I am aware that there has been community concern about the difficulty people are experiencing in receiving mail and getting freight to Norfolk Island. It is important to understand that we receive freight to the island by ship, passenger plane and designated freight plane and when we have goods sent to the island, we make a choice as to which of these services we use.

Identifying, conserving and recording KAVHA’s archaeological resources is an important part of preserving and promoting the site’s unique history.

As recommended in the KAVHA Heritage Management Plan, the KAVHA Advisory Committee endorsed the preparation of an Archaeological Zoning and Management Plan (AZMP) for the site.

The Australian Government thanks the community for taking the time to make submissions in response to the Traffic Laws in Norfolk Island consultation paper.

The period for written submissions has closed and the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development received a number of submissions, indicating a strong level of interest in the proposed changes.

The Australian Government welcomes the release of the Commonwealth Grants Commission's report on its 2019 Norfolk Island Inquiry.

As announced in May, the Department asked the Commonwealth Grants Commission (CGC) to undertake a costing of Norfolk Island services and its capacity to raise state and local government revenue.

There is already strong community interest in the upcoming engagement sessions on the Ports Management Strategy, with the Australian Government encouraging Norfolk Island stakeholders to contribute their views on best options for the long-term management of Cascade and Kingston Ports.

Grosvenor Performance Group is managing the development of the strategy. The upcoming on Island consultation sessions commencing September 23 will leverage local expertise and knowledge to explore current issues and potential solutions.

The Australian Government acknowledges the range of views put forward by the Norfolk Island community about proposed traffic law changes and is preparing for further consultation.

The Department has now reviewed the feedback provided through written submissions, with comments focused on the proposed change to the practice of ‘ute tray riding’. 

The Australian Government will commence a second consultation stage in October 2019 to find out more about these concerns and other key issues raised.

There have been changes to criminal justice laws to improve protections for people on Norfolk Island to ensure that the Norfolk Island police and courts have the ability to take action against people who perpetrate abuse or violence.

The new laws update definitions and increase penalties for some sexual offences, including those involving children and young people. They also introduced new sexual offences that deal with adults who are in positions of trust or authority in relation to young people.

The Australian Government assures the Norfolk Island community that biosecurity and pest management procedures were successfully executed following the identification of spiders on equipment for the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development shipped on a regular freight vessel which arrived on July 10.

It was encouraging to see a system working as it should this week. I understand the community concern about this matter and want to highlight this risk was appropriately detected and managed, in line with required procedures.