Leaders of the Torres Strait local governments and the federal statutory Torres Strait Regional Authority have united to call for the creation of “one boat” or a single governing body.
“The federal budget last week certainly disadvantaged the local government in our region,” said Torres Shire mayor Pedro Stephen.
“I think the concept of ‘One Boat’, we’ve given [it that] name as leaders, is home rule.
“To have the decision making powers back here in the Torres Strait for all services: employment, housing, health and education.”
Mayors Pedro Stephen of the Torres Shire Council and Fred Gela of the Torres Strait Regional Island Council both spoke with Queensland Correspondent Stefan Armbruster
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The merged levels of government would then be responsible for allocating expenditure, eliminating the duplication of services by dozens of state and federal government departments and agencies, according to mayor Stephen.
“I think we have in excess of 30 state departments that have set up shop here on Thursday Island, and there’s been many times we’ve identified that these departments are unaware what each other is doing,” said mayor Fred Gela of the Torres Strait Island Regional Council.
“A lot of the services that they are obligated to deliver at the grass roots level are not hitting the mark.”
Since the 1930s, Torres Strait Islanders have demanded autonomy and even threatened secession over government neglect in their region.
“I’m very excited that all the elected leaders have agreed in principle on the way forward,” said mayor Stephen.
