Cost of Living on Norfolk Island

Declaration on Norfolk Island

I am presenting today the Australian National Auditing Office (ANAOs) review of the Norfolk Island Administration's annual accounts. These results are worrying and clearly demonstrate the extent of the challenge that the Norfolk Islands fell under. As with any far-flung municipality, the maintenance of infrastructures and the creation of jobs also have their own challenge.

There is, in fact, an almost total lack of welfare and of a vital security network that could provide protection for the weakest. Nevertheless, as the results of the ANAO I am presenting today show, very little headway has been made in solving the key problems Norfolk Island is face. Indeed, the deterioration has occurred and the challenge is becoming more and more challenging.

ANAO has also noted the Norfolk Island Administration's absence of adequate fiscal control and bad fiscal administration practice and has come to the conclusion that the administration is not a going concern without further Commonwealth assistance. The ANAO has long been aware of these concerns and I am not the first minister to speak in this House about the concerns Norfolk Island is experiencing, but they are becoming increasingly serious as the island's shortcomings grow and its necessary infrastructures continue to deteriorate.

I' d like to take this occasion to thank the administrator of Norfolk Island, the Hon Neil Pope, for his generosity and generosity during my sojourn. He' going to be a great sacrifice to the island, and I wish him and his missus Jen all the best for the futurolog. It was an occasion to learn firsthand about the important and continuing challenge facing the island.

Also I could see the island's infrastructures. This island has an obsolete medical center. The broadband service is bad. The island's power grid is highly vulnerable and threatened with breakdown. The cost of power on the island is very high. Unless action is taken, the Norfolk Island communities will become more and more at the mercy of the situation, with the possibility that a further economic downturn, or even negligence, could drive major infrastructures beyond their horizons.

That could have very serious implications for the Norfolk Islands communities and endanger the wellbeing of the inhabitants and even the vitality of the Norfolk Islands economies. Clearly, the Norfolk Island is worsening, the island's finances are worsening and the populations are continuing to shrink.

Ensure the safety of the tourist sector by taking over the air transport on the island. The expansion of Cascade Jetty would be a significant capital expenditure that would lower cargo cost and raise revenues for Norfolk Island as extra visitors will be able to come to the island. Without the commitments of the tax system, we will not introduce any social security payments in Australia.

Over the next few months I will be discussing with my fellow ministers and the general public how best to achieve this. That joint effort will be important because there is no question that this phase of reforms will be complicated and demanding for the Norfolk Islands region, particularly as regards the adaptation of tax and welfare schemes on the continent.

Challenges as these reform may be, they are important for the Norfolk Islands community's continued existence. Whilst the cost of dealing with the challenges Norfolk Island faces may seem considerable, the cost of not trading is even higher. When a lone parental in Norfolk Island needs survivors' benefits to make ends meet or when a disabled individual needs to get the invalidity allowance, or when an older individual needs to buy medication that is prohibitively expensive without the PBS, they currently have to abandon their home network and fellowship and move to the land, often at great individual cost.

Australians living on Norfolk Island are not entitled to Medicare, and Australians who visit Norfolk Island cannot use their Medicare cards if they need healthcare. Indeed, Australians on Norfolk Island have to afford much more for healthcare than on the land. A recent account of children and childcare on Norfolk Island found that a four-person host families have to spent almost $4,000 every year before the island's healthcare system begins to support them, and even then the system does not provide for the full cost ofcare.

The Commonwealth is helping the Australian Council of Healthcare Standards to accredit the clinic, while several recent audits have shown a basic separation between the current service provided and the needs of the population. Problems with broadband connections have also restricted the possibility of contacting land-based experts in an emergencies.

The development of the Australian welfare system will help the Australians on the island of Norfolk and enable them to survive and prosper in their communities during important lifetime-evenings. In fact, no other isolated municipality with less than 2000 inhabitants needs to provide comprehensive nationwide service, which includes tariffs, migration and isolation.

Like many Australians, I appreciate the fact that many Norfolk Islanders have a close link to their own histories and cultures, but the fact is that they are Australians and must be dealt with as such. In spite of the challenge, I am looking optimistically to the bright prospects for this area.

Burned into Australia's settlements past, it is still an intrinsic part of our state. I believe that if we can take the necessary timeframe to create the right political framework, the island will have a brilliant and successful one.