FAQs

One of the ways that Council regulates activity in our city is by the adoption of By-Laws. The Local Government Act 1999 (the Act) provides councils with the power to set certain rules about what activities are permitted, what activities require permission and what activities are prohibited. By-Laws are used, along with a range of other mechanisms, to ensure that residents and visitors of our Council can enjoy a clean, safe and enjoyable city. By-Laws are local legislation, and therefore cannot encroach onto subject matter which is already covered by Federal or State legislation.

By-Laws operate in a two-part system. The first part being the By-Law document itself, which contains the necessary power for Council to regulate a certain activity (e.g. gives Council the power to set ‘dog on leash’ areas). The second part is how Council resolves to apply that regulation (e.g. dogs must be ‘on leash’ at Blue Lake Sports Park and the Railway Lands). Council cannot resolve to apply a regulation to an activity which is not provided for in the By-Law documents themselves, however they will not necessarily apply a regulation to all activities which are included. 

City of Mount Gambier currently has five (5) By-Laws including:

• No. 1 – Permits and Penalties
• No. 2 – Local Government Land
• No. 3 – Roads
• No. 4 – Moveable Signs
• No. 5 - Dogs

There is also one (1) new By-Law being proposed during this review:

• No. 6 – Cats 

By-Laws must be reviewed once in every seven years and Council’s current By-Laws are due to expire on 1 January 2026. The review includes consideration of changes in relevant legislation, changes in the compliance requirements or activities of the council and issues of particular significance to the community which may be reasonably regulated by a By-Law.

Refer to the Summary of Changes document to understand the changes to Council’s existing and proposed By-Laws.

Reviewing By-Laws is an extremely prescriptive and complex process, which usually commences more than 12 months ahead of when the new By-Laws will come into effect. Council is required to meet several criteria, including engagement with the community and stakeholders such as the Dog and Cat Management Board (DCMB) and Department for Infrastructure and Transport (DIT), prior to adopting By-Laws. Ultimately, the final documents must be approved by the Legislative Review Council (LRC) before they can become operational. Kelledy Jones Lawyers have been engaged to assist Council with this process, and the new By-Laws will come into operation from 1 January 2026. 

The community consultation will be conducted in two (2) phases, aligned to how the By-Laws operate:

1. Feedback on the By-Law documents themselves – during this phase we are seeking your feedback on the powers contained in By-Law documents (e.g. should there be a provision which enables Council to regulate dogs), and 
2. Feedback on the application of the By-Law documents within Council’s area (e.g. what areas should dogs be allowed off leash). 

The current consultation is phase one (1), where we are seeking your feedback on the By-Laws themselves. Phase (2) of consultation will be conducted in the second half of 2025. 

The proposed Cats By-Law has been proposed following feedback received during community consultation undertaken in 2023 regarding Council’s Dog and Cat Management Plan. The community indicated a desire for Council to take a more active role in cat management, including the adoption of a Cats By-Law.

There are four key provisions included in the proposed Cats By-Law: 

1. Making cat registration mandatory.
2. Creating a ‘nuisance offence’ which will include elements such as property damage, aggressive behaviour and wandering on to private property. 
3. Set a limit of two cats per household. However, this provision will only apply to cats born after the commencement of the Cats By-Law and will not impact existing cats.
4. Allow Council to put containment requirements in place (e.g. curfews) in the future. 

There will be further consultation on the implementation of the Cats By-Law and not all provisions will be operational from 1 January 2026. There will be a transitional grace period to enable community education prior to any enforcement of the proposed new provisions.

Once the Cat By-Law is fully operational, Council’s General Inspectors will undertake enforcement activity similar to enforcement of Council’s Dogs By-Law.

The Legislative Review Committees (LRC) preference is for By-Laws to use gender neutral language rather than gender specific language e.g. ‘unisex’ or ‘all-gender’, not exclusively ‘men’, ‘male’ or ‘women’, ‘female’. The preference is for local government to consider modernising the language of restrictions to public amenities in Council’s Local Government Land By-Law to be consistent with the model clauses provided in the ‘Inquiry into Local Government Land By-laws – Public  Conveniences’ tabled in both Houses of Parliament on 28 September 2022.

The report also addressed concern for clauses that make a child’s age the determining factor of restricting entry into public conveniences. The Commissioner for Children and Young People regarded age as too arbitrary and favoured the term ‘vulnerable’. The preference for the term ‘vulnerable’ is because ‘capability and capacity’ is a more appropriate basis to distinguish a person than the person’s age.

The LRC highlights the importance of amending the language used by councils in their By-Laws in such a way that allows children to be safe and protected, and does not discriminate against a person that identifies as transgender, intersex or gender diverse.

Since the last time Council reviewed its By-Laws, the Department for Infrastructure and Transport (DIT) has advised it objects to regulations / conditions over the activities occurring on and in bodies of water being included in Council By-Laws, since the matters they relate to are already regulated under the Harbors and Navigation Act 1993, which is the responsibility of DIT (Marine Safety). 

The current regulations for activity on and in the Valley Lake / Ketla Malpi imposed by DIT for Area 1, Area 2 and Area 3 are as follows (refer to diagram below):

• a person must not take a vessel into the specified waters or cause or permit a vessel to enter or remain in the specified waters;  and
• a person must not ski, aquaplane or be towed in any other manner by a vessel in the specified waters.

The balance of the lake does not have any prohibition on swimming or use of vessels. For the community, there is no changes to the current rules for Valley Lake / Ketla Malpi, they will simply be regulated by DIT (Marine Safety) rather than Council from 1 January 2026. 

While Council will no longer have the authority to make By-Laws which regulate activities on and in the water, they will continue to regulate who can access the water via the boat ramp facilities. 

Diagram - Valley Lake/Ketla Malpi Areas: 

The current wheeled recreation device provision in our Local Government Land and Roads By-Laws does not apply to e-scooters. This new inclusion will allow Council to better regulate and control the rules and regulations for e-scooters (or other shared transport devices) operators, which will include considerations such as safety requirements, nuisance and litter, permitted areas of use, and fees.

The current consultation is phase one (1), where we are seeking your feedback on the By-Laws themselves. Phase (2) of consultation will be conducted in the second half of 2025. 

How you can participate:

Council invites submissions to the proposed By-Law changes, including reasons, until 5:00pm on Monday 12 May 2025, via:

• Online submission form 
• Email: city@mountgambier.sa.gov.au
• Mail: City of Mount Gambier, PO Box 56, Mount Gambier SA 5290
• In person: Civic Centre, 10 Watson Terrace, Mount Gambier.

All submissions received as part of the consultation will be presented to Council for consideration at the June 2025 Council meeting. After consideration of submissions, Council shall make any requisite amendments in line with subject matter expert legal advice, and endorse final By-Laws for adoption.