The Australian Indian Ocean Territories is the name since 1995 of an administrative unit under the Australian Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, consisting of two island groups in the Indian Ocean under Australian sovereignty: Christmas Island, where the administrator resides Cocos Islands, where the same officer also has jurisdiction as administrator but does not resideEach of these island components has its own shire council: the Shire of Christmas Island and the Shire of Cocos. Wikipedia