Ian Causley (Page, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories, I present the committee’s report on the visit to Norfolk Island, 2 to 5 August 2006.

Ordered that the report be made a parliamentary paper.

This report is an addendum to a report that was done by the committee a few years ago. Many of the things that the report deals with were dealt with in the previous report, but I think that it adds to that report and certainly makes some fairly careful recommendations with regard to Norfolk Island.

First of all, I thank the government and the people of Norfolk Island for the very cordial welcome they gave us to the island. We had a very close look at a number of things on the island that are concerning them and, I dare say, should also concern us as Australians.

People would know that there has been a longstanding situation on Norfolk Island where there may be a stand-off and a lack of trust between the government of Norfolk Island and the government and ministers here in Australia. Having said that, I think it is imperative that we work together. Obviously, the only way we can progress and make sure that Norfolk Island is a viable community is to work very closely together as governments.

One of the questions we looked at—and there was some comment from the minister previous to that—was the viability of Norfolk Island. There was, I would say, a disagreement by those on Norfolk Island to a report done by the Australian government into the long-term viability of the island. But I do believe that, if you look closely at the finances of the island, there is a need for islanders to work with Australia on the long-term viability of that community. Having said that, I think Australia also needs to take a very close look at the culture of Norfolk Island. Norfolk Island does have a different culture and history from that of Australia. Therefore, some of the things that we might automatically take for granted here on the continent do not necessarily apply to the people and to the governance of Norfolk Island. Being such a small community, I think that it has to understand that it is difficult to run a parliamentary system like we run in Australia. There needs to be some accommodation between the two to get something that might work effectively.

I think the community itself was concerned about the fact that, if it was taken over in some way by Australia, it would become a welfare state. I do not think anyone in this parliament wants to see that. There is no doubt that Norfolk Island has long had a reputation of being an area where tourists can go to buy things. They are battling in the modern world in that sense, so there needs to be some help from the Australian government to ensure that that type of viability can be maintained.

There are two areas that the committee looked at. If you look at the jetties around the island that are used for their trade, you see that they are limited. I know it is not an easy problem because, engineering wise, there is probably quite a lot of work that needs to be done for an all-weather jetty in Norfolk Island. But it is something I believe this government needs to look very carefully at. It is the same with the airport, which is obviously very important for tourism. We found to our astonishment that we could not get off the island because the airport did not have the facilities for planes to land in bad weather. I dare say that that has an effect on tourism. I think it is something this government should have a close look at.

They have problems with airline viability. They have had one airline fail and, unfortunately, I think the present airline has had some problems in recent times. It is a real issue that we can look that. If the two governments work together, I have no doubt in my mind that Norfolk Island can be a viable community. But it does need the support of the Australian government. Other territories get support, and there is every reason that Norfolk Island should get some support. Working together we can flesh out exactly what can be done to help with not only the governance but also the long-term viability of a very unique community.

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