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.
The Auditor General assessed 45 local governments, tabling the Information Systems Audit Report 2022 – Local Government Entities in Parliament on 28 June 2022. This followed the Cyber Security in Local Government performance audit report which was tabled on 24 November 2021.
These audit reports highlight how inadequate and/or insufficient controls can potentially result in system breaches, the compromising of sensitive and confidential information and financial loss. In particular, recent public cyber security threats require a proactive approach to security and the implementation of controls to protect valuable information and systems.
Six key issues identified in the report are:
All local governments need to ensure they have policies and procedures that address ‘guiding principles’ of the better practice principles to manage cyber security risks the Auditor General identified in Appendix 1 of the Cyber Security in Local Government report.
Action plans addressing significant matters related to the local government must be submitted to the Minister for Local Government and published on the local government’s website.
The action plan must address the points above, as they relate to the local government in question.
For further information: