Our Scheme

The Belyuen Community Government Scheme explains how the Council Functions . This includes the Area of Governance, how Elections are held, Council Members within the council and Council Minutes .

The following is a link to the Northern Territory Legislation Database where the most recent version of the Belyuen Community Government Scheme can be downloaded as a PDF of RTF document. Click here to view or read on for an overview of the Scheme.

Area

The community government area to which this scheme applies is all that parcel of land at Belyuen in the Northern Territory of Australia containing an area of 4091 hectares more or less being section 25 Hundred of Bray.

Common Seal

The common seal of the council shall contain the words Belyuen Community Government Council and Common Seal.

Members of Council

The Council consists of 8 members - four male, four female. To view the Council Members - click here.

The Council will choose a Chairperson and Vice Chairperson from among the 8 elected members at the first meeting after elections.

You need to be over the age of eighteen, have lived in the community for more than three years and be elected by the community to be a member of Council.

Before Voting

The clerk keeps a list of everyone who lives in the community. Only people who are over eighteen and have lived in the community for three years can be on the list. A person must be on the list in order to vote.

Council decides when to have an election, but there must be at least one election every three years.

The clerk then puts up a poster telling everyone when the election will be held. The clerk has to give at least 28 days notice of the coming election.

Election Day!

The clerk can ask people to help with the election, they are called Polling Officials.

The box where all the votes are placed is be checked to make sure its empty, then its locked tight so no one can try and cheat.

From 8.00am in the morning to 1.00pm in the afternoon, the polling booth is open so people can vote. Everyone who wants to vote comes along and tells the clerk or official their name. Their name is then crossed off the election list.

The voter is given a ballot paper which has a list of their sex's candidates. The voter then places and the next to the four members they want to elect.

Counting the Vote

After the polling place closes the clerk starts to count the votes. It's important that the clerk have someone else present to make sure no one cheats, so each candidate may send a scrutineer to make sure everything is done properly.

Once the counting has finished the clerk must sign a document stating:

• Names of officials

• Names of scrutineers

• Number of votes

• Number of invalid votes (those that people couldn't understand)

• Number of postal votes

The clerk then goes and puts up a notice saying who won the election.

Meetings

The Council should meet at least once a month, at a time which they agreed upon in the last meeting.

The meetings are open, which means that people may attend the meeting if they want to.

The President of the Council may call a special meeting. The President must give at least 2 days notice before calling a special meeting.

At any meeting the Council must keep a record of what happened. These are called the Minutes of the Meeting. To view the click here.

In order to make decisions a certain number of members must be present - this is called a quorum. A majority of members currently in office are needed to make a decision.

What the Council Does

The Council does a lot in the community. Some of these things are:

• parks, gardens and recreational areas.

• sports facilities, libraries, a cinema, community halls and public toilet and ablution blocks and laundry facilities.

• collection and disposal of garbage. The provision and maintenance of sanitation, sewerage, drainage and water supply facilities, and the removal of health hazards.

• activities relating to the provision of social security services or benefits.

• collection of electricity charges.

• adult education and vocational and other training.

• housing for residents and their families.

• provision of relief work for unemployed persons.

• community welfare, health and care facilities for all age groups.

• cemeteries.

• control or prohibition of animals.

• maintenance of roads.

• maintenance of an airstrip.

• hiring of plant, vehicle, appliance or equipment belonging to the council.

• contracting of works projects.

• operation of pastoral and commercial enterprises.

• maintenance of a fire fighting service.

• development of tourist attractions and selling of artefacts and souvenirs.

• management and control of sites of historic interest.

• maintenance and preservation of Aboriginal law and custom.

• support and encouragement of artistic, cultural and sporting activities.

• the prevention and control of substance abuse.

To do this the Council needs money, so each year they set the rates. Rates are an amount that each house, farm and business must pay to the Council each year.

This money helps the Council to pay for supplying the services.

 
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