Top End communities have been ‘stepping up their game’ in a bid to take the Territory Tidy Town mantle from MacDonnell Regional Council communities. They are hoping that hosting the 2018 Territory Tidy Town awards ceremony in Darwin will be the home ground advantage needed to steel the silverware away from Central Australia.
Competition for the Territory Tidy Town awards has been reinvigorated in remote communities across the Northern Territory. “ While Central Australian communities keep going from strength to strength, the Top End communities are showing great improvements and their chance of taking the main title from the MacDonnell Regional Council communities has never been better, ” Heimo Schober, CEO of Keep Australia Beautiful Council (NT) concedes.
Despite the competition from neighbouring and Top End councils increasing in recent years, solid competition for the Territory Tidy Town awards is visible from among the MacDonnell Regional Council communities. The local Civil Works teams in each community provides the backbone of Council achievements that are strongly supported by the efforts of residents.
Against all its challengers, MacDonnell Regional Council’s record is strong – consistently winning the Best Regional Council Award since it was introduced in 2014. This achievement reflects the high standards set in its remote communities and includes the top honour of consecutively being named a Territory Tidy Town winner: Finke in 2017, Areyonga in 2016, Mt Liebig in 2015, and Titjikala in 2014 and 2013.
A healthy competition among MacDonnell Regional Council’s 13 communities means that staff achievements are rated very highly when judged against the rest of the Northern Territory. In many aspects of local government and service delivery in remote Australia, MacDonnell Regional Council is seen as a leader and innovator by stakeholders and peers.
The Territory Tidy Town awards not only recognise the efforts of litter management, but also include the categories of resource recovery, waste management, water conservation, energy conservation, eco-education, and community participation in small, medium and large communities and towns.
Along with its previous winners of the top honour, MacDonnell Regional Council communities like Imanpa and Santa Teresa have consistently won various award categories. Wallace Rockhole has also won the top honour repeatedly since the 1980s. In fact in 2015, Wallace Rockhole was awarded the inaugural 4 Star Gold Rating Award in recognition of the ongoing pride its residents show in both the presentation of their community and their tourist infrastructure and services.
All competition category winners will be announced at a gala awards ceremony dinner in the Grand Ballroom of Darwin’s SkyCity casino this Friday 9 November 2018. The awards night will culminate a Territory Tidy Towns Forum being held at the Darwin Museum Theatrette earlier that day and covering such topics as litter control, recycling, waste management, container deposit schemes, and water and energy conservation in remote communities.
To find out more about Territory Tidy Towns, contact Heimo at ceo@kabcnt.org.au