The department provides support and advisory services to 139 local governments, including 2 Indian Ocean Territories.
Our services aim to improve the capacity of local governments to respond to community demands and expectations, levels of accountability and legislative compliance.
There are 2 support services available to local government officers and council members — a general advisory line and a financial policy and accounting help desk. Members of the public with concerns involving their local government should attempt to resolve them directly with their local government.
Find out more about resolving a concern with your local government
Email lghotline@dlgsc.wa.gov.auTelephone 1300 762 5118:30am to 4:30pm, Monday to Friday
To allow for an informed response, it is preferred that complex enquiries are made by email in the first instance.
Questions related to long service leave should be directed to the responsible area of the relevant local government, or if a member, to WALGA's Employee Relations service.
Financial and accounting support for WA’s local government sector.
Guidelines to help local governments work efficiently and effectively.
A guide to meetings for elected members to support their effective participation in council and committee meetings.
Last week the questions for the 2022 Compliance Audit Return (CAR) were emailed to all local governments. The questions (as attached) have been updated with minor clarifications to three questions:
The Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries (DLGSC) is currently transitioning to a new Smarthub system.
Due to this transition, a temporary CAR portal will be used until the new system is implemented. Please note that once the CAR portal is available, an invitation to register will be sent to all local governments.
As previous Smarthub logins are no longer valid, all users will need to register for a new account.
New accounts will require a local government domain (@localgovernment.wa.gov.au) and cannot be generic, e.g. governance@localgovernment.wa.gov.au
The CAR portal will enable local governments to complete the attached questions and upload any required and supporting documents.
Once the CAR questions are completed, a PDF copy of the CAR will be sent to the registered email for review, consideration by relevant audit committees and adoption by councils.
Once adopted, local governments are required to upload and submit the completed CAR through the portal by 31 March 2023.
Should you have any questions, please contact the Support and Engagement team at lghotline@dlgsc.wa.gov.au