Council Bylaws

Proposed Tiwi Islands Regional Council By‑laws

Introduction

The reasons for making the Tiwi Islands Regional Council By-laws are:

• To support the Tiwi Islands Regional Council to have meetings in an orderly and proper way;
• To support the Tiwi Islands Regional Council to keep the communities clean; and to manage and control the keeping of dogs in the Tiwi Islands Regional Council area. 

Council Meetings

During a Tiwi Islands Regional Council meeting, all Council members must:

• Respect the rules set out in the By‑laws
• Use good language
• Listen to what other members say
• Ask to speak through the Chairperson and wait for their turn to speak
• Respect other Council members and the Chairperson
• Allow other members to say what they want to say
• Do or say things that will make the Council proud
• Not use bad language or swear words
• Not disrespect other members in the meeting
• Not use words that make other members angry or embarrassed
• Not  interrupt another Council member when they are talking
• Not behave or talk in a way that will bring a bad name to the Council.

During a Council meeting all members:

During a council meeting, the Chairperson can ask a Council member to behave in a respectable way.If the Chairperson asks a Council member to behave in a respectable way more than once, the Chairperson can ask the Council member to leave the meeting for the remainder of the meeting time. The Council member must obey the Chairperson’s request to leave the meeting.Also, the Chairperson can ask a Council member to apologise to other Council members in a meeting. The Council member must obey the Chairperson’s request to apologise to the other Council members.

The Chairperson of a meeting can ask someone who is not a Council member, but who has attended a Council meeting, to leave the meeting if that person interrupts or causes trouble to anyone during the meeting. That person must obey the Chairperson’s request to leave the Council meeting. The Chairperson may call on the Police for help to remove the person.

Littering

It is good to keep the whole of the Tiwi Islands Regional Council area clean. When the communities are looked after, they will be clean and people can stay healthy and proud. Council will provide bins where a person can safely leave, throw or put rubbish.

A person who throws or leaves rubbish on the ground in the community is making the community look dirty. Rubbish that is left or thrown in a public place can cause harm to another person and can be bad for the health of the community. A person must not leave, throw, or put rubbish in a public place unless it is in a bin. Also, a person must not leave, throw or put rubbish that can cause injury to another person or cause danger to the health of people. An employee of the Tiwi Islands Regional Council can tell a person who leaves, throws or puts rubbish in a public place to pick the rubbish up and to put it in a bin. Also, the Council employee can remove the rubbish and then ask the person who leaves, throws or put rubbish in a public place to pay for the cost of removing the rubbish.

Waste Management Facility

A Waste Management Facility is a place that the council wants all commercial rubbish to be dumped. The rubbish that can be brought to the Waste Management Facility can be from a person’s house or commercial waste. Commercial waste is rubbish made by a business (such as the shop), which can sometimes be dangerous and heavy.
All commercial waste must be taken to the Waste Management Facility. A person must not put commercial waste in any other place in the community except in the Waste Management Facility.

Commercial waste must be put in the place set aside by Council for commercial waste in the Waste Management Facility. A person must only enter the Waste Management Facility on the days and times the council allows. A person must not enter the Waste Management Facility on a day or time that the Council do not allow. A person who brings rubbish or commercial waste to the Waste Management Facility must allow a Council employee to see the rubbish or the commercial waste that they want to dump in the Waste Management Facility. A person must not refuse the Council employee from seeing the rubbish or commercial waste before dumping it. When a person enters a Waste Management Facility, the person must follow all the signs and directions given by the Council employees.  

Keeping Dogs

All dogs must be registered with the Tiwi Islands Regional Council. The Council will register dogs for free. Also, all dogs must have a collar and a tag. The Council will give a tag for every dog that is registered. A person must not keep more than two dogs in the same property for more than three months. A person who want to keep more than two dogs in the same property for longer than three months must get permission from the Tiwi Islands Regional Council. All dogs kept in the property must be registered. If a property already has more than two dogs before 1 September 2018 when the new law starts, all those dogs kept in the property can be registered and kept without getting permission from the Council. But no more new dogs will be allowed to be kept in the property without permission from the Tiwi Islands Regional Council. The Council must keep a register of all dogs in the Tiwi Islands Regional Council area. The dog register will show the name, address, and contact details of the owner of each dog and the property where the dog is kept.

Dangerous dogs

Dangerous dogs are bad for the health and safety of everyone in the community. A dog is a dangerous dog if the dog attacks or threatens a person or animal. A Council employee will determine if a dog is a dangerous dog. The property where a dangerous dog is kept must be secured so that the dangerous dog cannot come out by itself or escape. If the owner of a dangerous dog wants to take the dog out of the property, the owner must make sure that the dog is on a strong leash and that the dog is under the control of a person who is able to restrain the dog.

Seizure of dogs

The Tiwi Islands Regional Council can take a dog away from the owner if the dog has no tag attached to its collar or the dog is roaming around the community without its owner. Also, the Council can take away a dog that is injured, violent, sick, or causing trouble.

Killing dogs

The Tiwi Islands Regional Council can kill a dog, if the dog is sick, injured, violent, or dangerous. A dog must be killed in a proper way that will not cause too much suffering to the dog. A dog can be killed by a police officer, an animal doctor (a vet) or someone that the Council has given permission to kill the dog.

Where possible, the Council will write to the owner of the dog which has been killed and give the owner the reason for killing the dog.

Offences

If a person does not obey the Tiwi Islands Regional Council By‑laws, the Council can take the person to Court or give the person a fine.

Council Bylaws

Discussion paper