Council Direct is Australia and New Zealand's dedicated job board for local government careers. It currently advertises 823 council vacancies from 635 councils and government employers, with 947 registered job seekers. Roles span town planning, engineering, environmental health, community services, corporate governance, asset management and administration. Councils listing here range from metropolitan to regional and remote. Listings are updated daily and sourced directly from councils, so every advertised role is a live vacancy. Searching and applying is free for candidates. Filter by state or keyword, create a profile once, then apply to any council in either country.
206 Open Positions
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Start with a search on this page, or open the full council jobs listing and filter it. You can narrow by state, by council, by category, and by employment type. Create a free profile to save searches and apply without re-entering your details. Job alerts then email you when a matching role is posted.
Council recruitment runs to its own rhythm, so timing matters. Advertising windows are often two to three weeks, and many roles close on a fixed date rather than when filled. Checking weekly, or letting an alert do it, is usually enough to avoid missing a round.
Working in local government offers a rare mix of job satisfaction and visible community impact. Your work has a tangible effect on the people who live in your area. That might mean planning and delivering infrastructure projects, or running essential services such as waste management and public transport. Council roles also tend to offer stable, secure employment with structured pay bands and clear paths for career growth.
A council career spans everything from frontline administration to senior technical and professional practice. Councils deliver the services a community relies on daily, including infrastructure, waste management and community programs. Most councils publish banded salary structures and support study, professional registration and internal transfer. That combination makes it straightforward to move between specialisations, or between councils, without starting over.
Council Direct lists current council jobs and other local government roles across Australia and New Zealand. Listings come straight from the councils and public sector employers doing the hiring, not from an aggregator. What you see is what is genuinely open. New vacancies are added daily and expired ones drop off.
Everything is free for candidates. There is no charge to search, no charge to create a profile, and no charge to apply. One profile covers every council in both countries, so you do not re-enter your work history for each application.
Because the site covers local government only, the filters are built for it. You can search by state, by council, or by the categories councils actually recruit into. That means planning, engineering and asset management, environmental health, community services, and corporate and financial roles. Job alerts notify you when a matching role is posted. That matters in a sector where advertising windows are often short.
Local government is a large and growing employer in both countries. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian local government employed 218,000 people at June 2025. That is up from 213,500 a year earlier, a rise of about 2.1% in twelve months. The Australian Local Government Association reports that these jobs cover more than 400 occupations.
The work is spread well beyond the capital cities. Australia has 537 councils, and ALGA reports that around 55% of them are in regional, rural or remote areas. New Zealand adds 78 local authorities, made up of 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities, according to the New Zealand Local Government Commission. Five of those are unitary authorities that carry out both roles.
Councils manage public assets at national scale, which is why the technical and professional roles are so varied. ALGA values Australian local government's non-financial assets at A$643 billion, including 678,000 km of roads. Total local government expenditure was approximately A$48 billion in 2023–24, a 9.8% increase on the year before. Around 5,500 elected councillors oversee that work.
On Council Direct today there are 2,900 live vacancies from 635 councils and government employers.
Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Public sector employment and earnings, 2024–25; Australian Local Government Association, Facts and Figures; New Zealand Local Government Commission, About local government in New Zealand. Council Direct platform figures are counted live when this page loads.
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Council Direct is a dedicated platform for advertising government jobs in Australia and New Zealand. It focuses on council positions across every region, metropolitan to remote. That makes it a single hub for local government opportunities. Candidates can find roles that match their skills and interests without sifting through unrelated listings.
The platform serves job seekers and councils alike. It streamlines recruitment and raises the visibility of roles that might otherwise be missed. A straightforward interface and full coverage of the sector do the rest. The result is a direct connection between professionals and meaningful public service work across both countries.
