Tiwi Islands Region

In October 2006 the Northern Territory Government announced the reform of local government areas. The intention of the reform was to improve and expand the delivery of services to towns and communities across the Northern Territory by establishing eleven new shires. The Tiwi Islands Shire Council was created on 1 July 2008 as were the remaining ten shires.^{[citation needed]}

The Tiwi Islands Shire Council became the Tiwi Islands Regional Council under legislation passed by the Northern Territory Government in January 2014.^[3]

The local government area covers an area of 7,483 square kilometres (2,889 sq mi) and had an estimated population of 2,753 in June 2018.^[2]

The most recent council elections (which also elected the Mayor) were held on 10 September 2021.^[4] The current mayor is Pirrawayingi Puruntatameri (an independent) and the current Deputy Mayor is Leslie Tungatalum (a member of the Country Liberal Party).^[1]

The Tiwi Islands Regional Council is divided into three wards: Bathurst, Milikapiti and Pirlangimpi. The council is governed by 12 councillors, six from Bathurst Ward and three each from the Milikapiti and Pirlangimpi Wards:^[5]

Land within the Tiwi Islands Region was divided during 2007 into bounded areas for the purpose of creating an address for a property. The bounded areas are called "localities" with those localities associated with existing Aboriginal communities being called "communities".^[6][7]

Communities

More information Community, Population ...

Community	Population	Map
Milikapiti	414 (SAL 2021)[8][9]
Pirlangimpi (Garden Point)	317 (SAL 2021)[10][11]
Wurrumiyanga (Nguiu)	1,421 (SAL 2021)[12][13]

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The demographics of the region are shown in the tables below.^[14]

Ancestry

More information Ancestry, Number ...

Ancestry	Number	Percentage
Aboriginal	2,023	82.3%
Australian	174	7.1%
English	89	3.6%
Irish	31	1.3%
Scottish	22	0.9%
Fijian	20	0.8%
Filipino	12	0.5%
Torres Strait Islander	11	0.4%
New Zealander	8	0.3%
Greek	6	0.2%
Estonian	6	0.2%
Japanese	6	0.2%
Chinese	5	0.2%
Samoan	4	0.2%
Tongan	4	0.2%
Vietnamese	4	0.2%
Dutch	4	0.2%
German	3	0.1%
South Sea Islander	3	0.1%
Afghan	3	0.1%
Italian	3	0.1%
Indonesian	3	0.1%

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Birthplace

Before 2016, all Tiwi Islanders who stated their country of birth were born in Australia. Between 2011 and 2016, however, over ten arrivals each from the Philippines, the United Kingdom and Fiji arrived in the islands.

More information Country, Number ...

Country	Number	Percentage	Change since 2011
Australia	2,319	94.5%	-233
Philippines	15	0.6%	+15
United Kingdom	13	0.5%	+13
Fiji	12	0.5%	+12

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