The City of Perth is a local government area and body, within the Perth metropolitan area, which is the capital of Western Australia. The local government body is commonly known as Perth City Council. The city covers the Perth central business district and surrounding suburbs. The city covers an area of and had an estimated population of 18,988 as at June 2012. These figures would be more than doubled under controversial boundary changes proposed by the state's Coalition Government to take effect from July 2015.