The authority was established in 1994, as a separate authority from the
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, to deliver better services and programs to the
Torres Strait Islander people living on the Islands. Together with the Island Co-ordinating Council, the Torres Strait Regional Authority has been active in implementing community based management strategies. The adoption of a Marine Strategy for the monitoring and management of
dugong and
turtle populations in the seas around the islands was undertaken in 1999. A 2001 evaluation found that employment and housing were the two areas of greatest need for improvement, being even worse than that of Torres Strait Islander people on the
mainland and
Australian Aboriginal people. However, in most other areas, such as health, cultural integrity and crime, the people on Islands fared better. In 2006, successful lobbying by the authority and the Island Co-ordinating Council resulted in the granting of $300,000 from the Federal Government to study the
risks of climate change on the six largest Torres Strait Islands. In 2010, after a nine-year legal battle, the Torres Strait Regional Authority made a successful
native title claim to 40,000 km² of sea between Cape York Peninsula and Papua New Guinea. This was the largest native title claim in Australia's history. The Torres Strait Territory Coalition was formed in 2010, by the elected leaders of the Torres Strait Island Regional Council, the Torres Strait Regional Authority and the
Torres Shire Council, with the aim of gaining official
Territory status for the Torres Strait Islands. The plan would see the Torres Strait Regional Authority and local governments in the area abolished, but this has not come to pass. ==Governance==