LGA South Australia Leadership and Behavioural Management Review

The LGA South Australia Leadership and Behavioural Management Review surveyed and interviewed mayors, councillors, Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and administration staff from across the 68 South Australian councils, who were serving in the current term (November 2022 to December 2025 when data collection ceased). It examined council culture, leadership, behavioural norms, health, safety and wellbeing, available supports, role clarity, community interactions, and future intentions of elected council members. The intent was to examine examples of good practice that can be leveraged across the sector, as well as opportunities and priorities for improvement.

Deliberately, researchers did not seek to identify individual participants or councils in the review to facilitate confidentiality, participation and honest reporting. Ethical requirements applied to the review prioritise managing risk to participants to prevent stigma and further harm.

The elected council survey was distributed to all current elected council members. Former elected council members who had served in the current term were also encouraged to participate.

The administration survey was distributed to all current CEOs and principal governance and senior administration roles (identified by LGA SA) across the 68 local government councils.

Survey participation included:

1. 160 elected council members, comprising 42 mayors and more than half the sample were councillors (60%).

2. 92 administration staff including one-third CEOs and Governance Officers (30%).

Interviews were offered to elected council and administration staff who had previously participated in the survey. Interviews aimed to discover deeper detail and examples related to the same topics in the survey. Interviews were held online in individual or group format.

Interviews included 53 respondents within 33 sessions, representing:

1. 21 individual interviews (i.e. 21 respondents).

2. 11 group interviews involving a total of 32 respondents. Groups varied from 2 to 5 people