Minister for Local Government (New South Wales)

Minister for Local Government
Incumbent Gabrielle Upton since 30 January 2017
Office of Local Government
Style	The Honourable
Nominator	Premier of New South Wales
Appointer	Governor of New South Wales
Inaugural holder	John Daniel FitzGerald
Formation	15 November 1916
Website	Office of Local Government

The New South Wales Minister for Local Government is a minister in the New South Wales Government and has responsibilities which includes all local government areas and related legislation in New South Wales, the most primary of which is the Local Government Act 1993. The minister administers the portfolio through the Office of Local Government, an agency of the NSW Department of Planning and Environment.

The current minister is Gabrielle Upton since 30 January 2017, who assists the senior departmental minister, the Minister for Planning Anthony Roberts.

With the significant expansion of Local Government areas in the early 1900s the first formal government body with the specific responsibility for Local Government was established by the Local Government (Shires) Act, 1905, which created the "Local Government Branch" of the Public Works Department on 9 December 1905. On 5 January 1906 the Secretary for Public Works was charged with its administration. On 15 March 1915 the Local Government Branch was made independent as the "Department of Local Government" and the process of its full establishment culminated with the appointment of the first Minister for Local Government on 15 November 1916, John Daniel FitzGerald. Fitzgerald was responsible for steering through the first major piece of legislation dealing with local government regulations and powers in the Local Government Act 1919. The new Act provided for the establishment of County Councils to enable Municipalities and Shires to combine for the carrying out of large works that affected more than one district, most prominently in the area of electricity supply, with the Sydney County Council being a prime example.

In February 1936 the Department merged with the Public Works department to become the "Department of Works and Local Government". On 2 June 1941, this short-lived department was abolished and "Department of Local Government and Housing" succeeded it. The then Minister for Local Government and Housing took on responsibilities for social housing in the state. This body then became the Department of Local Government again on 8 June 1944. In 1948 the new Minister Joseph Cahill was responsible for moving the most significant reform to local government since 1919 when he passed through the Local Government (Areas) Act 1948, which placed the City of Sydney within the regulations of the 1919 act (by repealing the Sydney Corporations Act 1932) and entailed large-scale amalgamations of local councils in Sydney.