Delegations and Authorisations
The Local Government Act 2020 allows Council to delegate their powers by resolution to ensure the many decisions required to be made are done so in an efficient way, allowing Council meetings to remain focused on strategic matters and community leadership rather than being operationally focused. An authorised officer is a person, other than a Councillor, appointed by Council to carry out a compliance function or an enforcement function under legislation related to the functions and powers of Council.
Where authorisations and delegations have been made, the decision lies with the delegated officer and cannot be influenced by those initially delegated the powers. The Instrument of Delegation or Authorisation is documentary evidence of the delegation given to a staff member or their appointment as an authorised person.
Council subscribes to a delegations and authorisations service produced by Maddocks Lawyers. Maddocks reviews all legislation that impacts local government in Victoria and distributes an updated schedule of delegations that reflects any legislative changes. This template is used by many Victorian councils and reflects common practice within the industry. Drawing on these updates, the Instruments are updated periodically as legislation is amended, or new legislation is introduced which impacts upon the operations of Council.
The instruments are:
- S18 - Instrument of Sub Delegation under the EPA 2017(PDF, 632KB)
Instrument of Sub- Delegation from Council to members of Council staff under the Environment Protection Act 2017.The Environment Protection Act 2017(the new EP Act) and Environment Protection Regulations2021 came into effect on 1 July 2021. Under the new EP Act the scope of local government’s role as a regulator has not changed, but there are changes to the laws and powers of local governments, including a new delegation of powers from the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) to councils. The S18 sub-delegates Council’s powers (delegated to it by the EPA) to members of Council staff; and
These instruments will be updated every 6-12 months to ensure that they include the latest changes to legislation.