 10A applies in relation to the effect, after a restructuring order, of by-laws made before the order. In other words, those by-laws continue to apply to the extent that they applied before, even if there are changes to boundaries, constitution or classification of a local government area.

New section 10F provides that if a restructuring order establishes a body corporate as a prospective council, the body corporate has the name assigned by the order. This name may or may not be the name intended for the council when it is constituted.

A prospective council is an entity which will develop into a new council. Such a prospective council has full legal capacity, in its corporate name, to acquire or incur any rights, powers, obligations and liabilities that may attach to a body corporate. It also has the powers and functions assigned by the restructuring order.

If a body corporate (prospective council) is established by a restructuring order, the same order or another order must appoint a manager. The manager has the powers and functions of the prospective council as assigned by the restructuring order until it becomes a council, or otherwise ceases to exist. 

New section 10G is a sunset clause which provides that Part 2.2A expires on 1 January 2016. This means that the Minister’s power to make restructuring orders will cease on that date.

Clause 5	Expiry of Act

The Act will expire the day after it commences. When the Act takes effect it will immediately amend the Local Government Act. Once this has happened, there is no need for the Act to remain on the statute books.