John Hogg (Queensland, Deputy-President) Share this | Hansard source

I rise as a member of the committee who participated in the two major reports of 2003 and 2005. Those reports were comprehensive reports indeed. They were difficult to put together in some circumstances; nonetheless they went systematically through the problems that were perceived by the Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories in its role representing this parliament.

While the first report was met with an amount of derision from some people on the island, as Senator Carr has outlined there were a number of people who greatly supported the very logical recommendations that were arrived at by the committee in a totally bipartisan arrangement. There was no hint of any dissent in what came out of that report. As Senator Carr said, this is basically about the democratic right of those people on Norfolk Island as Australian citizens. As an active member of the committee, in the wake of those two reports I was always anxious for the committee to return to Norfolk Island to meet with the government and to meet with the people of Norfolk Island to see the way forward because, simply, what was there was not acceptable to any reasonable person on the mainland, no matter their political persuasion.

To his credit, Minister Lloyd has taken the bit between his teeth and he has, I understand, set about a reform package which is still to be considered by the government. Nonetheless, there seems to be a clear commitment by the government to ensure that reform takes place—and sooner rather than later. That is to be commended indeed. This will lead to legislation that will be presented in both the House of Representatives and then finally here to amend the Norfolk Island Act 1979 and other related acts to ensure that basic entitlements are given to the people on Norfolk Island.

My purpose in rising this evening is to draw attention to one of the recommendations made in the report of the visit to Norfolk Island. Unfortunately, we were supposed to go on a number of occasions and on each occasion that I made myself available to go the visit was cancelled. When they finally came up with a date on which the committee could travel, I found myself with another commitment that I could not get out of. I would have enjoyed being there to witness the change in attitude that has come across both the Norfolk Island government and a number of the leading players in the business community and in the community at large on the island.

One concern that came out in the report has been an ongoing concern for me. The recommendation at page 17, paragraph 1.67 of the most recent report—which we are addressing this evening—looks at the issue of the right to vote of the people on Norfolk Island. Paragraph 1.67 says:

The Committee also believes that, as per its recommendations in the 2003 report and 2005 findings, Norfolk Island should be included within the Canberra electorate for the purposes of more equitable federal representation and that the voting system for the Norfolk Island Assembly should be changed.

This issue was canvassed in the December 2003 report over quite a few pages, from page 141 to page 144, so it is a fairly important issue indeed.

The Norfolk Island Act does not make it mandatory for Norfolk Island residents, although they are Australian citizens, to be on the roll or to be compulsorily attached to an electorate. They also have the option of enrolling in an electorate that they had an association with or may have lived in. There are a number of other options available to them which I cannot recall off the top of my head. Basically, they are not situated in a designated or specific electorate like every other Australian citizen. They can enrol in an electorate in Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales or wherever. Norfolk Island residents do not have a single representative of the House of Representatives that they can collectively turn to when they have a problem with the government of Australia.

The second thing that they lack because of that is the right to access a senator. As we know, in a single electorate you might end up with either a member of the Labor Party, a member of the Liberal Party or National Party, an Independent, a Green or someone else.