In a Ministerial Statement to the Legislative Assembly in February, Northern Territory Minister for Local Government, Loraine Braham, said that, in many ways, the health of the community is closely related to the health and strength of Local Government.
Acknowledging that the Territory’s special brand of Local Government, namely Community Government, has served Territorians well, she said it is now time for reform.
“It is now time to make changes that will provide a framework for the future which will build on knowledge and experience that has been nurtured within our unique form of Community Government,” the Minister told the Legislative Assembly.
“Local Government should have the ability to deliver strong community representation and leadership. It must be able to deliver services in an efficient, effective and accountable manner, and it should have a decision making structure that is seen to be credible, legitimate and culturally relevant.”
With the Territory’s six Municipal Councils serving over 80% of the population, these Councils are described by the Minister as much the same as Councils in the other States, with broadly similar functions and powers. She added they also face the same challenges to increase their efficiency and effectiveness as their counterparts across the nation.
On the other hand, the Territory’s 62 Community Government Councils are endeavouring to provide the same kind of services for their residents, but are often servicing communities with as few as 300 people.
Designed specifically to meet the local needs of people living in rural and remote areas, the Minister said that Community Government ‘has been particularly useful in bringing small, remote communities into the wider Local Government industry’.
She said across Australia over the past few years, there has been a concerted effort to ensure Local Government is providing maximum value for money.
With the Local Government Ministers Conference agreeing in 1994 that a reform agenda was necessary, the Minister said that the focus has been on reforming Councils to achieve economies of scale, as well as efficiency, effectiveness and accountability.
The Minister points to the national trend towards bigger Councils. She said Victoria has almost 60,000 people per Council, South Australia 19,000, Western Australia 13,000 and Queensland 22,000, however the Northern Territory averages less than 3,000 people per Council. In rural and remote areas, 95% of the Territory Councils have populations of less than 1,000 people.
“Some Community Government Councils face continuing difficulties in attracting qualified, competent and ethical staff,” the Minister said. “At any given time, at least 10 Councils are in significant financial or management difficulty.
“Many Councils are simply too small to generate the revenue necessary to support the delivery of minimum services or to sustain an administration that allows for the achievement of any economies of scale.”
However, the Minister stressed these communities are ‘immeasurably better for the experience and are now well positioned to take the next steps towards an expanded form of governance’.
