Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present the report of the Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories of the visit to Norfolk Island on 29-30 April 2013.

Ordered that the report be printed.

by leave—I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

The purpose of our committee's visit was to examine progress recently made under the Norfolk Island road map and expectations of further progress going forward. It was an important visit to a unique and vibrant community. I thank all those who facilitated our visit and note that we held discussions with the Administrator, the Commonwealth finance officer, the Chief Secretary of the Norfolk Island government, members of the Norfolk Island Legislative Assembly, the CEO of the Norfolk Island administration, the chamber of commerce, the government tourist bureau, the accommodation and tourism association and, importantly, a wide range of women's and social welfare groups, who were able to talk to us about the social situation on Norfolk Island. Our trip was worthwhile and I thank everyone who worked with the committee, provided documents or met with us. In particular, I thank Neil Pope, the Administrator, and his staff.

The Norfolk Island road map, an agreement between the Norfolk Island government and the Australian government, sets out a process which will transform the Norfolk Island community and see it more closely integrated with Australia. The road map provides a path to reform for the governance of the Norfolk Island economy. It is being progressed through a series of agreements which have allowed the Norfolk Island government to receive funding and administrative support from the Australian government in return for achieving goals set out in the road map.

The Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories has an important role to play because external territories of Australia do not have the same rights as states under our Constitution. That means it is particularly important that there is some parliamentary oversight of the conduct of affairs between the Commonwealth and territories such as Norfolk Island. Our committee has taken a strong interest in the welfare of Norfolk Island over many years now and is closely following progress under the road map.

There was an election on Norfolk Island in March this year and the committee was concerned that it could be a potential turning point in this reform process. We therefore resolved to visit Norfolk Island after the election to check on how the process was going. I thank my committee colleagues for their engagement. The committee takes a bipartisan approach which I think reflects well on parliament's committee system.

The Norfolk Island election campaign did see the road map widely debated. These are important issues for Norfolk Island and both supportive and opposing views were put forward by candidates. The result of the election saw a new Norfolk Island government formed with the Hon. Lisle Snell as Chief Minister. A number of ministers and members of the assembly were on record as opposed to or ambivalent about parts of the road map. This was of concern to the Australian government, which required a clear statement about the meeting of milestones under the road map by the new Norfolk Island government.

This is important for a number of reasons. The Norfolk Island government does not have a sustainable income base and is not currently part of our tax and transfer system. Citizens on Norfolk Island do not have access to entitlements which most Australian citizens take for granted—Medicare, Newstart or family payments, for example. It would be a great surprise, I think, to the majority of Australians to know that there are Australian citizens who do not have access to any of these basic entitlements. The historical reason is that the Norfolk Island government made a very deliberate choice to opt out. It wanted to exercise its independence and offer its own services to the Norfolk Island people

Historically, the government had some economic base for doing that, with tourism and its own GST. But my opinion is that when the GST came in what happened was that luxury taxes came off a lot of the goods that people were travelling to Norfolk Island to buy, and from that point in time you can see a significant decline in the Norfolk Island economy.

It is really important that Norfolk Island is integrated into the Australian community, for the welfare of Norfolk Islanders, so that they can have access to the basic entitlements that other Australians take for granted. So the Norfolk Island government has undertaken the reform of immigration, making it easier for people to move to and invest in Norfolk Island. Likewise, the assembly there has passed laws which will enable the evaluation of land for municipal tax rating purposes, with a view to implementing a land tax or rates from July 2014. And I note that this bill awaits Commonwealth assent.

The reason that this is important is that, if Norfolk Island is to come into the Australian system, Norfolk Island needs to be seen to be not just resting on its laurels and waiting for handouts from the Commonwealth in order to get these benefits back but actually doing its own revenue raising.

You can look, for example, to the principles of horizontal fiscal equalisation that apply to other state and territory jurisdictions, and that is that these territories and jurisdictions need to raise their own revenue so that they can then in turn look to the Commonwealth for support. So it would be unreasonable for Norfolk Island to come in to the Australian system, unless of course the Norfolk Island community has made its own commitment to revenue raising, which means that basic things like local municipal rates need to apply. That is why it is important that they are making progress on their collection of local land taxes, and the Commonwealth is working with them to do that. Open immigration needs to succeed on the island to rejuvenate the economy of Norfolk Island so that Australians have the capacity to live and settle there and have access to the same services and benefits that are available on the mainland.

In the short time that is available to me this afternoon, I really only have time to highlight a few of the critical issues that are confronting Norfolk Island and, indeed, the Australian nation's relationship to Norfolk Island. It is good to know that the current Norfolk Island government acknowledges that its current situation is financially unsustainable. It has chronic shortfalls in government revenue and a serious decline in private sector activity. The government there is unable to meet its own needs, but I am pleased to say that it is working on solutions. The private sector there, principally tourism, is suffering from a prolonged downturn in visitor numbers, as I highlighted before, and that is, in turn, impacting on government revenue. It does mean that Norfolk Island citizens, who do not have access to the mainland's welfare systems—Medicare, unemployment benefit, family payments et cetera—are relying on charity, and it is putting a great number of families in dire need.

That really underscores the important point on which I would like to end my remarks today. Our committee's recommendations are to keep both the Norfolk Island government and the Australian government on track to meet the milestones within the roadmap, because things will not improve for people on Norfolk Island until those things that we need to do, step by step, are put in place. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.