With the impending arrival of the passenger transfer vessels (PTVs) for Norfolk Island, and the need to enable movement of these vessels, the Australian Government will soon commence works to widen Cascade Road.

The three vessels, which can hold up to 90 people each and will be used to transfer cruise ship passengers from ship to shore, are scheduled to arrive on Norfolk Island at the end of July.

Ten members of the Norfolk Island community have been selected as the initial members of the new Kingston and Arthur’s Vale Historic Area (KAVHA) Community Advisory Group (the group).

The group will provide input to the management and conservation planning and actions at KAVHA, and will be a forum to improve the sharing of information about projects, issues and ideas for the site. The Terms of Reference for the group can be found at kavha.gov.au/projects

I am pleased to announce that the initial members, who will be appointed for three years, are:

The Prime Minister, the Hon Scott Morrison MP announced his new Ministry appointing the Hon Nola Marino MP as the new Assistant Minister for Regional Development and Territories.

Further community consultation will take place in the coming week about proposed changes to traffic laws, focusing on the practice of ‘ute tray riding’. 

Targeted meetings will occur with a range of stakeholders, along with a drop-in event for community members where comments and views can be shared.

The Australian Government has planned this second consultation stage in response to views expressed through the written submissions about the proposed change to ute tray riding and other key issues.

Norfolk Island residents and businesses are reminded to adjust their clocks forward one hour for the commencement of daylight saving at 2am tomorrow (Sunday, October 6).

This is the first year that Norfolk Island will observe and enjoy daylight saving time (DST), after the community decided to enable more hours of daylight in the evening for recreation, health and wellbeing, as well as more time for tourist activities.

The Australian Government acknowledges and appreciates the range of opinions put forward about proposed changes to the Traffic Act and thanks those community members who took the time to respond. 

Australian media reporting this week on funding for New South Wales schools does not accurately reflect the actual full funding for the Norfolk Island Central School (NICS).

The published figure of NICS having a gross income of $435,000 in the three calendar years to 2017 does not include any of the significant funding from the Australian Government in 2016-17 or 2017-18. It is based solely on MySchool data which only includes state government reported finance data and not the additional funding provided by the Commonwealth to the Norfolk Island school.

As you are aware, Norfolk Island residents and businesses will shortly begin observing and enjoying Daylight Saving Time (DST) on Norfolk Island.

Each year, from the first Sunday in October, clocks on Norfolk Island will need to be moved forward one hour and then back one hour on the first Sunday in April. In 2019, DST will begin at 2am on Sunday 6 October and end at 2am on Sunday 5 April 2020.