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Financial management strategy
Asset sustainability ratio
> 90% 19% 28% 27% 30% Council is dependent on State and Federal Government funding for renewal of infrastructure assets. The timing of renewal programs does not coincide with the annual allocation of depreciation expense.
Table 5: Asset sustainability ratio historical four-year performance trend
Net financial liabilities ratio
< 60% -29% -39% -45% -69%
Table 6: Net financial liabilities ratio historical four-year performance trend Council has minimal liabilities as a percentage of total operating revenue.
Financial management strategy
Torres Strait Island Regional Council has put in place several long-term financial planning initiatives since its amalgamation in 2008. These include: • Development and regular update of Council’s Long-term Financial Model including scenario based and sensitivity analysis; • Divestment of non-core Local Government Services to the Community; • Implementation of a rigorous Debt Management Policy; • Identification and valuation of all Council assets; • Development of Asset Management Plans for all asset classes; • Implementation of cashless divisional offices. The Long-Term Financial Plan and subsequent strategy for Council is to: • Maximise own-source revenue initiatives including strengthening the Debt Recovery process; • Concentrate on delivering a surplus budget (before depreciation); • Deliver on Asset Management Plan strategies and goals where funding allows Council to do so; and • Continue to lobby Federal and State Governments to free up funds for further Asset Management Plan initiatives.
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Our region
The Torres Strait is a strait between Australia and Papua New Guinea. It is 151 km (94 mi) wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, the northernmost extremity of the Australian mainland. To the north is the Western Province of Papua New Guinea, only four kilometres from Saibai. The Strait links the Coral Sea in the east with the Arafura Sea and Gulf of Carpentaria in the west. Although it is an important international shipping channel, it is very shallow (water depth of seven to 15 metres) with a maze of reefs and islands with strong tidal currents in the narrow channels. Our local government area is the most northern Council in Australia, distributed across 42,000km2 of sea. Our region consists of 15 divisions across 14 islands, extending 200 to 300 km from far east to far west of our local government area.
Our local government area is an area covered by several governance frameworks with an internal border, the Torres Strait Protected Zone and the Torres Strait Treaty zone. Geographically, the islands in the Torres Strait can be divided into four main groups: an eastern group of high volcanic islands; a central group of low sandy islands; a western group of high islands composed of volcanic and granitic rocks; and a northern group of low islands composed of mangrove mud and peats.
