Local government areas of the Northern Territory

The most recent local elections were held in 2025. The next elections are scheduled to be held on 25 August 2029.

Area types

As of 1 July 2008, there were two classifications of local government in the Northern Territory:

Municipalities (predominantly inner-city suburban areas and smaller rural towns), of which there were five; and
Shires or Regions (predominantly rural or outer suburban areas), of which there were eleven shire councils.

The Northern Territory was unusual as a comparatively large share of the territory's population lived in unincorporated areas. In 2006, prior to the reorganisation of local government areas in the territory, 92 percent of the land area (1,237,999 km² (477,994 sq mi) out of 1,349,130 km² (520,900 sq mi)) with 16 percent of the population (30,523 out of 192,898), was unincorporated. This anomaly is due to the territory's very low population density, just 0.16 people per km² (0.099 people per sq mi).

Most of the unincorporated areas disappeared as a result of local government reform in 2008. The area remaining unincorporated is 19,790 km² (7,640 sq mi), 1.47 percent of the total, and contains 3.0 percent of the population in June 2019.

By comparison, in the only other states or territories in Australia with unincorporated areas, only 0.02% of the population of New South Wales, 0.002% of Victoria's population and 0.6% of the population of South Australia, live in unincorporated areas.

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Local government areas of the Northern Territory

Area types

Current local government areas

Former local government areas

Towns

Community Government Councils

Incorporated Communities

Unincorporated Area

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