Indigenous leaders from West Arnhem community organisations became involved in the regionalisation process in mid 2003 as part of what was referred to as the ‘Top End Triangle’ (TET), comprising representatives from the Pine Creek, Coomalie, Kunbarllanjnja, Warruwi, Minjilang, and Jabiru local government councils. In December 2003, at a meeting of TET representatives, members of the Minjilang, Warruwi and Kunbarllanjnja Community Councils split from the other representatives in the TET group. They perceived there to be a lack of communal purpose between the Bininj and Balanda organisations, and felt that priorities were weighted to the latter.

The West Arnhem Land representatives began to see the potential for an ‘Indigenous Regional Authority’ and to work towards the establishment of what they eventually called the ‘West Central Arnhem Regional Authority’ (WCARA).^[10] At this stage, the nearby Jabiru Council stayed out of the process, and the Coomalie and Pine Creek Councils decided to proceed together in a separate initiative.

The initial leaders of the WCARA process were Bininj elected representatives from three community councils and two outstation resource organisations, including:

Together with their Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), up to three representatives from each organisation began meeting every six to eight weeks and, in August 2004, formed the WCARA Transitional Council with the goal of progressing discussions about amalgamation into a single regional authority. Representatives from the Local Government Association of the NT (LGANT) and the Commonwealth Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination also attended these meetings.

Interim Council members initially talked about the regionalisation policy both as an opportunity to secure greater authority and control for Bininj people over the things that mattered to them, and to exercise greater influence over government funding and service delivery to the region:

The proposed area for the regional authority was approximately 25,000km²—all of it inalienable Aboriginal freehold land under the ALRA. The area encompassed several inter-related language and landowning groups, three large discrete community settlements (two of which were on islands), and numerous small dispersed outstations (see Fig. 4.1).

The process was substantially facilitated by DLGHS and particularly through the efforts of two of its CDOs. From 2003 onwards, this male/female team travelled extensively throughout West Arnhem Land, disseminating information and holding discussions with community leaders and organisations about the BSRSF regionalisation policy. In doing so, they developed a large network of contacts with senior leaders and family groups, and built up strong relationships and considerable personal trust with local Indigenous residents. Through this community development approach, they facilitated the formation of the Interim Council and subsequently were asked to act as the secretariat for their meetings.

In mid July 2005, a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ signed between the Department of Local Government, Housing and Sport (DLGHS) and the participating organisations formally committed all parties to support the decision-making work of the Interim Council to establish a regional authority for West Arnhem. A timeframe of December 2005 was proposed for its establishment.

Over that early period there was scepticism amongst community residents and Interim Council members about the extent of the NT Government’s commitment to full Indigenous participation in regionalisation. Fears were expressed that the Government would simply impose a solution rather than negotiating with residents and their elected representatives.

Despite these reservations, the WCARA Interim Council met regularly between 2004–06. The workload was intensive for both the members and the departmental officers involved, as they navigated a complex organisational and legal transition. The proposed regional authority structure meant that the three existing community councils would have to be entirely dissolved as local government organisations.^[11] New election processes would also have to be designed and held for regional councillors, and the local government assets, functions, staff and administrative systems of the separate councils would have to be transferred across to the new authority. The BSRSF policy sought cost-sharing and resource efficiencies, so a rationalisation of some staffing positions was also proposed.

During this phase, the WCARA Interim Council made a number of collective decisions about the authority’s governance and organisational structure, administrative arrangements, business planning, its system of representation, external boundaries, election procedures, headquarters, and service delivery roles (see Fig. 4.2).

During 2005–06, the Interim Council participated in regular governance capacity-building sessions at their meetings, and spent considerable time developing a culturally-based constitution with a unique Preamble. A vision statement for the regional authority aimed: ‘To develop safe communities for families, provide real jobs for local Indigenous people, and promote economic development through strong legitimate governance’.

Considerable work was involved in developing this constitution, designing a ward system for voting that was based on a Bininj cultural geography, and documenting a business plan for the authority. The process required considerable time and commitment from senior government bureaucrats, extensive community development work, as well as legal, funding and administrative support from both the NT and Australian Governments. To coordinate Government efforts, the DCDSCA convened a Project Management Group with officers from the NT and Australian Governments and LGANT. This inter-departmental group met every six to eight weeks over 2005–06.

But after the NT Labor Government was re-elected in 2005, its restructuring and renaming of the DCDSCA (which became the DLGHS) had significant consequences for the regionalisation process. In particular, the participation of government officers changed frequently on the Project Management Group for WCARA. Nevertheless, the group drafted a transitional funding framework for the region, considered mechanisms for streamlining the transitions to regional programs, and held interviews to employ a Transitional Manager to steer the administrative amalgamation of staff and community council resources.

Over three years had passed since the TET group first met. The Interim Council anticipated the establishment of the regional authority within just a few months. In late 2006, however, rumours abounded that the NT Government was contemplating changes to the BSRSF policy. In early 2007, a New Local Government policy was fully formulated by DLGHS and a detailed implementation plan put to the NT Cabinet for consideration. It required several NT Cabinet meetings in the first half of 2007 for the new policy to be officially endorsed. The policy was immediately implemented by DLGHS.

What did this mean for the WCARA Interim Council and participating community organisations, perched, as it were, on the brink of establishing their own authority?

First, the WCARA Interim Council was told by the Department that it would now be required to include Maningrida community and Jabiru township. The new ‘region’ was thereby extended to cover approximately 32,200km² and an estimated total population of some 5000–6000 people (see Fig. 4.3).

This larger shire involved an even more complex set of organisational and governance transitions. Like Kunbarllanjnja, the Maningrida Community Council is a local government under the Local Government Act 1978 (NT), and so would have to be entirely dissolved as a local government organisation and its relevant functions transferred to the new shire. Additional discussions would be needed with the Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation, which provided services to numerous outstations, and with Jabiru town and its Council.

The mandatory inclusion of Jabiru confronted the WCARA Interim Council with a challenging issue—until then the proposed regional organisation included only Bininj communities and organisations, and covered inalienable Aboriginal freehold land. Jabiru’s inclusion extended the region beyond the boundaries of Indigenous-owned land, which meant the Indigenous members of the Interim Council would have to accommodate a non-Indigenous town, its residents and elected representatives, and its different cultural values and priorities. In other words, a very different kind of regional local government was being proposed under the new NT policy.

Second, Interim Council members were extremely angry that their collective decision-making role had been usurped. They were told by the Department that they would henceforth be referred to as a ‘Shire Transitional Committee’ and have an identified consultation and advisory role. They would be required to provide their suggestions to the Advisory Board that serviced the NT Minister for Local Government, who would make all the final decisions about their organisational structure.

Decision-making power about the management, staffing, financial status and business plans of the new shire was abruptly reclaimed by government bureaucrats. A CEO was hired for them through a DLGHS process in which the new Transitional Committee had little involvement. A Transitional Shire Manager, who was an officer from the Department appointed by the Minister, became the legal face of the shire delegated to act as its decision-making Council, until such time as members were elected.

One committee member summarised the impact of the changes in these terms:

Third, the Council was no longer seen by government to be ‘representative’ owing to its requirement that members from Maningrida and Jabiru should be included. A West Arnhem Shire Transitional Committee (WASTC) replaced the WCARA Interim Council, and a cap was put on the total membership by the Department. This meant that the number of representatives on the old Interim Council had to be cut down in order to include new members. Consequently, it was a smaller core of senior leaders from the Interim Council who moved across to the new committee.

Maningrida and Jabiru were initially unhappy to be told to enter into a regional process in which, until then, they had chosen not to participate. Not surprisingly, it took their representatives some time to familiarise themselves with the issues and decisions already made. Initially, they felt marginalised from what had become a very united team of representatives on the WCARA Interim Council.

From the point of view of the Interim Council members, they felt they were being told to start all over again, having to reconsider issues and decisions that they had already considered and made. They also realised that it would mean a considerable delay in the establishment of the new organisation.

Fourth, the culturally-based institutions that the WCARA Interim Council had designed, such as their constitution and preamble, were effectively thrown out. Also tossed aside was their solution for ward representation, which had sought to balance a Bininj nomination process for the single traditional-owner representative, alongside Balanda election procedures for three other representatives.

The overall effect was to relegate the Interim Council and its new Transitional Committee guise to a consultative, advisory role. The sense of disempowerment was felt keenly by all members:

But what was extraordinary at this point was that the WCARA Interim Council members decided to continue to participate in the process. The fact that they did is testimony to the significant headway they had made in working together as a team, and the effort they had put into designing their own governance institutions and making consensus decisions. As a consequence of this, they had developed a strong commitment to each other and to a shared vision of a future regional forum through which they hoped to exercise greater self-governance. They had also developed a significant sense of trust in the two CDOs working with them, whom they felt would continue to provide them with frank and robust advice about the new policy demands of government.

In order to stay engaged in the radically reshaped process, the Indigenous participants had to use every opportunity to strategically and persistently reinsert their own governance priorities and goals. This has included grappling with a non-Indigenous culture of governance within their meetings and negotiating a space for the development and exercise of their own institutions and values.