#1
68.8%
Meets Standards Tops the sector on Overall CX and Accessibility (87.5%)
Independent mystery shopping · Updated quarterly
Australian Councils Call Centre Rankings
Which councils look after residents on the phone?
Nobody chooses their council. A resident with a question about rates, a missed bin or a planning permit has one number to ring.
Every month, our mystery shoppers call Australia's councils as residents making everyday general enquiries. Nobody is told when we're calling.
Real calls, not surveysScored on 48+ measuresPublished quarterly
Leaderboard · Q3 2026
Which councils give residents the best call?
Ranked on Overall CX, which combines how easily callers get through with how well the conversation goes.
2nd
68.7%
Meets Standards Just 0.1 points behind Whitehorse City
Accessibility83.3%
Agent Mastery62.5%
3rd
66.2%
Meets Standards A third consecutive quarterly gain
Accessibility76.0%
Agent Mastery62.0%
●●.●%
Lowest-ranked council
Who finished last this quarter?
Free subscribers see the lowest-ranked council, plus the weakest result on every measure in the report.
Where the leaders sit on the Contact Centre CX Standards
Every score falls into one of five bands. The council average sits in Below Standard, just above the all-industry average.
Poor · below 45%Below StandardMeetsExceedsOutstanding66.2%68.7%68.8%Council average 60.2%All-industry 59.0%
66.2%68.7%68.8%Council average 60.2%All-industry 59.0%Q3 2026 is the average of July, August and September. Shows a selection of the councils we benchmark, not every provider in the sector.
Contact Centre CX Quadrant
Easy to reach, or good on the call? The best are both.
The quadrant plots how easily a caller reaches a person (up) against how well the conversation is handled (across). The Best Practice corner needs 80% or more on both.
| Overall CX | |
| Accessibility | |
| Agent Mastery |
Hover over or tap a number, or a row in the list, to see the scores.
Top three
- 168.8% Access 87.5% · Mastery 60.7%
- 268.7% Access 83.3% · Mastery 62.5%
- 366.2% Access 76.0% · Mastery 62.0%
Lowest three
- 4Free with a subscription
- 5Free with a subscription
- 6Free with a subscription
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Want the full story behind the Q3 2026 results?
The full report goes council by council through what moved, and why.
- A scorecard of every headline measure
- Council-by-council stories
- Where callers are lost, minute by minute
- How the sector compares with every other sector we benchmark
Coming soon
Q4 2026 report
October to December results are being assessed now.
Members
Q2 2026, Q1 2026 and Q4 2025 reports
Past quarterly reports are included with membership.
Against every sector we benchmark
Councils rank 4th of the 7 sectors we benchmark
Internet67.2%
Energy61.1%
Car Insurance61.0%
Councils60.2%
Education56.4%
Aged Care56.4%
Banks52.3%
All-industry 59.0%
The best explainers of any sector, the weakest openers
Councils finished 1.2 points above the all-industry average of 59.0%.
They lead every sector on Educate and Impact: clear, relevant information in plain language. But they score lowest of any sector on Engage, the opening of the call.
Compare all sectors →Where callers are lost
How long does it take a resident to reach a person at their council?
Phone menu, recorded messages and the queue, from the moment the call connects.
FastestBrisbane City
0:50
Sector averageCouncils
2:26
Slowest
Phone menuRecorded messagesWaiting for an agent
Includes calls that weren't answered, which count up to the 15-minute limit. Each part is averaged separately, so totals can differ by a second.
1:32Average wait in the queue, the biggest part of the journey
98.6%of calls answered within 15 minutes, ▲ 6.5 pts on Q2
1.1phone menu layers on average before reaching the queue
How we measure
No surveys. No spin. Just real calls.
Our Australian-based mystery shoppers call as genuine residents, with the kind of everyday question about rates, waste, permits or local services that councils field all day.
Calls are placed on different days and at different times, so we measure what any resident gets when they ring.
Councils are measured against a 15-minute limit for answering, rather than the ten minutes used in other sectors.
How a mystery-shop call works
Five moments we measure on every call
- 1
We call
A mystery shopper calls as a resident with an everyday enquiry, on a random day and time.
- 2
The phone menu
We time the menu and recorded messages, and count the layers before the queue.
- 3
The queue
We time the wait until a real person answers, up to a 15-minute limit.
- 4
The conversation
The agent is scored on Engage, Discover, Educate, Close and Impact.
- 5
The score
Every call is rated against the Contact Centre CX Standards, then averaged each quarter.
Measure 1
Accessibility
How easily a caller reaches a real person: the phone menu, how clear the options are, the wait, and whether the call is answered at all.
Measure 2
Agent Mastery
How well the conversation is handled once someone answers, across five competencies: Engage, Discover, Educate, Close and Impact.
The headline score
Overall CX
Both measures combined, with penalties when a call breaks down badly, so a serious failure can't be averaged away.
30% Access70% Agent Mastery
The five bands
- Outstanding 91% and above
- Exceeds Standards 76–90%
- Meets Standards 61–75%
- Below Standard 45–60%
- Poor below 45%
How we keep it fair: selection, scoring and sample
A cross-section, not a census
We benchmark a mix of metropolitan and regional councils, reflecting the range of experiences residents have when they call.
The list grows over time, so a quarter's selection isn't a judgement on which councils matter.
No council can influence its result
Councils aren't told when we call. Every one is scored the same way and published exactly as measured.
A score can't be bought, adjusted on request, or withdrawn.
One standard for every call
Every call is scored against the ACXPA Contact Centre CX Standards.
The same scorecard is used in every sector, every month.
A consistent sample, by design
This isn't a high-volume audit. We assess a consistent sample of calls to each council every month.
Residents judge their council on the call they made. A steady monthly sample shows whether that experience holds.
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- Lowest-ranked council
- The full CX Quadrant
- Weakest result on every measure
- New quarter alerts
Where to from here?
Two ways to go further
How would your customer service line score against Whitehorse City?
The rankings show a selection of the market. Benchmarking calls your own customer service line the same way, and scores it on the same standard.
- Measured on 48+ CX and operational measures
- Compared against five peer councils you choose
- A results pack showing where you lead or lag
- A one-hour expert workshop on the findings
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Other sectors
How do other sectors answer the phone?
The same calls, the same scorecard and the same standard, across every sector we benchmark.
Call Centre RankingsAged CareView rankings →Call Centre RankingsBanksView rankings →Call Centre RankingsCar InsuranceView rankings →Call Centre RankingsEducationView rankings →Call Centre RankingsEnergy RetailersView rankings →Call Centre RankingsInternet RetailersView rankings →Not listed?Want your sector benchmarked?Add your sector →
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