The reforms - which would shore up councils’ role in Australian government through Constitutional recognition – were discussed at November’s inaugural Local Government Summit. It was the first time ever that councils and citizens have been invited to pilot changes to the constitution.

“We want to see the importance of communities given a greater emphasis in the future governance of Australia,” Cr McWilliams said.

Local governments were asked to develop a blueprint for constitutional reform during the inaugural meeting of the Australian Council of Local Government (ACLG) in November.

The model included a guarantee that Australian people be represented in the community by democratically elected and accountable local government representatives, an enshrinement of commonwealth power to provide councils with direct funding, and a recognition of local government as a component of the modern Australian Federation.

“This is fundamentally about modernising Australian federalism so government functions better and unnecessary bureaucracy is removed, and services are delivered more efficiently and effectively to people,” ALGA president Geoff Lake explained.

Mr Lake said inserting the power for Federal Governments to directly fund councils reflected strengthening ties between the two levels of government.

University of NSW constitutional law professor George Williams welcomed the plan.

“This plan provides for sensible and practical reform of the Australian Constitution to better reflect the status of modern government in this country,” he said.

“This is a great opportunity to modernise the constitution so Australian federalism works better.”

Cr McWilliams said her council would provide more opportunity for community input as the wording was devised with the Federal Government.

“This opportunity is a welcome change to past approaches where the answers have been determined centrally,” she said.