Council of Australian Governments

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"COAG" redirects here. For other uses, see COAG (disambiguation).

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) is an organisation consisting of the federal government, the governments of the six states and two mainland territories and the Australian Local Government Association. It was established in May 1992 after agreement by the then Prime Minister, Premiers and Chief Ministers, and it first met in December 1992. It is chaired by the Prime Minister. It meets to debate and co-ordinate government activities between the federal and state or territorial governments and between the state and territorial governments themselves as well as issues affecting local government.

A related organisation is the Loan Council, which coordinates borrowing by the federal and state and territorial governments of Australia.

The COAG is roughly equivalent to the U.S.'s National Governors Association or the Canadian Council of the Federation, but these bodies only include state/provincial representatives, whereas COAG includes federal and local representatives also.