Annual reports and governance registers

Extract Local Government (Elections) Regulations 1997
Regulation 30G. Register

(1) The CEO is to establish and maintain an electoral gift register.

(2) The CEO is to ensure that all ‘disclosure of gifts’ forms completed by candidates and received by the CEO are placed on the electoral gift register - 

   (a) upon receipt by the CEO; and 

   (b) in a manner that clearly identifies and distinguishes the forms relating to each candidate.

(3) Any ‘disclosure of gifts’ forms relating to a candidate must be kept on the electoral gift register until the end of the period of 4 years after the relevant election day.

(4) The CEO must –

   (a) remove those forms from the electoral gift register at the end of that 4‑year period; and

   (b) retain them separately for a period of at least 2 years.

(5) The CEO must publish an up-to-date version of the electoral gift register on the local government’s official website.

(6) The version of the electoral gift register published under subregulation (5) must not include the address of an individual included in a ‘disclosure of gifts’ form and must instead include the town or suburb mentioned in the address.

(7) In this regulation, references to a ‘disclosure of gifts’ form include a statutory declaration lodged under regulation 30D(3)(c).

The Local Government Act 1995 requires Council Members and employees to make decisions in the best interests of the community, and decision-making must be transparent, accountable and free from bias or conflicts of interest.
 
Council Members and employees with delegated authority must disclose certain personal information when they commence at the City and every subsequent year while either elected, or employed at the City. These disclosures are called primary returns and annual returns.
 
A primary return is a snapshot of personal financial information as it exists upon the start date of a Council Member or an employee. An annual return retrospectively discloses any changes to the information previously disclosed, or any new interest information to disclose since completing their last return.
 
In accordance with the Local Government Act 1995 and the Local Government (Administration) Regulations 1996, local governments are required to publish a list of Council Members and employees (by position) who lodged a primary return and annual return for each financial year, commencing after 1 July 2020.

The Local Government (Administration) Regulations 1996 require the City to publish a register of any fees, expenses or allowances paid to each Council Member for each financial year since 1 July 2020.

The allowances, fees and expenses for Council Members are determined by the Salaries and Allowances Tribunal. As at 1 July 2025 the allowances and fees for Council Members are as follows:

• Annual Sitting Fee – Councillor                   $35,480.00 pa
• Annual Sitting Fee – Mayor                         $53,215.00 pa
• Mayoral Allowance                                      $100,514.00 pa
• Deputy Mayor Allowance (25%)                 $25,128.48 pa
• ICT Allowance – Councillor/Mayor                $3,500.00 pa

In accordance with Schedule 1 of the Salaries and Allowances Tribunal, the City of Rockingham is a Band 1 local government. 

As per section 5.127(1) and (2) of the Local Government Act 1995, the Chief Executive Officer is to publish a report each financial year detailing the training completed by Council Members within the financial year.

From 1 January 2026, complaints are managed under the new Local Government Inspector system. However, the publication requirements for earlier findings still apply during the transitional period. Under Regulation 25(3) of the Local Government (Local Government Inspector) Regulations 2025, local governments must continue to publish findings made before 1 January 2026 under the former law (Local Government Act 1995, ss.5.110 and 5.121, now repealed). This register therefore includes all pre‑2026 “minor breach” findings and the actions ordered.

The Gifts Register contains those disclosures of gifts that have been made by Council Members and the Chief Executive Officer in their official capacity which are valued over $300.00 or are two or more gifts with a cumulative value over $300.00 (where the gifts are received from the same donor in a 12 month period).

The Local Government Act 1995 requires the Chief Executive Officer to publish an up to date version of the Gifts Register on the City’s website within 10 days after a disclosure is made. To protect the privacy of individuals, the version of the register published on the website does not include the address disclosed by an individual and will instead include the town or suburb mentioned in the address.