The City of Griffith is a Local Government Area in south-western New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It is in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area

Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area

The Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area is geographically located within the Riverina area of New South Wales was created to control and divert the flow of local river and creek systems for the purpose of food production...

 and on Kidman Way

Kidman Way

The Kidman Way is an important highway in New South Wales , Australia, which is designated as State Highway 87. It is named after Sir Sidney Kidman, Australian cattle king and philanthropist who owned a large number of cattle stations along the path, many still owned by his descendants. It is an...

.

In addition to Griffith

Griffith, New South Wales

Griffith is a city in south-western New South Wales, Australia. It is also the seat of the City of Griffith local government area. Like the Australian capital, Canberra and the nearby town of Leeton, Griffith was designed by Walter Burley Griffin. Griffith was named after Sir Arthur Griffith the...

, it includes the towns and villages of Willbriggie

Willbriggie, New South Wales

Willbriggie is a community in the central part of the Riverina nearby to the city of Griffith. It is situated by road, about 16 kilometres north from Darlington Point and 17 kilometres south from Hanwood...

, Hanwood

Hanwood, New South Wales

Hanwood is a town in the central Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The town is located 5 kilometres south of Griffith, New South Wales and is in the City of Griffith Local Government Area...

, Beelbangera

Beelbangera, New South Wales

Beelbangera is a town in the north west of the Riverina and situated about 2 kilometres north-east from Griffith and about 7 kilometres south-west of Yenda...

, Bilbul

Bilbul, New South Wales

Bilbul is a village in the central part of the Riverina and situated about 6 kilometres north-east from Griffith and 6 kilometres south-west from Yenda. Bilbul was named in honor of William T Bull , an early landowner from the 1880s. The William Bull Brewery is located at Bilbul and named after...

, Yoogali

Yoogali, New South Wales

Yoogali is a small town located in the Local Government Area of the City of Griffith in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is situated between Griffith and Yenda, just outside of the Moorevile industrial estate. At the 2006 census, Yoogali had a population of 1,482.-Today:It currently...

, Widgelli

Widgelli, New South Wales

Widgelli is a small village located in the Local Government Area of the City of Griffith in the Australian state of New South Wales.Widgelli Post Office opened on 26 October 1953 and closed in 1977.-References:...

, Yenda

Yenda, New South Wales

Yenda is a town in the Riverina district of New South Wales, Australia. The town is located about 16km east of Griffith, 45 kilometres north of Narrandera, and 450km west of Sydney in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area of Southern NSW...

, Lake Wyangan, Tharbogang and Warburn

Warburn, New South Wales

Warburn is a small rural community in the central north part of the Riverina. It is situated by road, about 10 kilometres south east from Tabbita and 12 kilometres north west from Griffith.-Notes and references:...

 and the suburbs of Collina

Collina, New South Wales

Collina is the newest suburb of Griffith, New South Wales, Australia in the City of Griffith. Collina is located to the northwest of the city and reflects Griffith's rapid growth. Collina means hill in Italian....

, North Griffith, Murrumbidgee Estate, Mayfair and Pioneer.

Griffith City Council has twelve members who stand for election every four years.

In September 2006, Councillor Dino Zappacosta was elected mayor by the majority of the councillors. Councillor Zappacosta is the only person to have been elected mayor of Griffith after having previously been disqualified from sitting on the council. In May 1999 the Department of Local Government's Pecuniary Interests Tribunal ordered that Councillor Zappacosta be disqualified from holding civic office for two months for having breached his pecuniary interest obligations.

Council

Griffith City Council is composed of eleven councillors elected proportionally, in addition to the mayor, who is directly elected. The current makeup of the council, including the mayor is as follows:

Party		Councillors
	Independents Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...  and Unaffiliated	12
	Total	12

The current council, elected in 2008, is:

Councillor		Party	Notes
	Mike Neville	Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...	Mayor
	Bill Lancaster	Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...	Elected on Mike Neville's ticket
	Dominic Testoni	Unaffiliated	Deputy Mayor
	Pat Cox	Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
	Doug Curran	Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...	Elected on Dominic Testoni's ticket
	Peter Fussell	Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
	Christine Stead	Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
	Peter Taylor	Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
	Allan Bennett	Unaffiliated
	Anne Napoli	Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
	Dino Zappacosta	Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
	Simon Croce	Unaffiliated

Sister cities

Griffith has sister city relations with the following cities:
Harbin

Harbin

Harbin ; Manchu language: , Harbin; Russian: Харби́н Kharbin ), is the capital and largest city of Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China, lying on the southern bank of the Songhua River...

, China Treviso

Treviso

Treviso is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 82,854 inhabitants : some 3,000 live within the Venetian walls or in the historical and monumental center, some 80,000 live in the urban center proper, while the city...

, Italy