Local government areas of the Northern Territory

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Map of new local government areas in the Northern Territory from 1 July 2008
Map of old local government areas in the Northern Territory prior 1 July 2008

The local government areas (LGAs) of the Northern Territory, Australia are the areas for which particular Local Government authorities, generally known as "Councils" have the responsibility to provide local government services. Local Governments in the Northern Territory dates back to the start of the twentieth century.[1]

As of 1 July 2008, there are two classifications of local government in the Northern Territory

  1. Municipalities (predominantly inner-city suburban areas and smaller rural towns)
  2. Shires or Regions (predominantly rural or outer suburban areas)

Prior to 1 July Northern Territory local government areas were classified as either

  1. Municipalities
  2. Community Government Councils
  3. Incorporated Associations (Commonwealth)
  4. Special Purpose Towns

As of July 2008, the Northern Territory has 17 local government areas, 5 of which are Municipalities and 11 as Shire Councils. There used to be 61 Local Government Councils, 6 of which were classified as Municipalities, 51 as Community Government Councils, 3 as Incorporated Associations and 1 Special Purpose Town.

Municipalities

Shires

Regions

Unincorporated Areas

There are five unincorporated areas that do not belong on any local government area:

Former Northern Territory LGAs

Towns

Community Government Councils

Incorporated Communities

Unincorporated Area

  • Unincorporated Area: A contiguous 92 percent of the area did not belong to any local government area. The LGAs were enclaves within unincorporated territory.

Area types

The Northern Territory was unusual as a comparatively large share of the territory's population lived in unincorporated areas. In 2006, prior to the reorganization of local government areas in the territory, 92 percent of the land area (1,237,999 out of 1,349,130 km²) with 16 percent of the population (30,523 out of 192,898), was unincorporated.

Most of the unincorporated areas disappeared as a result of local government reform in 2008. The area remaining unincorporated is 19,428 km², 1.45 percent of the total,[2] and contains 4.0 percent of the population.[3]

By comparison, in the only other states or territories in Australia with unincorporated areas, only 0.02% of the population of New South Wales, 0.002% of Victoria's population and 0.6% of the population of South Australia, live in unincorporated areas.

References

Sources