Call to recognise councils in constitution

Labor has sought to rekindle debate over recognising local government in the Australian constitution.

The constitutional change was rejected at referendums in 1974 and 1988, and a third attempt - which had been scheduled to run in conjunction with the 2013 election - was ditched by the Abbott government.

Anthony Albanese told a local government conference in Toowoomba on Friday the change would be revisited by a Labor government.

"Allowing local government to exist purely in state legislation means it is subject to the political whims of the state government of the day," the shadow local government spokesman said.

"We've seen this from the ongoing process of forced amalgamations in NSW, which have left communities without accountable local representation for two years. Communities feel angry and betrayed and people's voices are not heard.

"Be assured that a future Labor government will pick up where we left off on this issue."