Torres Strait Island Region: History
The local government jurisdiction was created on 15 March 2008 from 15 previous entities—the Island Councils of Badu (Mulgrave Is.), Boigu (Talbot Is.), Dauan (Mt. Cornwallis Is.), Erub (Darnley Is.), Kirirri (Hammond Is.), Iama (Yam Is.), Arkai (Kubin Community at Mua Is.), Mabuiag (Jervis Is.), Masig (Yorke Is.), Mer (Murray Is.), Poruma (Coconut Is.), Saibai, Wug (St. Pauls Community at Mua Is.), Ugar (Stephen Is.), and Warraber (Sue Is.). Its first election was held on the same day.
In 1984, the Community Services (Torres Strait) Act was enacted by the Queensland Parliament, allowing community councils to be created to own and administer former reserves or missions under a Deed of Grant in Trust (DOGIT). Each was responsible for local basic utilities and services such as electricity, housing and management of local CDEP programs. They also worked with the Queensland Police to provide for community police officers—hence extending well beyond the normal functions of local government. The Local Government (Community Government Areas) Act 2004 extended to community councils many of the provisions and benefits of the Local Government Act 1993 normally enjoyed by shire councils.
In 2006, the councils were involved in a consultation process which resulted in a Green Paper being produced. The State Government subsequently took over the process, and in April 2007, a White Paper entitled "Community Government in the Torres Strait: the way forward" was released, recommending both governance and structural changes to ensure the sustainability of governance in the region. The White Paper expressed concerns about workload and capacity to meet community needs, deficiencies in corporate governance and accountability and other challenges and issues.
The Local Government Reform report in July 2007 recommended the creation of the Torres Strait Island council as well as the Northern Peninsula Area council to attempt to address these issues. The Queensland Government responded by proposing the Local Government and Other Legislation (Indigenous Regional Councils) Amendment Bill 2007 to bring the two new councils into line with the recommendations of both reports.
During statewide local government reform in 2007–08, the Queensland Government considered merging the Shire with the other islands and communities, but felt that having one council subject to three different types of legislation would be inefficient.
Because of the unique structure of the DOGIT areas, where a community owned the land and the council represented the community owners, concerns were raised by the councils about ownership potentially transferring to the new entities and diluting their title over it. Some councils responded by creating a private company with all community members as shareholders, and transferring the ownership to the company. This was opposed by the State Government who threatened to take legal action against the communities.
Following the elections, the Department of Local Government provided $675,000 to the Regional Council to assist with expenses relating to the post-amalgamation transfer process.