How Are Australian Local Councils Elected?

Australian local governments look after local areas. There are 537 local governments in Australia. The people who are elected to serve a local government are called councillors. The leader of a local government is called the mayor.

Local government members are elected using a ballot system. Elections take place every 4 years. All community members over the age of 18 must vote in their local area. 

One day, our students will have the opportunity to have their say in who runs their local community. They need to be prepared… and that’s where you come in!

This set of templates has been designed to help you hold a mock local government election within your classroom. The download contains five pages, outlined below:

• Task overview
• Policy planning template
• Campaign poster template
• Voting sheet
• Results graph template

How to Conduct a Classroom Election

1. Review roles and responsibilities of local government.
2. Explain to students that their school will be acting as their local community.
3. Students work in groups to form a team that can be elected to take charge of the local community. 
4. Students use Worksheet 1 to record their group names and brainstorm things they would like to do/change around their community if elected.
5. Once groups have a direction, use Worksheet 2 to create a poster or presentation to present to the community (class) explaining why they should be elected.
6. Have each group present to the community (class).
7. Students use the voting sheet to vote for the group they found the most convincing. They cannot vote for themselves.
8. Use the graph to record results. 

Choose Your Preferred File Format

Use the dropdown arrow next to the Download button to choose between the editable Google Slides or quick-print PDF version of this resource.

This resource was created by Renee Murrant, a Teach Starter collaborator.

Click below for more time-saving Australian Government resources!

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Responsibilities of Australian Local Governments - Cloze Worksheet

Explore the roles and responsibilities of local governments around Australia with this differentiated cloze passage worksheet.

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Explore the roles and responsibilities of Australia's three levels of government with this hands-on sorting activity.

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Responsibilities Of Australian Local Governments - Posters

Explore the roles and responsibilities of Australian local governments with this set of classroom posters.