Regionalism that respects localism: The Anmatjere Community Government Council and beyond

Abstract:

The Anmatjere Community Government Council (ACGC) in central Australia was established in 1993 as part of a push by the Northern Territory (NT) Government towards larger regional, multi-settlement groupings within its emerging local government system. Fifteen years on, as part of another such push, ACGC is about to be amalgamated into a much larger Central Desert Shire. The shire, which will begin operations during 2008, will merge ACGC with five other local governing bodies and cover a population some four times ACGC’s current constituency. This chapter reflects on the history of ACGC within the NT local government system and on ideas of regionalism and localism. It argues that ACGC has been a reasonably successful experiment in regional, multi-settlement local government, and that this is partly because it has respected and built on single-settlement localism. The chapter will discuss how the early constitutional design of ACGC respected such localism and how that respect has developed and endured since, albeit at times under stress. I will also argue that this respect for single-settlement localism points the way forward for local government in the NT under the new larger shires arrangement. Regionalism must build on localism, rather than devalue or disparage it.