Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for External Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is my pleasure to speak to the report Governance in the Indian Ocean Territories—interim report: economic development from the Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories, which was recently tabled in the main chamber. I want to refer to the three recommendations of the report, remembering that this is an interim report—there will be other reports of this committee—and understanding that its terms of reference are broad-ranging. The point that I want to make is that the three recommendations are, of themselves, quite important, but they should not be seen as being the limit to what we are going to be talking about through the remainder of the report. That itself is quite important, because there may be an impression by some that what we are seeing here is the report. This is not the report—it is an interim report and should be understood as that.

One of the inquiry's terms of reference is to look at opportunities to strengthen and diversify the economy whilst maintaining and celebrating the unique cultural identity of the Indian Ocean Territories. Economic development is crucial to this community given where it is—its geographical location—and the ups and downs that have occurred in the place since I first became involved as far back as 1987.

The economy has been sustained by a mine, which was initially owned by the Commonwealth. It was closed in 1987 and reopened some time later in 1988. It was effectively given permission to open under a different guise. That mine has been the mainstay of the economy ever since, and in my view it will be the mainstay of the economy at least into the next decade. In the meantime, there has been a large detention facility built by the Howard government, which has of course been in the media because it is looking after detainees who sought to come to this country, principally by boat. Now we know that that has been down scaled again because of decisions taken by the government to place people elsewhere. So the local economy has been dealt a bit of a blow in terms of the winding back of these services.

At the same time the tourism industry, which is another important part of the community, is quite small. It is quite small for a range of reasons, not least of which is air access and opportunity for further land development on the island. You will recall that during the early 1990s a casino operated on Christmas Island—in fact, I issued its first licence. It was closed in the mid-1990s for a range of reasons. Ultimately, it has been the desire of the community for some time to have that casino reopened. I am pleased to say that one of the three recommendations of this interim report involves the reopening of the Christmas Island casino. I understand that the government is proactively looking at how that might actually be pursued.

The second recommendation is something which has been mooted for some time on Christmas Island, which involves having international students on Christmas Island. There has been some experience of that through the local high school, which has hosted international students from time to time. Then there is a recommendation on shipping and freight.

Ultimately, there is a range of other issues which we need to be addressing here, and which will no doubt be addressed in the final report or further interim reports of this committee. They involve issues around the release of land. Clearly, in excess of around 60 per cent of the island is a very important national park. It has pristine rainforest, which needs to be protected. But coexisting alongside it is a mining operation. I have to say that the mining operation has been very aware of its environmental responsibilities and has been working cooperatively and collaboratively with the national parks and other organisations to try to ensure not only the sustainability of the mining operation but also improving the local environment.

There is a massive invasion of other species on the island which are causing havoc—for example, feral cats and crazy ants, which are devastating the local environment. The mining operation have been using their income to work with the island community and the national parks and the Commonwealth government to address some of these issues. They do not need to do that, but they are doing it because they see a benefit to the whole of the island community, and their interest is a sustainable economy. I am very much aware of the needs of Christmas Island, and indeed of the Cocos islands. In terms of Christmas Island specifically, we do need to get our heads around the importance of land and how land is to be developed and released, and for what purpose it is to be developed and released.

There is a desire of the mining company to try to get access to further pockets of land for mining—not out of the national park, but on crown land. But there is an issue around the Commonwealth policies on crown land release and there is an issue about planning. Also, there are issues which are being advocated by the local shire around these same questions. They are concerned about matters to do with land release and also believe that it is holding back development on the island. This has been an issue which has been around for a couple of decades, but which has really not been satisfactorily addressed by successive governments. Now is the time to address it.

I am hopeful that in the course of the deliberations of this committee we will get to examine in great detail these issues around land and land release and the way in which the national park can coexist with its neighbours, who are involved in other activities, whether they be tourism or mining or whatever. There is a lot of work, initiated by the mining company, which is being done collaboratively to look at what other economic opportunities might exist on the island. They are aware that, once the mine finally closes, that will ultimately have a devastating impact on the island community unless alternative forms of employment and economic development can be found. It is important therefore to see it in that light.

Whilst I have a great commitment to Christmas Island, I do understand the frustration of Christmas Islanders themselves around the way in which policy from governments has been done without a lot of consultation recently. There is a real desire for community members to be engaged with the Commonwealth in decision making in a way which gives them far more responsibility around those decisions than they currently are being accorded. This has been the case since 1996, when the Howard government came to power and changed that relationship. We need to go back to where it was and give the local community a lot more responsibility for decision making, participating in decision making and keeping them advised of the relationships which have been developed between the Commonwealth and the Western Australian government through the service delivery arrangements the Commonwealth has with the Western Australia government.

This report is an important report. I thank the chair and other members of the committee and the committee secretariat for the work that they have been doing, along with the work we have been doing. I am looking forward to the further deliberations of the committee; in fact, I am leaving the chamber in a moment to go back to a committee hearing.

Most people in Australia know nothing about Christmas Island or the Cocos Islands. It is important that they start to understand not only the strategic relevance of these two places but also how important they are in themselves. They are culturally diverse and very different from other parts of this country, and we need to recognise their legitimate aspirations to long-term sustainable economic development and economic opportunities, including employment.

We know that a large number of kids leave these islands to go away for education. I have to say though that the Christmas Island District High School has won many awards over recent years for the standard of education they are providing. The kids go away into higher education well equipped and then have the opportunity come back. I am looking forward to the further work of this committee and to providing more support to the Indian Ocean Territories.

Debate adjourned.