1216.0 - Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC), July 2011

ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 05/10/2011 Final

Page tools: Print

Print Page Print all pages in this product

Contents >> Local Government Area Structure >> The Spatial Units

THE SPATIAL UNITS

Statistical Local Area (SLA)

See Main Structure section within this publication.

Local Government Area (LGA)

An LGA included in the ASGC LGA Structure is a spatial unit which represents the whole geographical area of responsibility of an incorporated Local Government Council or an Aboriginal Council in Queensland.

An LGA consists of one or more SLAs. LGAs aggregate directly to form the incorporated areas of S/Ts (see ASGC Structural Chart). In this edition of the ASGC, there are 559 LGAs defined.

Delimitation of LGAs

The creation and delimitation of LGAs is the responsibility of the State and Territory Governments. The number of LGAs, their names and their boundaries vary over time.

Local government bodies perform a wide range of functions in the areas they administer. These functions are defined in legislation such as:

The Local Government Acts in each State and the Northern Territory
Specific Acts and regulations establishing Local Government Areas in Queensland, City of Brisbane Act 1924, and the Commonwealth Aluminium Corporation Pty Limited Agreement (Weipa Town Area) Regulation 1994.

LGA status

In all States and the Northern Territory each incorporated area has an official status. In this ASGC edition, the various LGA status types currently in use are:

New South Wales: Cities (C) and Areas (A)
Victoria: Cities (C), Rural Cities (RC), Boroughs (B) and Shires (S)
Queensland: Cities (C), Shires (S), Towns (T) and Regional Councils (R)
South Australia: Cities (C), Rural Cities (RC), Towns (T), Municipalities/Municipal Councils (M), District Councils (DC), Regional Councils (RegC) and Aboriginal Councils (AC)
Western Australia: Cities (C), Towns (T) and Shires (S)
Tasmania: Cities (C) and Municipalities (M)
Northern Territory: Cities (C), Towns (T), Municipalities (M) and Shires (S).

LGA name

In the LGA Structure LGA names are contracted. A suffix also indicates the LGA status.

Example:

LGA names are not unique across states and territories (e.g. Campbelltown (C) is duplicated between New South Wales and South Australia). An LGA name will become unique when used in conjunction with a state code, or its LGA code.

LGA code

LGAs are identified by four-digit codes as follows:

Codes are unique only within an S/T. For unique Australia-wide LGA code identification, the four-digit code must be preceded by the S/T code. All LGA codes end with the digit 0.
Where an LGA corresponds to an SLA, the LGA code and the SLA code are identical.
Where an LGA consists of more than one SLA, generally the first three digits of the LGA code and the SLA code are identical.

Code 9399 is used to represent unincorporated areas that are not covered by LGAs. This includes the Migratory - Offshore - Shipping SLA. The code enables S/T totals to be produced for some LGA output from the Census of Population and Housing. In such circumstances, code 9399 equates to the aggregated unincorporated SLAs in each S/T.

Example:

S/T LGA

7 9399 Northern Territory, Aggregation of unincorporated SLAs

Special case LGA codes

When an LGA consists of many component SLAs, it becomes impossible to maintain a three-digit link between the LGA code and the SLA codes. This occurs for the LGAs of: Queensland - Brisbane (C), Gold Coast (C), Logan (C), Moreton Bay (R), Redland (C), Sunshine Coast (R), Toowoomba (R), Ipswich (C), Cairns (R), Torres Strait Island (R) and Townsville (C); and for the Northern Territory - Darwin (C) and Palmerston (C).

For example, the LGA of Brisbane (C) in Queensland is split into 158 SLAs, including:

State/Territory (S/T)

See Main Structure section within this publication.