The first sector-wide baseline of AI adoption across Victorian local government.
Victorian local government is navigating a rapid but uneven technological transition where individual adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) is outpacing organisational response in many councils. The sector has genuine capability emerging at one end of the spectrum - and real gaps at the other.
On this backdrop, this report presents the first sector-wide baseline of AI adoption across Victorian local government. Findings draw on an end-user AI adoption survey completed by 2,500 respondents across 22 councils, and a council-level enablement survey completed by 20 of those councils to help understand user profiles, what is driving uptake, what is holding it back, and where gaps between adoption and governance are emerging.
" Local government is operating under sustained pressure. Rate capping, changing demography, rising community expectations and increasing service complexity mean we are expected to deliver more, faster and better, with finite resources.
Against that backdrop, generative AI is no longer a future concept. Used well, it has real potential to lift productivity, free up time for higher-value work and improve how we serve our communities. Used without the right settings in place, it creates real risk. Navigating that tension is now a practical leadership challenge for every council.
What this report makes clear is that staff across the sector are already curious, motivated and finding ways to work more efficiently - often ahead of the policy and governance settings designed to support them. The question is no longer whether AI will be adopted. It already is. The question is whether councils will put in place the conditions to support it safely and at scale.
This report is a starting point. It identifies where capability is developing, where governance is lagging, and where the clearest opportunities lie. The challenges it surfaces are shared across the sector - and so too should be the response.
Whitehorse City Council is proud to have led this work in partnership with LGPro. I thank the 22 participating councils for their openness and contribution, and encourage leaders across the sector to use these findings as a prompt for collective action.
Simon McMillan Chief Executive Officer, Whitehorse City Council
" Artificial intelligence is already embedded in the day-to-day work of Victorian local government. Across the sector, staff are exploring and applying AI tools, driven by curiosity and the practical value of time savings. This is happening regardless of any one council’s policy settings. As a sector, the focus is shifting from whether AI should be used to how it can be used safely, responsibly and with confidence.
LGPro is proud to have partnered with Whitehorse City Council on this work, and I want to acknowledge Simon McMillan, David Hansen and Lisa Ippolito for the leadership they have shown in bringing it to life. This collaboration reflects the best of our sector: people stepping forward, sharing their expertise and building something that benefits everyone.
One of the clearest insights from LGPro’s Future Local Government Workforce research was that AI literacy is rapidly emerging as a critical capability. Yet we still lack a clear, shared understanding of how AI is actually being adopted in practice.
That changes with this report.
This grounded, evidence-based view of what is driving uptake, what is holding it back, and where organisational systems need to evolve gives us a practical starting point for what will be a sector-wide change management piece. We hope that it helps you support your people through a period of extraordinary change, helping ensure the benefits of AI are realised safely, consistently and across the whole sector.
