National Local Government Areas

Disclaimer

Geoscape Australia believes this publication to be correct at the time of printing and does not accept responsibility for any consequences arising from the use of the information herein. Readers should rely on their own skill and judgement to apply information to particular issues.
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Overview

National Local Government Areas is a spatial representation of the administrative divisions that local governments are responsible for across Australia defined by State and Territory governments. The dataset aggregates the representations unique to each jurisdiction into a consistent seamless representation of the local government areas of Australia.

Geoscape welcomes your feedback on the National Local Government Areas product. We also publish regular product development updates on our website ( www.geoscape.com.au ).

Release Summary

This product was released to customers on 18 May 2026 with data extracted on 8 May 2026.

  • This release is a full national data population for Version 2.1 of the National Local Government Areas product, described by the National Local Government Areas Product Guide v2.1.

Any issues that have been identified for this release are described in the Issues section.

Change Notifications

Versioning Update (Effective June 2026)

Beginning June 2026, all data products will transition to a standardised versioning format: MAJOR-MINOR-EXTRACT (e.g., 004-000-001). This approach provides a clear and consistent structure, making it easier for users to identify product versions and understand update levels at a glance. The change is intended to improve transparency, reduce ambiguity, and support more efficient integration and usage of our data products.

Implementation of New Zip File Naming and Packaging Standards (Starting August 2026)

As part of ongoing improvements to product consistency and packaging standards, updates to zip file naming conventions and internal packaging structure will be implemented, starting in August 2026.

Zip File Naming

Two standard naming patterns will be used, depending on whether an extract contains spatial information:

  • Spatial Tables:

{PRODUCT-NAME}_{RELEASE YYYYMM}_{REGION}_{CRS}_{FORMAT}_{VERSION MAJOR-MINOR-EXTRACT}.zip

  • Aspatial (Insights) Tables:

{PRODUCT-NAME}_{RELEASE YYYYMM}_{REGION}_NODATUM_{FORMAT}_{VERSION MAJOR-MINOR-EXTRACT}.zip

Packaging Structure

All zip files will follow a simplified, flat directory layout:

  • No nested folders

  • The primary data file will be located at the top level of the zip.

Note: The product package will no longer include supporting content.txt files.

These changes ensure consistent packaging across all products, reduce complexity, and support improved automation and user experience.

Updates

New and Retired

New

New lga records:

lga_pid

lga_name

state

lgaVgu0GvW1EC5u

Shire of Cocos (Keeling) Islands

OT

'N/A' indicates that no records of this type exist

New lga_locality records:

lga_locality_pid

lga_pid

lga_name

locality_pid

locality_name

state

lgljg_pUnAetwSJ

lgae04a9b8beff3

The Hills Shire Council

loc70f6a92b24c0

Winston Hills

NSW

lglPHq-t7KcJuzu

lgaVgu0GvW1EC5u

Shire of Cocos (Keeling) Islands

loc2750e00db227

Home Island

OT

lglsCpcQe5dvfee

lgaVgu0GvW1EC5u

Shire of Cocos (Keeling) Islands

loc82a2b1f10de5

West Island

OT

'N/A' indicates that no records of this type exist

Retired

Retired lga records:

lga_pid

lga_name

state

lgavVLPwROnK-AV

Shire Cocos (Keeling) Islands

OT

'N/A' indicates that no records of this type exist

Retired lga_locality records:

lga_locality_pid

lga_pid

lga_name

locality_pid

locality_name

state

lglB3RgWlQVPl1T

lgavVLPwROnK-AV

Shire Cocos (Keeling) Islands

loc2750e00db227

Home Island

OT

lglyOXUGnIA1T3-

lgavVLPwROnK-AV

Shire Cocos (Keeling) Islands

loc82a2b1f10de5

West Island

OT

'N/A' indicates that no records of this type exist

Spatial Changes

Spatial changes (area) greater than 1 km2 are shown below:

lga_pid

lga_name

state

Difference_SQKM

Old_SQKM

New_SQKM

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

'N/A' indicates that no records of this type exist

Other Updates

There were no other updates.

Issues

New Issues

No new issues.

Resolved Issues

No resolved issues to note.

Known Issues

Un-enclosed gaps between Local Government Areas in NT

There are three un-enclosed gaps present in the National Local Government Areas data in NT. These gaps are not valid and do not represent rivers. Below, the un-enclosed gaps can be seen between polygons when they are dissolved together.

Image of Un-enclosed gaps between LGAs in NT

SA coastline generalisation for The DC of Grant

Jurisdictional changes to the coastline geometry have resulted in polygon generalisation for ‘The DC of Grant’ LGA in South Australia. This has reduced the number of vertices in the polygons resulting in geometry differences and, in some scenarios, the creation of new polygons for the LGA. Below is an example where the previous Admin Boundaries LGA outline (blue) can be seen compared to the new National Local Government Area product representation (red area).

Image of coastline generalisation in SA

Geoscape is currently investigating this generalisation with the SA jurisdiction.

Single VIC lga_locality linkage not made

The LGA named ‘Mount Buller Alpine Resort (Unincorporated)’ (lga_pid = lga69dad94a9718) does not link to the ’Mount Buller’ locality (locality_pid = ‘loc8688ba223de1’) record despite new rules which allow small LGAs that are contained within, or have large overlap with, a locality.

Future Considerations

This section outlines enhancements or changes under consideration, but not planned into a specific release. For further details on future initiatives, please contact Geoscape Support.

Annex A – Release Counts

Additional, retired and total National Local Government Areas counts and the percent change to the previous release have been listed in the table below.

TABLE

STATISTIC

ACT

NSW

NT

OT

QLD

SA

TAS

VIC

WA

TOTAL

lga

Additional

0

31

0

2

16

13

5

0

45

112

Retired

0

31

0

2

15

13

5

0

45

111

Updated

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Total

0

198

800

3

210

173

533

92

201

2,210

% Change

0.00%

0.00%

0.00%

0.00%

0.48%

0.00%

0.00%

0.00%

0.00%

0.05%

lga_locality

Total

0

5,044

319

3

3,344

2,078

888

3,339

1,753

16,768