Pristine island culture
The Torres Shire is the gateway to the Torres Strait in Far North Queensland on the tip of Cape York Peninsula. The Torres Shire Council (TSC) jurisdiction consists of the Thursday Island group of islands, which includes Horn Island and Prince of Wales Island.
Thursday Island is the administrative centre for the region with major facilities and services outreaching to all the communities within the Torres Strait region.
The Torres Shire is a multicultural community, rich with maritime and war history and it has a living and thriving Torres Strait and Aboriginal culture. It is renowned as a family-friendly community, with the islands surrounded by a pristine environment of turquoise clear sea that host an abundance of seafood.
The islands within the Shire have beautiful beaches and reefs particularly Prince of Wales Island, which is the biggest and most diverse Island in the region. It hosts a variety of unique fauna and flora vegetation and is a very popular recreational area for locals.
History maker
This is my first term in local government; prior to this I worked across the three local councils in respective Australian and State Government senior roles. I was newly elected in the March 2016 local government election and created history as the first female Torres Strait Islander Mayor of the Torres Shire Council and of any mainstream council.
A strong commitment to continue to work and advocate towards improving the wellbeing of my community was my main motivation to get involved in Local Government. I wanted to be part of the decision-making and to play a greater role in contributing to positive community development.
I have also been a strong advocate for gender equity in leadership and having greater representation of women on boards and local government. This pushes me continue to be a voice for women and families in our region.
As well as my role as mayor, I am employed as Executive Director of Primary Health Care with the Torres and Cape Hospital Health Services. In this role I oversee the delivery of primary health care services across 31 primary health care facilities in Cape York and the Torres Strait, with a focus on delivering more comprehensive culturally and clinically safe health care service and improving chronic disease management to help those to manage their health better and to keep them out of hospital.
Outside of work hours I enjoy spending time with my family at my home on Prince of Wales Island and doing bushwalking, gardening and fishing.
Fiscal challenges
The TSC is classified as a mainstream council although we have a large population of indigenous people. As a result of being a mainstream council the TSC does not receive subsidised funding as other indigenous councils.
Council receives minimal rates revenue from a small ratepayer pool of up to $900,000. This barely supports the ongoing provision of essential services and so Council is very reliant on grant funding.
The Shire has a huge footprint of approximately 40 State and Commonwealth Government agencies who occupy buildings and housing predominately on Thursday Island not only servicing the Torres Shire area but the whole region of Torres Strait and Northern Peninsula Area.
Under the current arrangement government agencies are exempt from paying headworks fees and charges, even though they are accessing the same services as the rest of the community. It was estimated that Council ultimately has a shortfall of $3million as a result of this. The former and the current Council is strongly advocating to both governments to lift this exemption so that Council can ensure sustainability of operations and improve service level.
Future goals
Into the future, some key goals I’d like the Shire to address, include:
- To equitably deliver key essential infrastructure across all the Shire communities
- Improve health infrastructure to support families to walk, run be active and connect safely in community
- To address affordable housing through the Horn Island Affordable Housing Project and
- Establish a safe landing facility on Prince of Wales Island to enable school kids to commute safely to school via ferry
I am honoured and privileged to represent the community of Torres Shire. It shows my community is progressive to entrust a female Mayor to lead the Council.
