MONEY MYTHS 2

MYTH4: Australia Pours Big Money into Norfolk Island

Definitely not.

In the later days of the Advisory Council, Australia was giving Norfolk Island a grant of a little over $60 000. Even then, this represented only a small percentage of the island's revenue. And the cost of the Administrator and Canberra's responsibilities on the island came out of this money.

With the coming of self-government, the island was to raise and spend its own revenue. As is only right, there are certain things that Canberra pays for. Such as the cost of their Administrator and his staff and Government House. The island receives no direct annual grants, but the Commonwealth does contribute to the running and maintenance of areas that are owned by the Crown, or which serve Commonwealth interests. The Norfolk Island Government and the Commonwealth share the cost of KAVHA, which is Crown property and part of Australia's colonial heritage. They pay a third of the cost of the Federal Police presence here.For some reason, the Commonwealth assumes the total responsibility for National Parks. That is a good thing. When we see the incredible waste of money in that area, it is a warning to us of what will happen if Australia takes over other areas of responsibility.

In 1997 when the Commonwealth Grants Commission made its report into Norfolk's financial viability, the TOTAL spending on Norfolk Island by the Commonwealth was less than $4 million. That included all sorts of things like the Meteorological Bureau, the Ionospheric station, Foreign Affairs and Defence, Veterans' pensions, matters which are totally Australia's responsibility. Of that amount, the things they said could be considered to bring some direct benefit to the island amounted to just $676 000 ...and that included 50% of the costs of the Norfolk Island branch of the Territories department, 50% of the costs of the Administrator's office and Government House, and an amount of $100 000 for Medivacs. And 50% of the Commonwealth share of KAVHA costs was actually said to be properly a Norfolk responsibility, even though the island was already contributing far more than the Commonwealth in this area! The $676 000 also included an amount of social security payments being paid to residents, which they had no doubt earned through years of paying Australian tax! The Federal Government has even subsidised private industry in Australia for far greater amounts! e.g. Mitsubishi, Kodak, Sugar, Ethanol.

In other words, it was chicken feed.

We didn't actually have to pay this amount, but it was firmly placed in the ledger as something for which we should feel beholden to Australia. Moreover, the Grants Commission implied that we were even more in Australia's debt because they allowed us to keep our Customs duty and departure tax revenue, which rightly belonged to the Commonwealth!

I wonder if other countries are made to feel in Australia's debt because of the cost of maintaining their embassies and diplomats there!

Now we will admit that Australia has made available some small grants from time to time, such as for the Water Assurance Scheme many years ago, the stabilising of the Cascade cliff, and the restoration of the Kingston wharf. Not only have these been mostly tied up with indemnity issues, but the amounts were extremely small when compared to aid given elsewhere in the region.

Let us get a bit of perspective here. In 2004-5, Australia spent $674 million in foreign aid to this region just to assist in Governance issues. They have contributed $4 million to Fiji's upcoming elections. A month or so ago, they announced they were giving $38 million to Vanuatu to upgrade their judicial system.

Yet for the few scraps that Canberra throws us, there are great strings attached; we are made to feel dependent on them and incapable of managing on our own.

If Australia was really interested in sound Governance on the island, it would cost them comparatively little to help us through our current potential difficulties. They could even do it simply by removing some of the legal and constitutional obstacles they keep putting in our path.

But they do not want to assist. They simply want to take control for themselves.