Local government in the Northern Territory was massively reformed in 2008 with 52 small remote-area councils reduced to 7 large new super shires. The inaugural elections for these shires in late 2008 attracted many candidates, but were marred by a poor vote counting system. An improved vote counting system was adopted in time for the 2012 local government elections in the Northern Territory; however the number of candidates nominating for election in the super shires in March 2012 has fallen, in some instances to a worryingly low level.

As well as comparing back to 2008, this seminar presentation will also compare the 2012 local government elections in the super shires with those in the Northern Territory’s urban municipalities (and with some remaining smaller local governments close to Darwin). It will suggest that a loss of interest in being a super shire councillor may be emerging among remote-area Indigenous people. It will argue that this is a significant cause for concern, both for Northern Territory local government and for national Indigenous affairs policy.

The seminar will build on "Changing scale, mixing interests: Generational change in Northern Territory local government", CAEPR Working Paper 79 from December 2011. This used financial, demographic and observational data to suggest that the new large super shires in the Northern Territory may be suffering, more than gaining, from their vast geographic scale.