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Council elections could be set for a shake-up under proposed new legislation currently before NSW Parliament. The Local Government Amendment (Elections) Bill 2025 is also subject to a NSW Upper House inquiry. The bill proposes a number of amendments to the Local Government Act 1993 and the Local Government (General) Regulation 2021. This includes a requirement that all local council elections be administered by the NSW Electoral Commissioner only, effectively prohibiting the use of private electoral service providers to administer elections. Gunnedah Shire Council has previously scolded the state government for the exorbitant cost of running local government elections. Gunnedah […]

Working parents will now be paid super when they take leave to care for their babies – a reform that will boost a mother-of-two’s retirement savings by about $14,800 and help to fix gender inequity. Until now, parental leave was the only type of paid leave that didn’t attract super — whether funded by employers or the government. That changed on July 1, with superannuation now paid on Commonwealth Parental Leave Pay — a long-overdue reform that will meaningfully reduce the gender super gap. Paying super on the Commonwealth parental leave scheme will benefit around 200,000 Australian mothers each year. […]