Losing localism, constraining councillors: why the Northern Territory supershires are struggling

Abstract

Local government reform in Australia's sparsely settled Northern Territory resulted in the emergence of large, remote area, regional shires in 2008. This paper outlines the history of remote area local government in the Northern Territory since ‘self-government’ in 1978 and compares these new large supershires with the more dispersed system of local government which preceded them. It argues that the large remote area shires are struggling to be accepted by their predominantly Aboriginal constituencies due to two significant changes in ideas. The first is a loss of the ideas of localism and self-determination, which sustained the previous generation of smaller, dispersed local governments. The second is the rise of the idea that the roles of elected councillors in local government should be constrained and those of appointed staff enhanced. The paper questions the wisdom of both these changes in the particular context of remote area, predominantly Indigenous, local government.

Keywords:

• local government
• remote areas
• scale
• roles
• elected members

Notes on contributor

Will Sanders joined the Darwin-based North Australia Research Unit of the ANU in 1981. He has since worked in three other departments of the ANU in Canberra, while maintaining his research links with the Northern Territory. He began working directly with and writing on local governments in the Northern Territory in 2004.

Notes

1. This Minister launched the ‘Northern Territory Emergency Response’ in June 2007 in which the Commonwealth re-engaged with many detailed aspects of public policy relating to Indigenous people in the Territory in a way not seen since before self-government in 1978. See Altman and Hinkson (2007).

2. The current legislative rule is that a councillor ceases to hold office if ‘absent, without permission of the council, from 2 consecutive ordinary meetings of the council’ (Local Government Act 2008 s39 (1) (d)). The rule in 1990s was ‘absent, without leave from the council, from all council meetings held during a continuous period of 3 months’ (Local Government Act 1993 s11(c)).