The Local Government Inspectorate investigates alleged offences under the Local Government Act 2020 – including electoral offences.
Our role in local government elections is to receive, assess and investigate matters and offences related to electoral provisions of the Act. This may involve candidates, community groups and voters.
General council elections are held once every four years but by-elections or other elections may be held at other times.
Visit our dedicated local government 2024 elections page.
We work in partnership with the Victorian Electoral Commission, which runs council elections in Victoria, and other agencies to ensure the integrity of elections.
We monitor the submission of campaign donation returns by candidates. We may prosecute any candidate who fails to comply with the Act.
We also:
- produce reports and bulletins about council elections
- provide guidance about how to authorise social media posts.
Election reports and bulletins
As part of our information and guidance program, we publish reports on investigation and audit outcomes related to elections and information to improve the fairness and transparency of elections.
Council election campaigns and donation returns
Local government election candidates must provide a record of whether they did or didn’t receive any donations, gifts or in-kind support for their election campaign.
Sample council policies
Find sample local government policies on topics including procurement, complaints, governance arrangements, election period policies and councillors’ code of conduct.
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