Shire of Christmas Island

Shire of Christmas Island Australia
Population	1,440 (2009)
• Density	11/km2 (28/sq mi)
Area	136.7 km2 (52.8 sq mi)
Mayor	Gordon Thomson
Council seat	Christmas Island
Region	External territory of Australia
Federal Division(s)	Lingiari
Website	Shire of Christmas Island

The Shire of Christmas Island is a local government area of the Australian external territory of Christmas Island (10°29′S 105°37′E / 10.483°S 105.617°E / -10.483; 105.617; post code: 6798). The island is grouped with Western Australia but is administered by the Attorney-General's Department and an Administrator.

It covers an area of 136.7 km² in the Indian Ocean about 2,360 km north-west of Perth and 500 km south of Java in Indonesia. It has a population of 1,448 (ABS 2001).

The island was previously a British territory administered through Singapore but was transferred to Australia in 1945. After 1958, it was managed by the Christmas Island Assembly and Christmas Island Services Corporation.

The Australian Government provides Commonwealth-level government services through the Christmas Island Administration and the Department of Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government. As per the Federal Government's Territories Law Reform Act 1992, which came into force on 1 July 1992, Western Australian laws are applied to Christmas Island "so far as they are capable of applying in the Territory."; non-application or partial application of such laws is at the discretion of the federal government. The Act also gives Western Australian courts judicial power over Christmas Island. Christmas Island remains constitutionally distinct from Western Australia, however; the power of the state to legislate for the territory is power delegated by the federal government. The kind of services typically provided by a state government elsewhere in Australia are provided by departments of the Western Australian Government, and by contractors, with the costs met by the federal government.

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