The City of Moreton Bay, known until July 2023 as the Moreton Bay Region, is a local government area in the north of Greater Brisbane in South East Queensland, Australia. Established in 2008, it replaced three established local government areas, the City of Redcliffe and the Shires of Pine Rivers and Caboolture.
With an estimated operating budget of A$391 million and a 2018 population of 459,585, Moreton Bay is the third most populous local government area in Australia behind the City of Brisbane and City of Gold Coast, both of which are also amalgamated entities.
In the 2021 census, the City of Moreton Bay had a population of 476,340 people.
Contents
History
The original inhabitants, or Traditional Owners, of Moreton Bay are the Kabi Kabi, Jinibara and Turrbal Aboriginal people.
Duungidjawu (also known as Kabi Kabi, Cabbee, Carbi, Gabi Gabi) is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken on Duungidjawu country. The Duungidjawu language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of Somerset Region and the City of Moreton Bay, particularly the towns of Caboolture, Kilcoy, Woodford and Moore.
At the time the Divisional Boards Act 1879 came into force on 11 November 1879, the present City of Morton Bay was entirely contained within the Caboolture Division, which also included the Sunshine Coast. By 1890, Caboolture Division had shrunk considerably with the separate incorporation of the Pine Division (21 January 1888), Redcliffe Division (5 April 1888) and Maroochy Division (5 July 1890).
With the passage of the Local Authorities Act 1902, Caboolture, Pine and Redcliffe (as well as Maroochy) became Shires on 31 March 1903. Redcliffe was proclaimed a Town on 28 May 1921 and a City on 13 June 1959. A few weeks earlier, on 23 May 1959, Pine was renamed the Shire of Pine Rivers.
Formation
In July 2007, the Local Government Reform Commission released its report and recommended the amalgamation of the three local government areas:
City of Redcliffe
Shire of Pine Rivers
Shire of Caboolture
It argued that the area was part of the South East Queensland Regional Plan's Urban Footprint, and would attract 11% of the region's population and housing growth to 2006. A very strong community of interest was identified through the region's links and dependencies to Brisbane. The councils disagreed with the commission's plans although, with the exception of Redcliffe, did not oppose alternative amalgamation options.
On 10 August 2007, the Local Government Reform Implementation Bill 2007 was introduced. The Local Transition Committee for the amalgamation of the councils was established, composing of ten members, which included representatives from each of the three Councils and an Interim CEO. The first meeting of the committee was held on 3 September 2007. On 10 September 2007, Ray Burton was appointed as the interim CEO for the committee.
On 15 March 2008, the City and Shires formally ceased to exist and were amalgamated into a new local government area called the Moreton Bay Region. Elections were held on the same day to elect councillors and a mayor to the regional council. In 2012, following the election of the LNP state government, Redcliffe sought to enter a de-amalgamation process; however, a deadline to gather signatures on a petition by 29 August 2012 was missed. The Hills District sought in 2011 to transfer to Brisbane City Council, but the local government Change Commissioner declined the proposal on cost grounds.
On 8 December 2021, the council unanimously voted to rename the council area to Moreton Bay City and to seek approval from the Local Government Change Commission for the renaming.
In April 2023, the Queensland Government decided to reflect the growing population of the region by creating five new localities named Corymbia, Greenstone, Lilywood, Wagtail Grove, and Waraba by excising parts of the existing localities of Bellmere, Rocksberg, Upper Caboolture, and Wamuran.
Council
Current composition
The current council as it currently sits, after the 2024 election and subsequent by-election is:
Mayors
Past councillors
Election results
Unitywater
On 1 July 2010, Moreton Bay's water services (along with Sunshine Coast Council's), moved over to the recently created water body, Unitywater. Unitywater was created by the Queensland Government as part of the state's takeover of South East Queensland's water facilities, dams and water supply networks. City of Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast Council and Noosa Shire Council are joint owners of Unitywater.
Suburbs
The City of Moreton Bay includes the following places:
Demographics
The populations given relate to the component entities prior to 2008. The 2011 census was the first for the amalgamated council.
Facilities
The City of Moreton Bay operates libraries at Albany Creek, Arana Hills, Bongaree (Bribie Island), Burpengary, Caboolture, Deception Bay, North Lakes, Redcliffe, Strathpine, and Woodford. It also operates a mobile library service on a fortnightly basis serving the suburbs of Beachmere, Bray Park, Dayboro, Donnybrook, Lawnton, Mount Glorious, Mount Mee, Mount Nebo, Mount Samson Petrie, Samford, Toorbul and Warner.
Traffic Signals
In 2026, the City of Moreton Bay drew national attention for a trial of "AI" powered traffic signals. The trial installation was to be installed at the intersection of Moreton Parade and Paper Avenue in Petrieusing CCTV and LiDAR sensors supplied by Swarco. The technology will cost around $170,000. It is expected the upgrade will begin from September, with the trial concluding in 2029. It will use movement-based rather than phase-based control. Four cameras cameras and two LiDAR sensors will be installed at the trial site. A City of Moreton Bay spokesperson told iTnews that the technology is being used in parts of Europe and had "surfaced" in Singapore, New Zealand and Qatar. Swarco supplies multiple traffic signal control systems including ImFlow, "SMART AI" (which uses a reinforcement learning model) and QuicTrac.. In August 2026 the council was in the final stages of procurement, with the detail on how AI would be used and the roads involved yet to be determined.
ImFlow is a distributed, adaptive optimiser that optimises individual junctions and coordinates junctions without locking cycle times (like SCOOT). Each junction communicates with neighbouring intersections, without central coordination (like SCATS). Policies in ImFlow include detailed prioritisation between modes. Previous ImFlow installations have initially focused on getting traffic moving, reducing delays and increasing road capacity to "get the drivers happy", with support for "sliders" to adjust per-mode prioritisation to implement policy goals.
Local heritage register
The City of Moreton Bay maintains its local heritage register in two parts:
List of sites, objects and buildings of significant historical and cultural value
List of significant trees