Reforms to councillor numbers and allowances

Tasmania’s local government system needs to ensure fair representation and adequate pay for councillors while keeping costs manageable for communities. Having the ‘right’ number of councillors in a local government area is critical to ensuring effective and efficient governance, representation, and service delivery. There is also a natural relationship between levels of representation and appropriate pay, reflecting the individual circumstances of a council, such as population size, geographic spread, asset value, and development activity.

That is why the Tasmanian Government has released a discussion paper, proposing a new, fair, and data-driven system to set councillor numbers and allowances, using factors like population, development activity, infrastructure, urbanisation, and road networks. Key changes include:

Fewer councillors: Reducing the total number of councillors from 263 to 203, with councils having 9, 7, or 5 councillors based on their size and complexity.
Higher allowances: Increasing councillor allowances by 14.25% on average, funded by savings from fewer councillors.
A fairer framework: Aligning councillor numbers and pay to council responsibilities, ensuring equal pay for equal work and consistency across similar councils.
Ongoing reviews: Establishing regular, four-yearly reviews to keep the system up-to-date and responsive to community needs.
Additional support: Exploring whether to require councils to pay the 12% superannuation equivalent allowance into councillors’ super funds.

The discussion paper can be found here:

Your feedback matters

Consultation closed 7 November 2025, with 49 submissions received. These can be viewed below. The Tasmanian Government's final position in response to the consultation can be found here.