Mayor Ralph Blyth, West Arnhem Shire, Northern Territory
Q, How long have you been on Council?
Under the new Shire amalgamations in the Northern Territory, I have been a Councillor of the West Arnhem Shire since October 2008.
Q. Why did you become involved in Local Government?
I was initially approached by the then CEO Tony Tapsell, who is now the CEO for LGANT, and after a bit of a yarn stood for election and was successful and served under the “old” Council from May 1996 to May 2002 with a couple of years break in the middle.
Tell us about your Local Government area?
The area takes in Kakadu, included into that is Cobourg Peninsula across to the Blyth River east of Maningrida.
Jabiru and Maningrida are on the Australian mainland with Minjilang and Warruwi being Islands just off the coast.
Maningrida and Gunbalanya are two of our growth towns. The Shire is predominantly an Indigenous population with Jabiru mainly non Indigenous and where our headquarters is located. It is approximately 49,500 square kilometres and has a population of just over 6,000 residents.
Q. What is your favourite part/thing/attraction/area in the Shire?
The people, culture and what are referred to as Salt Water, Stone Country and Fresh Water. All of us Indigenous and non Indigenous people living side by side with our differences, in one of our earliest Indigenous occupied areas.
Q. Do you have another job in addition to your role on council?
I was employed by the Northern Land Council as an Administration/Permit Officer and when elected firstly as a Councillor and then as President I asked and was successful in getting one years leave without pay so that I could 100 per cent concentrate on my role. I wanted to be clear in my mind there was no chance of having a conflict of interest. After a couple of months I realised the enormity of the role, so resigned from Northern Land Council.
Q. What key challenges are currently facing your Councils?
To list them:
- our levels of services are sometimes not comparable to larger cities
- every day travel
- got to blame the “Berrimah Line”* in there somewhere
- road conditions, main and secondary, dirt and bitumen
- cost of food
- Seasonal changes that affect delivery of goods and services to remote communities
- delivery of core and non core services within funding and seasonal interruptions
- real jobs not Band Aid solutions or quick fix
- working within our budget on the many projects we have through at the Shire.
Q. What is the most difficult part of your role?
Continually questioning if I am representing my constituents to my full ability and secondly the Shire.
I am a good listener and like to think of myself as a fair and honest person. I initially let little things affect me but have gotten stronger along my journey.
I am continually frustrated to see contractors coming in to do housing projects, where I believe that we (the Shire) could have a “fully transparent” apprenticeship program for carpenters, electricians, bricklayers and so on.
Q. What innovative projects or policies is your Council working on?
I would like to think that all projects or policies are in some way innovative, once I have lost that drive there is no reason for me to be in my role of Mayor or even that of Councillor.
I do need to mention though that East Arnhem Shire has established Latitude 12 a joint venture commercial enterprise as a service provider in Finance Processes and Records Management. This has been operating since 1 July 2010
Q. Tell us about a specific success you have had in Local Government.
I couldn’t say that I have had a specific success but have, if I could say, “matured” into Local Government. I have endeavoured to have good working relationships with NT Government Departments and the other Shires.
Along with then President Don Wegener, we established a Mayors/Presidents Forum that is held in conjunction with bi-annual Local Government Associaton of the Northern Territory meetings. This gives elected members an opportunity to discuss things at our level. There are times where you need to confide in others outside your own email correspondance.
*Editor’s note: The Berrimah line is an expression for those living in the south of the Territory for as they see it, to delineate the haves from the have nots. It alludes to the perception that successive Territory and Federal Governments have looked after Darwin residents at the expense of those living in other Territory regions.
