Trisha Shetty (Editor)

Outback Communities Authority

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Population
  
4,350 (2015 est)

Mayor
  
Cecilia Woolford

Founded
  
2009

Council seats
  
Port Augusta, Andamooka

Established
  
2009

Area
  
624,339 kmĀ²

Federal division
  
Division of Grey

Outback Communities Authority

Region
  
Far North Eyre and Western

State electorate(s)
  
Giles, Stuart, Flinders

The Outback Communities Authority (OCA) is a statutory authority in South Australia (SA) created under the Outback Communities (Administration and Management) Act 2009. It has been established to "manage the provision of public services and facilities to outback communities" which are widely dispersed across the unincorporated area which covers almost 60% of South Australia's land area. The authority has its seat at both Port Augusta which is located outside the unincorporated area and at Andamooka. The authority serves an area of 624,339 square kilometres (241,059 sq mi) which has a population of 3,750 of whom 639 are Indigenous Australians and includes several large pastoral leases and mining operations.

Contents

The authority's area of responsibility does not include Aboriginal reserves, the largest of which are Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara in the northwest of SA and Maralinga Tjarutja in the west of SA.

Outback Areas Community Development Trust

The Outback Communities (Administration and Management) Act 2009 established the Outback Communities Authority as the legal successor to the Outback Areas Community Development Trust which had previously been established in 1978 under the Outback Areas Community Development Trust Act 1978.

Organisational structure

The authority consists of a board of seven members of which four must be residents of client communities. The board oversees a small team of support staff led by a general manager. As of 2012, support staff consisted of six persons employed full-time with one additional person employed part-time.

Client communities

As of 2014, the authority provided services to the following communities: Andamooka, Beltana, Blinman, Border Village, Cockburn, Coorabie, Copley, Fowlers Bay, Glendambo, Innamincka, Iron Knob, Kingoonya, Leigh Creek, Lyndhurst, Marla, Mannahill, Marree, Oodnadatta, Parachilna, Penong, Pimba, William Creek, Woomera and Yunta.

Surrounding LGAs

Because of the size of the unincorporated area in South Australia, the authority provides services in an area bounded by a large number of local government areas (LGAs), 29 in total, both in South Australia and in the adjoining jurisdictions of New South Wales, the Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia. Its service area also completely surrounds the Municipal Council of Roxby Downs and the District Council of Coober Pedy. The following LGAs, which border the unincorporated area, total 27 with 17 being in South Australia:

References

Outback Communities Authority Wikipedia